La réforme de la réglementation en France: Renforcer l’ouverture du marché à travers la réforme de la réglementation

As traditional barriers to trade have fallen, the impact of domestic regulations on international trade and investment has become more apparent than ever before. While regulations aim at improving the functioning of market economies in a range of fields, such as market competition, business conduct, the labour market, consumer protection, public health and safety or the environment, they may directly or indirectly distort international competition and prevent market participants from taking full advantage of competitive markets. Maintaining an open world trading system requires regulation that promotes global competition and economic integration, thereby avoiding trade disputes and improving trust and mutual confidence across borders. This chapter assesses how the French regulatory system performs from these perspectives and how regulatory reform may contribute to enhancing market openness and the benefits which consumers and producers can reap from open markets. From the perspective of opening the market to international competition, the French record is on the whole positive. The French government and administration have gradually distanced themselves from the interventionist and paternalistic tradition of the State and have committed themselves to developing a regulatory framework supportive of sound market functioning. Nevertheless, there are still some shortcomings in terms of achieving a market-friendly regulatory environment, and these need to be addressed for the country to retain benefits from the progress achieved to date. Available evidence shows that the principles of favouring harmonised standards and of streamlining conformity assessment procedures are widely respected in practice, in particular under the influence of EU and WTO disciplines. Observance of competition principles also offers sound guarantees for the international openness of the French market, and the telecommunications sector offers a good example of such successful opening to competition. In sectors where incumbents still dominate the market, like in the electricity and gas sectors, the role of incumbents will be soon modified owing to the liberalisation of the European market. With respect to the other principles underlying market openness, a number of official or unofficial steps in the right direction have recently been taken. The principles relating to transparency and openness of the decision-making process are also well respected. Prior consultation with interested parties is becoming normal practice with the French administration, although the openness of the decision making process could be improved if such consultation were put on a formal and systematic basis. The principle of nondiscrimination is generally observed in regulatory practices, although a number of exceptions persist. From the viewpoint of market openness, the major weakness in the French regulatory framework has long been the cumbersome rigidity of a system that generated unnecessary restrictions on trade and was regularly criticized by economic players. A number of measures have been taken in recent years to improve and simplify the regulatory framework, and still others are in the course of preparation. These measures are likely to improve the quality of regulation and to create a regulatory environment supportive of market openness, but they are still handicapped to some extent by the persistence of old practices within the administration and the climate of mistrust that has long existed between the administration and the business world. The effectiveness of measures under way can only be assessed in the long term, but France will need to ensure that adopted plans of action translate into concrete changes in the day-to-day workings of government and backed up with communication efforts directed at the business community

La réforme de la réglementation en France: Renforcer l’ouverture du marché à travers la réforme de la réglementation

As traditional barriers to trade have fallen, the impact of domestic regulations on international trade and investment has become more apparent than ever before. While regulations aim at improving the functioning of market economies in a range of fields, such as market competition, business conduct, the labour market, consumer protection, public health and safety or the environment, they may directly or indirectly distort international competition and prevent market participants from taking full advantage of competitive markets. Maintaining an open world trading system requires regulation that promotes global competition and economic integration, thereby avoiding trade disputes and improving trust and mutual confidence across borders. This chapter assesses how the French regulatory system performs from these perspectives and how regulatory reform may contribute to enhancing market openness and the benefits which consumers and producers can reap from open markets. From the perspective of opening the market to international competition, the French record is on the whole positive. The French government and administration have gradually distanced themselves from the interventionist and paternalistic tradition of the State and have committed themselves to developing a regulatory framework supportive of sound market functioning. Nevertheless, there are still some shortcomings in terms of achieving a market-friendly regulatory environment, and these need to be addressed for the country to retain benefits from the progress achieved to date. Available evidence shows that the principles of favouring harmonised standards and of streamlining conformity assessment procedures are widely respected in practice, in particular under the influence of EU and WTO disciplines. Observance of competition principles also offers sound guarantees for the international openness of the French market, and the telecommunications sector offers a good example of such successful opening to competition. In sectors where incumbents still dominate the market, like in the electricity and gas sectors, the role of incumbents will be soon modified owing to the liberalisation of the European market. With respect to the other principles underlying market openness, a number of official or unofficial steps in the right direction have recently been taken. The principles relating to transparency and openness of the decision-making process are also well respected. Prior consultation with interested parties is becoming normal practice with the French administration, although the openness of the decision making process could be improved if such consultation were put on a formal and systematic basis. The principle of nondiscrimination is generally observed in regulatory practices, although a number of exceptions persist. From the viewpoint of market openness, the major weakness in the French regulatory framework has long been the cumbersome rigidity of a system that generated unnecessary restrictions on trade and was regularly criticized by economic players. A number of measures have been taken in recent years to improve and simplify the regulatory framework, and still others are in the course of preparation. These measures are likely to improve the quality of regulation and to create a regulatory environment supportive of market openness, but they are still handicapped to some extent by the persistence of old practices within the administration and the climate of mistrust that has long existed between the administration and the business world. The effectiveness of measures under way can only be assessed in the long term, but France will need to ensure that adopted plans of action translate into concrete changes in the day-to-day workings of government and backed up with communication efforts directed at the business community

