Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
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7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This report has examined the issues of international standards and harmonization from the perspective
of the OIC’s diverse membership. International harmonization is of importance to OIC member states for
two main reasons. First, the WTO Agreements that deal with product standards give a special role to
international standards: they are assumed to be genuinely regulatory in nature, as opposed to
protectionist, and to constitute a means of regulation that does not unduly restrict trade. Countries can
therefore leverage international standards as a way of ensuring compliance with their obligations under
international trade law. Second, there is a strong export competitiveness basis for appropriately using
international standards: they give access to a wide range of countries for payment of a single set of
design and development costs, and so allow firms to reap economies of scale. Linked to this insight is the
fact that international standards are particularly important in the context of GVC production platforms:
lead firms need components that are of high and uniform quality, and which are interoperable with
other components sourced from firms in different locations. Lead firms therefore often require their
suppliers to be compliant with a range of international standards, which means that countries that are
interested in helping their firms join and move up in GVCs have a strong interest in making appropriate
use of international harmonization.
A review of SPS measures and TBTs in major OIC markets—focusing on key products for the three
regional groups—shows that OIC countries’ exports are subject to a wide range of standards-related
measures. TBTs are prevalent across numerous sectors, and SPS measures are a serious issue for
agricultural exporters. Although oil exporters are subject to fewer requirements than other countries
because of the nature of their main product, primary and manufactured goods both typically must
comply with a range of standards in import markets. Evidence from the case studies suggests that
countries have varying capacity to meet those requirements. A country like Bangladesh has enjoyed
success in international markets, but primarily in one sector. Intra-regional trade, where standards may
not be as demanding as in the European and American markets, is important for Egypt and Senegal.
Nonetheless, even regional markets can exhibit significant standards-related measures, as in the case of
Nigeria where the electrical equipment sector is subject to a large number of mandatory standards.
Taking all of these data points together, it is likely that most if not all OIC member states see their
exports significantly affected by product standards. The export competitiveness rationale suggests that
they have an interest in upgrading quality infrastructure, including through increased use of
international standards.
Although data are not available for many OIC member states, the information that has been made
available for the purposes of this report suggests varying degrees of harmonization with international