Annex B 1.3: Mechanism to Identify and Address Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs)

Area of Cooperation

Trade and Investment

Purpose

Singapore and Australia mutually decide to cooperate on identifying and addressing NTBs to trade in environmental goods and services, that will assist in reducing costs for exporters, increasing deployment of and access to green and low-emissions technology, and addressing the broader challenges of climate change. This will be achieved through government-to-government (G2G) cooperation, as well as engagement with business and industry. 

Description

This Mechanism reinforces existing G2G bilateral and multilateral collaborative arrangements to identify and address NTBs, including as outlined in free trade agreements which Singapore and Australia are parties to. We will continue to utilise these arrangements where possible, to address NTBs related to green economy.

This Mechanism reaffirms Singapore’s and Australia’s respective domestic processes and mechanisms to address NTBs. Singapore will leverage its regular consultations with domestic stakeholders, such as businesses and trade associations and chambers, to understand and identify the needs and challenges including trade barriers faced by businesses, and possible ways to address them. Australia will utilise its existing trade barrier reporting portal, which is used by interested Australian stakeholders (i.e., exporting businesses) to report potential NTBs, understand the Government’s approach to addressing them and utilise available resources. Australia’s trade barrier reporting portal can be found on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

This Mechanism provides the opportunity for Singapore and Australia to engage in dialogue on identified NTBs related to bilateral trade in environmental goods and services, with a view to work collaboratively to address these NTBs. This also includes the opportunity for relevant dialogues between Singapore and Australia on NTBs imposed by other trading partners affecting trade in environmental goods and services under discussion in regional, plurilateral and multilateral platforms such as the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committees, and Regional Trade Agreement Committees (e.g. under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area).

Singapore and Australia will seek to apply this Mechanism more broadly in future Green Economy Agreements with other interested trade partners.

Specific Objectives

• To identify NTBs in relation to bilateral trade in environmental goods and services, including those that are captured by the GEA environmental goods and services lists. 
• To promote ongoing stakeholder engagement by Singapore and Australia to help identify and address NTBs.
• To enhance dialogue between Singapore and Australia on NTBs affecting trade in environmental goods and services or mutually decided environmental measures which may act as NTBs in regional, plurilateral and multilateral platforms.

Governance Process

Singapore and Australia will jointly report to the GEA Action Team (GAT) identified in the GEA Appendix: Governance, Implementation and Institutional Matters. The Parties will report progress of the Mechanism in achieving the Specific Objectives outlined above in this Annex. This will feed into GAT reporting for the annual Senior Officials Meeting.

Project Leads

Singapore

Ministry for Trade and Industry

Australia

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade