College International Trade Graduation Thesis The Important Role of Technical Standards in International Trade Abstract: It discusses that technical barriers have gradually replaced tariffs and other non-tariff barriers and become the main body of today's international trade barriers, and will exist for a long time. Continuous development; explore the important role that technical standards play in international trade; put forward suggestions for strengthening the construction of my country's technical standards system and improving and formulating my country's technical standards. Keywords: technical standards, technical barriers, international trade With the development of economic globalization and trade liberalization, especially after joining the WTO, my country's international trade has become more frequent, and enterprise exports have grown rapidly. However, while Chinese enterprises are enjoying the convenience brought by trade liberalization, they are also deeply aware of the increasing obstacles from technical standards. A considerable number of products frequently encounter foreign technical barriers mainly based on technical standards, and exports have were hindered, and some were even forced to withdraw from the market. A survey shows that in 2002, 71% of my country's export enterprises and 39% of its export products were restricted by foreign technical barriers, causing losses of US$17 billion, equivalent to 5.2% of that year's export volume. Technical barriers, mainly based on technical standards, have become the main barriers to international trade today. 1 The development trend of international trade barriers 1.1 Trade barriers are undergoing structural changes in today's international trade, 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. Technical barriers are a major form of non-tariff barriers. Technical barriers are mainly supported by technology and refer to some technical measures taken by a country on the grounds of national security, ensuring human health and safety, protecting the ecological environment, preventing fraud, and ensuring product quality. Technical barriers appear in the form of technical standards, technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures, etc. Their main content and form are technical standards. Standards and intellectual property technical barriers 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 non-tariff barriers, such as the direct use of import quotas, import licenses and other measures to restrict imports, they are often condemned by international public opinion and are prone to reciprocal retaliation, so they are becoming increasingly rare. However, because of their rationality and concealment, technical barriers are often used by developed countries for trade protection, thus making them gradually become a new trade barrier that replaces tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, and have also become the main reason why developed countries implement trade protectionism. Means and forms, and become an important factor affecting the development of international trade in the 21st century. In the 1970s, only 10% to 30% of the non-tariff barriers that affected my country's international trade were technical trade barriers. After entering the 1990s, this proportion gradually increased. At present, at least two-thirds of my country'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 an inevitable outcome 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 approved by the WTO. recognition and legality. At the same time, with the internationalization of technical standards in various countries, some technical barriers will be eliminated, but new technical barriers will continue to be generated and updated with the development of science and technology and safety and environmental protection requirements, which determines that technical barriers will be in the international Trade has existed and continued to develop for a long time. Not only that, some developed countries often use various "standards" as excuses, use patented technology as a shield, rely on their technological advantages to continuously formulate demanding technical standards, and use their leadership in international standards organizations to maximize their benefits. The country's technical regulations, technical standards, testing methods, etc. are incorporated into international standards, and technical standards are set and used to restrict the foreign trade exports of other countries, thereby using technical barriers to weaken the cost advantages of developing countries and completing the transition from simple tariff barriers to complex ones. The process of transformation of technical barriers. This is also a factor why technical barriers will exist and continue to develop in international trade for a long time. 2. The Importance of Technical Standards in International Trade In today’s international trade, trade disputes surrounding technical barriers are increasing. On the surface, it is a trade dispute, but the essence behind it is a dispute over technical standards. As the main form of technical barriers, technical standards have highlighted their important role in international trade in recent years.
