The Commerce Ministry’s foreign trade policy implementing arm, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), is undertaking a comprehensive mapping of non-tariff measures (NTMs) to strengthen Indian products’ export quality and technical compliance.
The move comes ahead of the government approving the guidelines for the Export Promotion Mission (EPM) recently.
“The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is undertaking a comprehensive mapping of mandatory and voluntary Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), including certifications, testing requirements, inspections, audits, labelling norms, and other regulatory compliance conditions applicable to Indian exports across global markets,” said a statement by the Commerce Ministry.
Most NTMs are rules devised by countries to protect human, animal or plant health and the environment, and may include “technical” measures like regulations, standards, testing, certification, pre-shipment inspection, as well as “non-technical” measures such as quotas, import licensing, subsidies, and government procurement restrictions.
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However, when NTMs become arbitrary, they create hurdles for trade and are called NTBs (non-tariff barriers) that increase costs for traders, who may have to spend more to comply with destination country requirements such as testing and labelling. For instance, an Indian agro product exporter might have to pay for EU-mandated laboratory tests for pesticide residues or redesign their products to meet the technical standards or packaging rules in different countries.
Not only does it cause delays in the arrival of consignments and heightens uncertainties, it involved complicated procedures to do paperwork, licensing rules, or inspections at borders that can slow down shipments.
In line with its latest policy, the government has asked exporters to furnish accurate information on relevant NTMs and certification requirement within seven days to build an accurate and actionable database.
“It is clarified that non-submission may result in the relevant certifications or NTMs not being prioritised in the creation of the database, which may consequently affect future support measures proposed under the Export Promotion Mission or other interventions,” the ministry added in its statement.
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