Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce

Myanmar is part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a signatory of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). These arrangements have a legal obligation which require members to align its overall trade and tariff policies according to the agreement o...

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Main Authors:	Rahardja, Sjamsu, Artuso, Fabio, Maw, Aka Kyaw Min
Format:	Policy Note
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	EXPORT LICENCE TRADE POLICY PROPERTY RIGHTS NON-TARIFF MEASURES QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS EXPORT PROHIBITIONS MINERAL EXPORTS PRECIOUS METALS WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION ASEAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/440581592888941340/Reforming-Export-Licenses-in-Myanmar-Recommendations-for-Ministry-of-Commerce http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34091

id	okr-10986-34091
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-340912021-05-25T09:50:52Z Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce Rahardja, Sjamsu Artuso, Fabio Maw, Aka Kyaw Min EXPORT LICENCE TRADE POLICY PROPERTY RIGHTS NON-TARIFF MEASURES QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS EXPORT PROHIBITIONS MINERAL EXPORTS PRECIOUS METALS WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION ASEAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT Myanmar is part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a signatory of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). These arrangements have a legal obligation which require members to align its overall trade and tariff policies according to the agreement or schedule of commitment. These steps are also necessary to ensure that members have equal access to market while safeguarding them against adverse risk to environment, social cohesion, and macroeconomic vulnerability. This note recommends that Ministry of Commerce to review and reduce the number of products requiring export licenses. First, the use of export licenses needs a practical justification. For example, it is not entirely clear why, despite high demand from regional markets, Myanmar restricts export of live farm animals. For agriculture products, it is not clear whether export license is an instrument to ensure compliance for quality (e.g., SPS) or to control export volume. In this case there is a strong case to not to impose restriction than necessary to achieve policy objective. The absence of a clear criteria can cost Myanmar to forego export potentials and job creation. This note also recommends Ministry of commerce to clarify underlying reasons for imposing export license on sensitive products. In many cases, trade of these products can have impact on health, the environment, social norm, and national security. In many cases market can create incentives to trade protected wild-life, endangered species, or lead to overexploitation of natural resources. Export of contaminated or disease affected products by one exporter can cost all exporters of similar products. Government, in this case, may consider license and registration regime to manage the risk from trade in sensitive products. 2020-07-13T21:47:23Z 2020-07-13T21:47:23Z 2020-06-22 Policy Note http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/440581592888941340/Reforming-Export-Licenses-in-Myanmar-Recommendations-for-Ministry-of-Commerce http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34091 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Policy Note East Asia and Pacific Myanmar
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	EXPORT LICENCE TRADE POLICY PROPERTY RIGHTS NON-TARIFF MEASURES QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS EXPORT PROHIBITIONS MINERAL EXPORTS PRECIOUS METALS WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION ASEAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
spellingShingle	EXPORT LICENCE TRADE POLICY PROPERTY RIGHTS NON-TARIFF MEASURES QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS EXPORT PROHIBITIONS MINERAL EXPORTS PRECIOUS METALS WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION ASEAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT Rahardja, Sjamsu Artuso, Fabio Maw, Aka Kyaw Min Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce
geographic_facet	East Asia and Pacific Myanmar
description	Myanmar is part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a signatory of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). These arrangements have a legal obligation which require members to align its overall trade and tariff policies according to the agreement or schedule of commitment. These steps are also necessary to ensure that members have equal access to market while safeguarding them against adverse risk to environment, social cohesion, and macroeconomic vulnerability. This note recommends that Ministry of Commerce to review and reduce the number of products requiring export licenses. First, the use of export licenses needs a practical justification. For example, it is not entirely clear why, despite high demand from regional markets, Myanmar restricts export of live farm animals. For agriculture products, it is not clear whether export license is an instrument to ensure compliance for quality (e.g., SPS) or to control export volume. In this case there is a strong case to not to impose restriction than necessary to achieve policy objective. The absence of a clear criteria can cost Myanmar to forego export potentials and job creation. This note also recommends Ministry of commerce to clarify underlying reasons for imposing export license on sensitive products. In many cases, trade of these products can have impact on health, the environment, social norm, and national security. In many cases market can create incentives to trade protected wild-life, endangered species, or lead to overexploitation of natural resources. Export of contaminated or disease affected products by one exporter can cost all exporters of similar products. Government, in this case, may consider license and registration regime to manage the risk from trade in sensitive products.
format	Policy Note
author	Rahardja, Sjamsu Artuso, Fabio Maw, Aka Kyaw Min
author_facet	Rahardja, Sjamsu Artuso, Fabio Maw, Aka Kyaw Min
author_sort	Rahardja, Sjamsu
title	Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce
title_short	Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce
title_full	Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce
title_fullStr	Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce
title_full_unstemmed	Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce
title_sort	reforming export licenses in myanmar : recommendations for ministry of commerce
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/440581592888941340/Reforming-Export-Licenses-in-Myanmar-Recommendations-for-Ministry-of-Commerce http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34091
_version_	1764480087679303680

Reforming Export Licenses in Myanmar : Recommendations for Ministry of Commerce

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