The Important Role of Technical Standards in International Trade

This paper expounds that technical barriers have gradually replaced non-tariff barriers such as tariffs and become the main body of international trade barriers, and will exist and develop for a long time. Explore the important role of technical standards in international trade; Suggestions on strengthening the construction of China's technical standard system, perfecting and formulating China's technical standards are put forward.

Keywords: technical standards, technical barriers, international trade

With the development of economic globalization and trade liberalization, especially after China joined the WTO, China's international trade has become more frequent, and the export volume of enterprises has increased rapidly. However, while enjoying the convenience brought by trade liberalization, China enterprises also deeply feel that the obstacles from technical standards are getting bigger and bigger. A considerable number of products frequently encounter technical barriers dominated by foreign technical standards, and their exports are blocked one after another, and some are even forced to withdraw from the market. According to the survey, in 2002, 7 1% of China's export enterprises and 39% of its export products were restricted by foreign technical barriers, resulting in a loss of $654,380+07 billion, equivalent to 5.2% of that year's exports. Technical barriers based on technical standards have become the main barriers of international trade today.

1 development trend of international trade barriers

1. 1 In today's international trade, trade barriers are undergoing structural changes, and technical barriers have become the main body of international trade barriers.

In international economic exchanges, the main factor affecting international trade is trade barriers. International trade barriers are divided into tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers, and technical barriers are one of the main forms of non-tariff barriers. Technical barriers are mainly supported by technology, which refers to some technical measures taken by a country on the grounds of national security, safeguarding human health and safety, protecting ecological environment, preventing fraud and ensuring product quality. Technical barriers appear in the form of technical standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, and their main contents and forms are technical standards. Standards and technical barriers to intellectual property have the characteristics of rationality, concealment, complexity and flexibility.

In today's international trade, the role of tariff barriers is increasingly restricted. The balance of trade protectionism has shifted from tariff barriers to non-tariff barriers, and tariff barriers have gradually been replaced by non-tariff barriers. Among the non-tariff barriers, such as direct use of import quotas, import licenses and other measures to restrict imports, they are often condemned by international public opinion and vulnerable to reciprocal retaliation, so they are less and less. However, due to its rationality and concealment, technical barriers are often used by developed countries to protect trade, thus gradually becoming a new trade barrier to replace non-tariff barriers such as tariffs, a major means and form of trade protectionism in developed countries, and an important factor affecting the development of international trade in the 2 1 century. Among the non-tariff barriers that affected China's international trade in 1970s, only 10% ~ 30% were technical barriers to trade, and this proportion gradually increased after 1990s. At present, at least two-thirds of China's import and export enterprises are affected by foreign technical barriers.

1.2 technical barriers will exist for a long time and continue to develop.

Technical barriers are the inevitable product of the development of international trade to a certain stage. In order to adapt to social progress, meet the needs of economic development and human self-protection, setting up technical barriers to maintain trade order and promote development has been recognized by WTO and has legitimacy. At the same time, with the internationalization of technical standards in various countries, some technical barriers will be eliminated, but new technical barriers will be constantly generated and updated with the development of science and technology and the requirements of safety and environmental protection, which determines that technical barriers will exist and develop in international trade for a long time. Moreover, some developed countries often take all kinds of "standards" as the reason, take patented technology as the shield, constantly formulate harsh technical standards by virtue of their technical advantages, and take advantage of their leading position in international standards bodies to incorporate their own technical regulations, technical standards and testing methods into international standards as much as possible, set up and use technical standards to restrict foreign trade exports of other countries, and then weaken the cost advantage of developing countries by means of technical barriers, thus completing the process of transforming from simple tariff barriers to complex technical barriers. This is also a factor for the long-standing and continuous development of technical barriers in international trade.

2 the importance of technical standards in international trade

In today's international trade, trade disputes surrounding technical barriers are increasing day by day. On the surface, it is a trade dispute, and the essence behind it is the dispute over technical standards. As the main form of technical barriers, technical standards have played an important role in international trade in recent years. In the traditional concept, technical standards are mainly to ensure the interchangeability and universality of products. Today, technical standards have gone far beyond the concepts of universality and interchangeability of parts, and become more technical barriers for a country to implement trade protection, and even become an important factor restricting a country's economic development and international competitiveness.

2. 1 As a technical barrier, technical standards play a dual role in international trade.

In international trade, technical standards, as the basis for testing whether products conform to standards and regulations, have the functions of promoting trade development and arbitration as the basis for arbitration. But once it becomes a technical barrier, it is more of a protection or barrier (or monopoly). (1) protection function According to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement), countries can formulate technical standards that are in line with their national conditions according to their actual conditions, such as language, region and national customs. This technical standard can protect national security, prevent fraud, protect personal health and safety, protect the life and health of animals and plants, protect the environment, and protect the national industry and national economic interests at the same time, thus constituting trade protection for itself and having a positive protective effect.