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2.2 WTO-notified quantitative restrictions, by type and member income group, 2018–19
Restrictions and prohibitions. Quantitative restrictions on imports and exports of medical goods include nonautomatic licensing requirements, outright prohibitions, and qualified prohibitions. Quantitative restrictions can take many forms, but in the case of medical goods they typically consist of nonautomatic licensing requirements (50 percent of all notified measures) and full prohibitions (19 percent), followed by other types of restrictions, such as prohibitions except under specific conditions (31 percent).2
World Trade Organization (WTO) member economies use these measures to ensure that medical goods meet specific safety, quality, and efficacy standards and do not pose any risk to human, animal, and plant life or health. In 2018–19, prohibitions and restrictions on both exports and imports most heavily affected pharmaceutical products, PPE, and other medical supplies such as syringes, needles, disinfectants, and oxygen (figure 2.2). Import and export licensing procedures vary significantly by economy.
Figure 2.2 WTO-notified quantitative restrictions, by type and member income group, 2018–19
Upper-middle- income Import
Export
Lower-middle- income Import
Export
High-income Import
Export
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Number of notified restrictions
Prohibition Other restrictions Licensing Source: World Trade Organization (WTO) Quantitative Restrictions Database. Note: Only about 50 percent of WTO members submit quantitative restrictions notifications, with many least developed countries and other low- and middle-income members missing. For more information, see the Quantitative Restrictions Database: https://qr.wto.org/en#/home. The income categories of WTO member economies are according to World Bank classifications.
Trade facilitation measures Trade facilitation measures have significant benefits for trade in medical goods. They aim to create a more transparent and predictable trading environment that accelerates release and clearance procedures. This is especially important for medical goods because, as discussed in chapter 1, they are essential and their production is concentrated in a small number of larger economies, so trade can generate significant gains. Trade facilitation is particularly relevant for the small subset of goods, such as vaccines, that rapidly decay and need special storage. In times of crisis like a pandemic, trade facilitation is vital.
Releases and clearances at the border. Some facilitation measures are particularly important for products that must cross borders rapidly and reliably, such as PPE, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals.For instance, it is crucial to facilitate the release and clearance processes at the border by allowing certain procedures to take place before or after the good has reached the border (for instance, through provisions on prearrival processing or postclearance audit). Similarly, payment of duties, taxes, and charges collected by customs through electronic means can speed the movement of medical goods across borders.
Reduced data and inspection requirements. Trade can also be accelerated by granting facilitation measures—as appropriate—such as low documentary and data requirements or a low rate of physical inspections and examinations to operators who meet specified criteria such as a good compliance record. Additional benefits can be reaped by implementing measures on expedited shipments. These measures reward importers who meet criteria such as submission before the shipment’s arrival of the information necessary for accelerated clearance and release.
Other measures. Other trade facilitation measures important for medical goods include
• Allowing the release of perishable goods by customs or other authorities before final determination of applicable duties, taxes, fees, and charges; • Simplifying import and export fees and charges as well as related formalities; • Allowing goods to be brought into a customs territory conditionally relieved from payment of import duties and taxes (a particularly helpful measure during a health crisis); • Creating a “single window portal,” which allows traders to submit all required documentation and data requirements through a sole entry point, avoiding the need for multiple inputs to multiple authorities and agencies; • Improving cooperation between border agencies within and between countries (for example, through alignment of procedures and formalities, harmonized working hours, shared facilities, joint controls, and border controls); and • Enabling the free transit of goods before they reach their final destination (especially important for landlocked lower-middle-income countries [LMICs]).