The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

Ref : TD/240 26^th June, 2007

To: Members of the Council

India is in the process of negotiating Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with several of its important trading partners and has noted the need to remove non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) as part of these negotiations. In this connection efforts are being made to identify the non-tariff barriers faced by Indian exporters with a view to seek the removal of such NTBs during the course of negotiations.

Ministry of Commerce and Industry has invited suggestions about the various Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) faced by you in exporting your goods to various countries. NTBs severely affect your competitiveness since importing countries resort to non-tariff measures to protect their domestic industry. There has been a significant growth in the incidence of NTBs in world trade as tariff barriers have been reduced under WTO regime.

In view of the above we request you to inform us of any procedural formality or specific requirement, which is restrictive in nature, faced by you while exporting to a particular country. An illustrative list of some of the main NTBs and their nature is enclosed for your reference.

Regards

K. Vijay Mani
Executive Director

Annexure - 1

An Illustrative List of NTBs

Code Number	Nature of NTB
1.	*Restrictive import policies* relating to quotas, import charges, other quantitative restrictions, import licensing, customs barriers, (including rules of origin, classification issues, valuation, customs procedures, etc), transshipment regulations;
2.	*Standards* lacking objective verifiable criteria or wide disparity with conformity assessment bodies, cumbersome and costly testing, labeling, and certification requirements, multiple and overlapping measures, duplicative testing, product redesign, de facto moratorium on approving new products, refusal to accept manufacturers’ self-certification of conformance to foreign product standards, etc;
3.	*Government procurement* (e.g. export financing on preferential terms and export subsidies that displace India’s exports in third country markets, etc);
4.	Export subsidies (e.g. export financing on preferential terms and export subsidies that displace India’s exports in third country markets, etc);
5.	*Market Access Restrictions* (taxes, pricing policies, legislations, supply obligations, marketing bans, requirements relating to local content, screening and prior approval requirements, etc)
6.	*Environmental restrictions* relating to design, origin of export, process of production, input usage, energy efficiency requirements, etc;
7.	*IPR restrictions* such as high patent filing and maintenance fees, data exclusivity, trade marks, etc;
8.	*Anticompetitive practices* (including anticompetitive activities of both state-owned and private firms that apply to services or to goods and that restrict the sale of products to any firm, etc);
9.	*Barriers in trade in Services* : Non-recognition of Indian qualifications, burdensome entry procedures, including those relating to Visas; imposing numerical quotas on the number of service providers; imposition of an Economic Needs Test and Labour market tests; requirement of wage parity; discriminatory treatment of service providers in terms of tax treatment and contribution to social security; residency and Citizenship requirements.
10.	*Other barriers* not included above