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Survey Number:

QUESTIONNAIRE ON NON-TARIFF BARRIERS Questionnaire for Exporters/Importers

The purpose of this survey is to identify and understand major constraints that hinder the ability of business to increase cross-border sales, with the ultimate goal of providing trade policymakers and negotiators with up-to-date information on obstacles to international trade. Answers will be treated as strictly confidential and will not be attributed to yourself or your company. We thank you in advance for your time and cooperation!

Basic Information Respondent Name*: Respondent Job Title: Company Name*: City: Phone number*: Fax number: Email: Company's URL:

* Required field Comment ca: Not every company might have an email address. Structure and Content In Section 1, you are asked about your company. Please fill in where appropriate. Section 2 provides you with templates to fill in the problems you may be experiencing with exporting/importing your products. If a page is not sufficient, please make as many copies as necessary. Web Portal for reporting NTBs A web version of this survey is available at http://ntbinfo.org. More information on nontariff measures and the multi-agency pilot project on collection and quantification of nontariff measures is available at this site. Also an electronic version of this questionnaire can be downloaded from there.

This questionnaire is a part of a multi-agency pilot project on collection and quantification of non-tariff measures executed jointly by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Trade Centre (ITC). Other collaborating agencies include FAO, IMF, OECD, UNIDO, the World Bank and WTO. For further information, please contact: Thailand@ntbinfo.org.

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Section 1: About your company

Q1: What is the nature of your company?
The primary business (multiple options) Manufacturing Trading company Multinational company Other; please specify:

Q2: What is the extent of foreign ownership of your company?

No foreign ownership Foreign partner(s) have less than or equal to 50% ownership Foreign partner(s) have more than 50% ownership

Q3: How long has your business been in operation?

Less than 5 years More than 5 years

Q4: How many people other than yourself does your business employ?
0 (no employees other than myself) 1-9 (in addition to myself) 10-20 21-50 50 or more

Q5: What is your annual turnover?

Less than More than

Q6: Which statement best describes the level of exporting activity for your company?
50% or more of product(s) are exported (how much: %)

Some of the product(s) are exported, but the company is interested in exporting a higher share. To which markets? Company is currently not exporting, but has an interest in doing so in future None of the above

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Q7: What are your main export/import products? To/from which countries are you currently exporting/importing them, or are intending to do so?
Countries you are intending to trade with

Countries you are currently trading with Importer /Exporter I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E

Nr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Product Description

Country 1

Country 2

Country 3

Country 4

Country 5

Country 6

Country 7

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Section 2: Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) affecting your products

Please fill out the following templates. Annex 1 provides detailed guide with some concrete examples. Use as many templates as there are distinct cases of problems. Please number the cases starting from 1. Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

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Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

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Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

Case
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand

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Section 3: International Norms and Standards

Please answer the following questions if you have reported problems related to A100: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations (SPS) and/or B200:Technical Regulations (B200) in Section 2. Q1: If you reported those problems in Section 2: Is it feasible/ technically not feasible/ financially not feasible for you to adopt your products to the regulations applied by your destination countries? Please indicate the case number as provided in Section 2 and provide the country name
Nr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Case Nr Country: Feasible Technically not feasible Financially not feasible

Q2:

Among the cases listed above, are you aware if international norms are available for the affected products? No Yes If yes, for which regulations listed above, the norms applied by the destination country differ from the international ones? Please use numbers as listed above Nr.:

Q3:

Did the technical regulations by your destination countries change during the past years? Please use numbers as indicated above Yes, but exceptionally. This was the case for following numbers:

Yes, frequently. This was the case for the following numbers:

No

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If regulations did change during the past years, a) Did they become More complex for the cases: Less complex for the cases: No changes in terms of complexity: b) Did it happen to you, that as a consequence of changed regulations, you had to stop exporting to this market? No Yes, in the following cases:

Q4:

How are you informed about these changed or new regulation schemes? Please specify By domestic information sources:

By foreign/international information sources:

Q5:

Do you feel well informed by this source about changing regulation schemes? No Yes

If No, are you aware of better information sources? Please specify No Yes:

If Yes, why are you not using these information sources? Do not know how to get access to it Too costly Technical difficulties (e.g. language constraints, lack of infrastructure), please specify: Other:

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Q6: Did you experience any positive affect by complying with foreign technical regulations (e.g. Increased sales on domestic market) No Yes

If yes, please specify which (several answers possible): Increased sales on domestic market Reduced entry barriers to third markets Facilitation of having access to intellectual property rights Other:

Comments:

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Section4: Guide to filling out templates in Section 2

We would like to collect information on non-tariff barriers affecting negatively your trade with your partner countries. If you are an exporter, it may be affected by import policy or practice of the importing countries, or by export policy of your own country. If you are an importer, your products may be affected by an NTB imposed by your own country or export restriction by the exporting countries. Please report each distinct case separately by filling in the following five elements. To avoid confusion, multiple entries are only permitted in ONE of the last four elements. (For example, if you have indicated more than one product, then you could only indicate one partner country, one NTB policy and one nature of the problem). Exporter/Importer: This is your country. Please indicate whether you are exporting or importing the product concerned, by striking out Importer or Exporter, respectively. Product: Please describe the product(s), which have been affected by a non-tariff barrier. Alternatively, you could specify your product in terms of a Harmonized System code at 4 or 6 digits. Importer/Exporter: This is your trading partner country. Importing country if you are an exporter, or exporting country if you are an importer. Affecting NTB policy: This is the main information. We have classified potential barriers into a few categories/sub-categories, which is presented in hierarchical order in Annex 1. Please select the NTB policy measure that describes the one affecting your product and indicate the corresponding alphanumeric code. If you do not find an appropriate measure, please describe the measure in your own words in the template. Nature of problems: Faced with an NTB policy measure indicated above, what is the nature of the problem in applying the measure or meeting the requirement thereof? We have grouped together those potential procedural obstacles in Annex 2. Please select from the list and indicate the corresponding alphanumeric code. If you do not find an appropriate obstacle in the list, please describe the obstacle in your own words in the template. If the measure itself is a problem, please enter n.a. for not applicable. Example 1: You are a Thai exporter of spices and tea. In trying to export your products to Japan, you face a sanitary requirement imposed by Japan that obliges you to test your products in a manner specified in the requirement. You feel that, while your products do satisfy the requirement, the testing requirement is too restrictive and redundant. Example 1:
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand Spices and Tea Japan A330 C2

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Example 2: You are a Thai exporter of T-shirts. In trying to export your products to Brazil, China, UK and USA, you face a same technical requirement imposed by all four countries that obliges you to label the shirt with specific information. The specific requirement as to what information is to be included in the label changes very frequently and at times without any prior warning. Example 2:
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand T-shirts (HS 6109) Brazil, China, UK, USA B211 D2

Example 3: You are a Thai importer of passenger cars. In trying to import them from France, you need to obtain an import license from Thai Ministry of Commerce. In addition, you need to pay additional registration fee. To obtain a license, you need to fill an application form with many supporting documents, which is extremely time consuming. The registration fee is three times more than the equivalent car assembled in Thailand. Example 3.1:
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand Passenger Motor cars (HS 8703) France E110 C1

Example 3.2:
Exporter/Importer: Product: Importer/Exporter Affecting NTB policy: Nature of problems: Thailand Passenger Motor cars (HS 8703) France F290 Car Registration Fee F1

Note: As you are facing two distinct measures (Import License and Registration Fee), each of which is giving you different type of procedural problem (Too much documentation and Unusually high fees), we would like you to fill two separate templates.

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