Policy and performance in customs: Evaluating the trade facilitation agreement

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.This paper links cross‐country variation in trade facilitation policies to prominent indicators of national customs and logistics performance. We test the hypotheses that the policy data explain variation in the performance indicators, independent of other country characteristics that are plausibly exogenous to changes in trade facilitation policies. We use a LASSO procedure to choose among the many potential explanatory variables in the model. In general we find that country characteristics related to geography, income, and the general quality of governance better explain cross‐country variation in customs and logistics performance than do the measures of trade facilitation policy.Government of SwedenGovernment of NorwayGovernment of the United Kingdo

The Cost of Introducing and Implementing Trade Facilitation Measures: Interim Report

This report presents preliminary findings from a series of country surveys on the costs of introducing and implementing trade facilitation measures. It was prepared in response to concerns with respect to the cost implications of a future WTO agreement on trade facilitation and will be complemented in the near future by additional data from a wider range of developing and least-developed countries. The report contains observations with respect to the methodology of assessing trade facilitation costs and highlights common cost features in the various country experiences.capacity building, trade facilitation, costs, developing countries, customs

Transparency Mechanisms and Non-Tariff Measures: Case Studies

Lack of regulatory transparency is a major and recurrent obstacle for businesses seeking to trade internationally. This study finds that transparency mechanisms applied at different stages of the design, finalisation and implementation of domestic regulation have allowed countries to reduce administrative burdens, generate savings both for the administration and for the private sector and maintain a relation of confidence conducive to a smoother enforcement of related policies. They have also helped them enhance the readability of laws and regulations and the predictability of their enforcement (thus further reducing indirect business costs), and prevent potential frictions with trading partners. The resulting improvements in terms of potential business costs can strongly influence the attractiveness of the country for foreign investors.transparency, market access, administrative burdens, non-tariff measures, regulatory impact assessment, public consultation, regulation

Special and Differential Treatment in the Area of Trade Facilitation

Annex D of the July 2004 Decision of the WTO General Council indicates that "the principle (of special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries) should extend beyond the granting of traditional transition periods for implementing commitments. In particular, the extent and the timing of entering into commitments shall be related to the implementation capacities of developing and least-developed Members." The objective of this study is to offer reflections on how special and differential treatment for trade facilitation may be shaped by the cost implications of measures included in the future agreement. It is based on findings of OECD work on the costs of trade facilitation measures, which confirms that different countries - even at an equivalent level of development - face different situations and present differing implementation capacities, and points to the relative complexity of implementation of the different measures proposed for inclusion in a future trade facilitation agreement.capacity building, special and differential treatment, benefits, trade facilitation, costs, least developed countries, implementation, developing countries

Trade-Related Measures Based on Processes and Production Methods in the Context of Climate-Change Mitigation

This paper provides an overview of existing measures relating to non-product-related processes and production methods (PPMs) adopted in the context of climate-change-mitigation policies, especially those linked to the life-cycle greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions of particular products. Such domestic PPM-related requirements and schemes are important policy tools for promoting sustainable development and are aimed at addressing GHG emissions resulting from the activities involved in producing, processing and transporting the product to the final consumer. Their ostensive purpose is to promote better environmental outcomes and to ensure that domestic climate-change policies and incentives do not inadvertently undermine other environmental objectives. Even though the general objectives of the reviewed regulations and private schemes are comparable (e.g. the promotion of renewable-energy sources, or provision of information on the carbon footprint of goods), the approaches, level of detail, choices of instruments and targeted environmental characteristics vary considerably from country to country and from scheme to scheme. Some regulations rely more or less extensively on market mechanisms, attaching price premiums to certain types of products. Others introduce command-and-control provisions limiting the use of certain PPMs, variously defined in different countries. Still others target certain types of fuels eligible for public support, with varying eligibility criteria. Private schemes mainly use environmental sustainability claims to secure consumer preference. The choice of different instruments presumably entails different trade impacts. However, all of the reviewed measures and schemes are fairly new, and experience with their application and therefore their potential trade effects has so far been relatively limited.trade policy, trade and environment, environmental provisions, processes and production methods

Trade Facilitation Indicators: The Impact on Trade Costs

This report presents the findings of the OECD indicators for assessing the economic and trade impact of specific trade facilitation measures in OECD countries. Twelve trade facilitation indicators (TFIs) have been constructed, corresponding to the main policy areas under negotiation at the WTO, with the aim to estimate the impact of addressing specific facilitation hurdles in the trade procedures of a given country. For OECD countries, the policy areas that seem to have the greatest impact on trade volumes and trade costs are advance rulings, information availability, formalities and procedures and inter-agency cooperation. If all TFIs are added their cost reduction potential would reach almost 10% of trade costs, which is an estimate consistent with existing literature. The use of individual trade facilitation indicators should enable countries to better assess which trade facilitation dimensions deserve priority. The OECD TFI project is now expanded to cover countries outside the OECD area.transparency, trade facilitation, WTO, trade flows, trade costs, simplification, customs

Non‐discriminatory Trade Policies in Panel Structural Gravity Models: Evidence from Monte Carlo Simulations

This paper provides Monte Carlo (MC) simulation evidence on the performance of methods used for identifying the effects of nondiscriminatory trade policy (NDTP) variables in panel structural gravity models. The benchmarked methods include a fixed effect (FE) estimator that utilizes data on intra national trade flows, the bonus‐vetus (BV) and the two‐stage fixed effect (FE‐2S) estimator. The results indicate that only the FE estimates are unbiased and consistent under very general assumptions of the data generating process. The favourable asymptotic properties of the FE estimator unfold as the number of period T increases