In the traditional concept, technical standards are mainly to ensure the interchangeability and versatility of products. Today, technical standards have gone far beyond the concept of universality and interchangeability of parts and components, and have become more of a technical barrier for a country to implement trade protection, and even become an important factor restricting a country's economic development and international competitiveness. 2.1 Technical standards play a dual role in international trade as technical barriers. In international trade, technical standards serve as the basis for testing whether products comply with standards and regulations, and have the role of promoting trade development and serving as the basis for arbitration. However, once they become technical Barrier, it plays more of a protective role or barrier (or monopoly) role. (1) The protective effect is based on the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, also known as the TBT Agreement. Countries can formulate technical standards in line with their own national conditions based on their own actual conditions, such as language, region, ethnic customs, etc., and based on their own interests. This kind of technical standard can protect national security, prevent fraud, protect personal health and safety, protect animal and plant life and health, protect the environment, and at the same time protect the country's national industry and national economic interests, thereby constituting trade protection for itself and having a positive protective effect. . (2) Barriers or monopoly effects. Some countries use their own economic, technological, patent and other advantages to formulate some harsh technical indicators or require the use of patented technology, intentionally or unintentionally restrict the import of other countries’ products, or monopolize the technology of a certain industry. At this time, technical standards play a negative barrier or monopoly role. Today, this practice is often exploited by developed countries, and developing countries become its victims. For example, the European OKO-Ecological Textile Standard 100 requires the content of certain substances in clothing and textiles to be as high as PPb, with the requirement for styrene not exceeding 5PPb and ethylene cyclohexane not exceeding 2PPb. This undoubtedly gives Textile export trade in developing countries poses great difficulties. On the one hand, due to limited technology, it is difficult for developing countries to control PPb levels; on the other hand, due to limited economic and experimental conditions, it is impossible to detect PPb level substances. If testing by testing institutions in developed countries is very expensive, the cost will inevitably increase. Another example is the international standard in the field of CDMA mobile communications, which is backed by more than 1,400 patents of Qualcomm in the United States. When companies adopt this standard, they also have to adopt its patents. In many cases, technical standards have a "double-edged nature" at the same time, having both positive protective effects and negative barrier and monopoly effects. It is a protective effect for me, but it is a barrier or monopoly effect for you. 2.2 To a certain extent, technical standards have become an important factor restricting national economic development and national economic competitiveness. In today's society, whoever has the power to formulate technical standards can effectively take the initiative in competition and obtain the greatest economic benefits. Benefit. That’s what it means: “Those who hold the standard will win the world.” Because technical standards often determine the technical route of a product or even an industry, once a technical standard is formulated, everyone can only follow this technical route, and it can affect related industries. Especially when patented technology is embedded in a standard and becomes an international standard, the benefits it brings directly reflect the interests of the country. At the end of last year, the Ministry of Information Industry of my country promulgated its own WAPI wireless LAN standard, which caused a huge wave in the Chinese and American IT circles. The essence is that the Wi-Fi wireless LAN standard led by large American companies and the Chinese government advocated The standard battle for WAPI wireless LAN. Take the patent fee incident in my country's DVD industry in recent years. Since the international standards of DVD are formulated and controlled by European and American countries, every product produced by Chinese companies needs to pay a certain patent fee. These are the power of "technical standards"! As Xu Guanhua, Minister of Science and Technology, said: "In today's world, whoever has the power to formulate standards will have the initiative in technological and economic competition to a certain extent." Therefore, to a certain extent, technical standards are no longer just a technical issue. They have risen to the level of international economic and trade relations and become an important factor restricting a country's foreign trade and national economic competitiveness. 3 Strengthen the construction of my country's technical standards system, improve and formulate my country's technical standards. Since technical barriers with technical standards as the main content and main form have gradually replaced tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, they have become the main body of today's international trade barriers and will exist for a long time. Continuous development, and technical standards play an important role in today's international trade, then we should fully understand and pay attention to technical standards, and build technical standards that are conducive to my country's international trade and enhance my country's international competitiveness.
That is to say, enterprises are encouraged to adopt international advanced technical standards as soon as possible, actively participate in international standardization activities and the formulation and revision of international standards, and strive to incorporate my country's national standards into international standards while improving and formulating my country's technical standards. Currently, many developed countries are turning their attention to standards. Through the establishment of technical elements and technical indicators in technical standards, they have established their own technical trade barrier systems. We should also make full use of the principle of limited intervention in the TBT agreement and the preferential policies for developing countries, improve and formulate our country's technical standards, and establish our own technical barrier system on the premise of promoting technological progress; some Chinese enterprises can achieve Technical indicators that are difficult for foreign companies to achieve and that are unique to my country's national conditions have been formulated into national standards, and at the same time, national industries have been reasonably protected. For a country without its own technical standard system or technical barriers, it is like an undefended city. At present, the vast majority of our country's products are actually produced in accordance with the technical standards of Western countries, especially the United States. In the short term, it can save development costs and quickly expand market share; but in the long term, this "follow-up" Such practices will always make companies become other people's "wage earners" and even threaten the country's security and interests. Moreover, we have a huge market. When we formulate our own technical standards, some foreign companies will tend to accept our country's technical standards in order to ensure that they are not abandoned by the Chinese market. Some small countries will also be attracted to my country's technical standards, especially neighboring countries in Asia. Because the markets in these countries are small, it is difficult to form independent scale market effects, so they must rely on countries with huge market potential. In order to seize the huge business opportunities in the Chinese market, companies in these countries will inevitably adopt my country's technical standards. In this way, our country's technical standards will be recognized by everyone. Even if they cannot become international standards, they will become recognized de facto standards. In the long run, they will also play a significant role in our country's international trade. References 1 Ye Bolin. How to deal with technical barriers in international trade. China Standardization, 20012 Guangdong Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau website, www.gdqts.gov.cn/wto.asp 3 Sina, www.finance.sina.com.cn /