Business survey on non-tariff measures launched |27 April 2016

Ms Zialor (standing) leading the presentation on the Non-Tariff Measures business survey

A survey which aims at identifying existing obstacles to trade impacting the competitiveness of Seychelles companies in the international market was launched yesterday at the Guy Morel Institute, Ma Joie.

The Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) business survey is being initiated by the International Trade Center (ITC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Blue Economy and is part of the ITC and Seychelles government partnership programme aiming at supporting Seychelles in the implementation of its trade policy for a conducive environment to trade.

The University of Seychelles (UniSey) through the Guy Morel Institute has been contracted as consultant to lead the project on behalf of ITC.

NTMs are official policy measures on export and import, other than ordinary customs tariffs that can potentially have an effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices or both. They are legally set by the government of the exporting, importing or transit country, in contrast to private standards which are not legally set.

This survey intends to put the business perspective in focus, help countries to better understand the non-tariff obstacles companies face and to identify need for concrete actions to help over these obstacles. Therefore the main tool is to conduct direct empirical research through company level surveys.

Surveying directly the business sector enables to assess the impact of non-tariff obstacles on products and sectors as the exporters and importers have to deal with NTM and other obstacles on a day-to-day basis. This is because they know best which challenges they face and to what extent they are affected. The NTM survey will give companies the opportunity to voice their experiences when facing these NTMs.

In her remarks, the dean of the Guy Morel Institute Shella Mohideen said the ITC is currently conducting surveys not only in Seychelles but in many countries of the world.

“The programme has covered so far over 30 countries worldwide where we are trying to make trade more transparent and we want to increase the awareness and understanding of the NTM,” she said.

She also noted that it is important to move forward with this survey in order to collect credible information that UniSey can translate to the ITC.

Presentations on the survey were led by Marie Celine Zialor and Lydia Wirtz.

Present during the ceremony were various companies such as Hunt Deltel, Land Marine, Seychelles Trading Company (STC) and Financial Services Agency (FSA).