In an attempt to disentangle the impact of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures on trade patterns, we estimate a Heckman selection model on the HS4 disaggregated level of trade. We find that aggregated SPS measures constitute barriers to agricultural and food trade consistently to all...

Using SPS measures obtained from the SPS Information Management System of the WTO and controlling for zero trade flows, we find that SPS concerns reduce the probability of trade in agricultural and food products consistently. However, the amount of trade is positively affected by SPS measures...

This article discusses the deadlock in the WTO on multilateral harmonization of non-preferential rules of origin (RoO) and reviews some of the RoO included in recent preferential trade agreements. We argue that there is a trend towards adoption of similar approaches and that this suggests that...

The value of market access opportunities granted within the context of a preferential trading arrangement is a function of the preference margin; the presence of NTM's and other barriers to exports; and rules of origin requirements. Applying these criteria to the case of the Mediterranean...

According to the Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), by 2015 ASEAN countries should have established the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to “create a single market and production base which is stable, prosperous, highly competitive and economically integrated” in...

This paper examines some of the features of rules of origin (RoO) that makes these policy instruments nontariff measures, reflects on the causes of the longstanding deadlock in the WTO on multilateral harmonization of non-preferential RoO, and reviews recent trends in RoO included in recent...