Surveying 136 exporting firms from ten OECD and non-OECD countries, this study documents the incidence, and impact of, non-tariff measures that are perceived to act as barriers to trade in seven sectors of environmental goods and associated services. Although the DDA has a mandate to address inter alia such trade barriers, information shedding light on the specific problems that firms encounter in their export activities has been scarce.

Accounts by exporting firms in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea and the United States suggest that environmental goods indeed face a variety of obstacles when traded abroad. Firms participating in the survey mentioned relatively often problems associated with product testing and certification requirements, customs procedures, regulations on payment, problems with intellectual property protection, government procurement procedures and technical regulations and standards. Certain types of reported barriers appear to be more prevalent in certain markets. For example, customs procedures reportedly pose a problem predominantly in developing and transition economies and problems with intellectual property rights are associated especially with China. The non-tariff barriers reported by the firms appear to be generic and not specific to the environmental sector. The study shows that in many countries the environmental industry consists mostly of SMEs, for whom cost-raising barriers pose disproportionately greater problems due to their limited resources.

OECD report on Chile’s environmental performance