Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
49
The first point to note from the figures is that SPS and TBT frequency varies markedly across sectors,
and therefore across regional groups according to export composition. Although a number of sectors of
export interest to OIC member states are not subject in any significant way to SPS measures—which
have a scope limited to human and plant life and health—those sectors where SPS is an issue see a very
high frequency rate of close to 100% (for example, cocoa and animal and vegetable fats). TBTs are more
of an issue in most sectors—a fact that is often not recognized, as TBTs are seen as being relevant to
manufacturing sectors with SPS being relevant to agriculture, but in fact TBTs are important in both
cases. In a general sense, the African group is less subject to TBTs than the other two groups, but one of
its main exports (wood products) has a 90% frequency rate for TBTs. In the Arab and Asian groups,
particularly the latter, TBT frequency is often at or close to 100%. The net result of this analysis is that
all OIC regional groups have an interest in developing national standards capacity so that they can meet
the requirements of markets like the EU. Of course, product mix matters for assessing SPS and TBT
frequency. For instance, oil exporters are generally subject to fewer standards-related requirements
than exporters of simple manufactured goods (TBTs) or agricultural commodities (SPS measures). Part
of the reason is that EU governments are keen to facilitate imports of oil at low cost, so they impose a
minimum of non-tariff barriers. In other sectors, by contrast, there is more of an incentive to protect
local production. In addition, oil exports only need to satisfy basic criteria of quality, as they do not enter
directly into the human consumption chain in the way food imports do. Nonetheless, the general picture
that emerges is that in a market like the EU, standards are important in most areas of key export interest
to the OIC’s membership, as indicated by the fact that in many cases, 90% or more of product lines are
covered by TBTs in the EU, with coverage of relevant products similarly high for SPS measures.