slowly from Latin American and Caribbean countries than from the rest of the world

There is a potential role for deep PTAs within the Latin America and Caribbean region to integrate SPS and TBT measures. This will further enhance GVC participation through improved market access for export goods and better access to imports of intermediate inputs.

Examining SPS and TBT notifications to the WTO

A second way to establish the importance of SPS and TBT for WTO members is to examine the number of yearly notifications of new SPS and TBT measures that each country makes to the WTO.10 Notifications in Latin America and the Caribbean have grown more slowly than they have outside the region.

Notifications about new SPS measures have hovered around 300 per year for all Latin American and Caribbean countries, growing slightly since 2005 (figure 4.2, panel a). Notifications about new TBT measures average about 200 a year for the region’s countries and have also grown slightly since 2005 (figure 4.2, panel b). Since 1995, there has been a stronger growth in new SPS and TBT notifications outside the region.

Until 2000, richer countries were the biggest notifiers of SPS and TBT measures in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since then, many other countries in the region have become important notifiers. But a shift is observed over the past two decades in individual country notifications of new SPS and TBT measures to the WTO: up to 2000,

Figure 4.2 Notifications to the WTO of SPS measures and TBT provisions have grown more slowly from Latin American and Caribbean countries than from the rest of the world

New SPS notifications 2,000

a. SPS notifications, 1995–2020

30,000

1,000 15,000

0 19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020 0

New SPS notifications, Latin America and the Caribbean (left scale) New SPS notifications, RoW (left scale) Cumulative notifications, Latin America and the Caribbean (right scale) Cumulative notifications, RoW (right scale) Cumulative SPS notifications

Continued

Figure 4.2 Notifications to the WTO of SPS measures and TBT provisions have grown more slowly from Latin American and Caribbean countries than from the rest of the world (continued)

New TBT notifications 2,000

1,000

b. TBT notifications, 1995–2020

30,000

15,000

0 19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020 0 Cumulative TBT notifications

New TBT notifications, Latin America and the Caribbean (left scale) New TBT notifications, RoW (left scale) Cumulative notifications, Latin America and the Caribbean (right scale) Cumulative notifications, RoW (right scale) Source: World Trade Organization (WTO) database of official notifications of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT). Note: The figures show the number of regular and emergency notifications of SPS and TBT measures made to the WTO by Latin America and Caribbean countries versus all other countries from 1995 to 2020. RoW = rest of the world.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico were the countries that had notified the largest cumulative number of new SPS and TBT measures to the WTO. But by 2020, almost all Latin American and Caribbean countries were notifying new SPS and TBT measures to the WTO.11

Examining concerns raised in WTO committees

A third way to establish the importance of SPS and TBT is to examine the number of concerns raised by members of the WTO committees on SPS and TBT about measures imposed by particular countries. These SPS- and TBT-specific trade concerns are viewed as capturing de facto trade barriers (Fontagné et al. 2015). These WTO committee members raise more concerns about TBT measures in Latin American and Caribbean countries than about the region’s SPS measures (figure 4.3, panels a and b).

Fewer concerns have been reported since 2010 about the imposition of SPS in the region. In contrast, there has been faster growth in specific trade concerns about both SPS and TBT measures imposed by countries outside the region.