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Trade Policy, Standards, and Development in Central America

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2001-03
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2014-08-26
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After reviewing the current state of standards and trade in Central America, the authors suggest top priorities for reform from a trade policy perspective in a new and increasingly important area of public policy and development. They conclude that it makes sense to: a) take a regional rather than a national approach to setting up accreditation, testing, and metrology infrastructure - to share equipment, experts, and information to get more bang out of limited funding; b) promote regional bodies as venues for Central American countries to develop common positions in international discussions of the development of standards; c) regionalize information-gathering efforts and use information technology to disseminate that information rapidly; and d) push for a sunset clause in international standards developments, because standards have value only if adopted and used.
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Hufbauer, Gary Clyde; Kotschwar, Barbara; Wilson, John S.. 2001. Trade Policy, Standards, and Development in Central America. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2576. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19700 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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