Common use of Descriptive Statistics Clause in Contracts

Descriptive Statistics. Our analysis focuses on the two main types on NTMs adopted by TTIP and TPP countries that affect trade flows, namely the SPS and TBT measures. We use the notifications made by these countries to the WTO.8 Each notification provides information on the notifying 8These notifications are used by the WTO in its 2012 World Trade Report (WTO, 2012) and are avail- able via the Integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP) (▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇▇/english/res_e/statis_e/ itip_e.htm). Product codes are often missing from the I-TIP database and were added at the HS 4-digit level by the Centre for WTO Studies of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇/). country (the importer), the affected product (defined at the HS 4-digit level), and the type of measure (SPS vs. TBT). We include all measures notified up to the end of 2012 which means that our dataset is more up to date than that developed by ▇▇▇ et al. (2009) which was the basis for several previous studies.9 However, WTO members are required to notify only new or changed measures, and the notification requirements apply only to measures which differ from international standards, guidelines, or recommendations, or to situations where no standards exist, and, in addition may have a significant impact on trade. As pointed out in the literature, this could affect the results of an analysis of their trade and welfare impacts. Before we present our descriptive statistics, recall that in almost all cases, NTMs are unilateral measures, i.e. they apply to a given product regardless of its origin. Furthermore, the principle of mutual recognition applies among EU Member States. According to this principle, goods and services can move freely across Member States, and national legislation does not have to be harmonized. Therefore, to avoid bias, we exclude intra-EU trade flows from our NTMs analysis. Table 4 provides some statistics on the share of agri-food and non agri-food products (defined at the 6-digit level of the HS classification) affected by at least one NTM, in the US, EU, and TPP countries other than the US. These statistics are further broken down into SPS and TBT measures. A very large share of products is affected by NTMs in these markets; however, our results suggest some differences between agri-food and non agri-food products. TTIP and TPP countries notify SPS and TBT measures on almost all agri-food products. For non agri-food products, the picture is different. For instance, the US notifies fewer NTMs on non agri-food products than the EU and other TPP countries (78.6% vs. 95.8%). Also, NTMs on these products are mainly TBTs. The share of SPS measures notified on non agri-food products is below 20% for the US and the EU and around 50% for the TPP countries (excl. US). All sectors are affected by NTMs, with coverage ratios (i.e. the share of HS6 lines affected by at least one SPS or TBT within a sector) well above 50%.10 For the US, EU, and TPP The recent NTM data collected jointly by the World Bank, the UNCTAD and the African Development Bank and available on the WITS (World Bank’s portal for trade data) were not suitable for the present research since country coverage is limited (data are missing for 8 of the 12 TPP countries, including the US). 9Kee et al. (2009)’s NTM data are for year 2004 in the best case (and are likely to be older for some countries). 10For reasons of space, results are not reported here but are available from the authors.