Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics

Product standards can have a dual impact on costs and, thus, on trade. They can impose costs on exporters as it may be necessary to adapt products for specific markets (cost effect). In contrast, standards can reduce exporters' information costs as they convey information on product characteris...

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Main Authors:	Portugal-Perez, Alberto, Reyes, Jose-Daniel, Wilson, John S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 Microelectronics Computers Communications Equipment L630
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4851

id	okr-10986-4851
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-48512021-04-23T14:02:19Z Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics Portugal-Perez, Alberto Reyes, Jose-Daniel Wilson, John S. Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 Microelectronics Computers Communications Equipment L630 Product standards can have a dual impact on costs and, thus, on trade. They can impose costs on exporters as it may be necessary to adapt products for specific markets (cost effect). In contrast, standards can reduce exporters' information costs as they convey information on product characteristics (informational effect). Using a new World Bank database of European standards for electronic products, we examine the net impact of internationally harmonised European standards on European Union imports. We find that European Union standards for electronic products that are harmonised to international standards have a significant and a positive net effect on trade. The results suggest that efforts to promote trade in electronic products could be complemented by steps to promote standards harmonisation. This might include, for example, restarting talks to extend the WTO's Information Technology Agreement to commitments to harmonise national standards in electronic products. 2012-03-30T07:30:03Z 2012-03-30T07:30:03Z 2010 Journal Article World Economy 03785920 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4851 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo 3979 World Bank Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 Microelectronics Computers Communications Equipment L630
spellingShingle	Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 Microelectronics Computers Communications Equipment L630 Portugal-Perez, Alberto Reyes, Jose-Daniel Wilson, John S. Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	Product standards can have a dual impact on costs and, thus, on trade. They can impose costs on exporters as it may be necessary to adapt products for specific markets (cost effect). In contrast, standards can reduce exporters' information costs as they convey information on product characteristics (informational effect). Using a new World Bank database of European standards for electronic products, we examine the net impact of internationally harmonised European standards on European Union imports. We find that European Union standards for electronic products that are harmonised to international standards have a significant and a positive net effect on trade. The results suggest that efforts to promote trade in electronic products could be complemented by steps to promote standards harmonisation. This might include, for example, restarting talks to extend the WTO's Information Technology Agreement to commitments to harmonise national standards in electronic products.
format	Journal Article
author	Portugal-Perez, Alberto Reyes, Jose-Daniel Wilson, John S.
author_facet	Portugal-Perez, Alberto Reyes, Jose-Daniel Wilson, John S.
author_sort	Portugal-Perez, Alberto
title	Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics
title_short	Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics
title_full	Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics
title_fullStr	Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics
title_full_unstemmed	Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics
title_sort	beyond the information technology agreement: harmonisation of standards and trade in electronics
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4851
_version_	1764392992224837632

Beyond the Information Technology Agreement: Harmonisation of Standards and Trade in Electronics

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