Assessing the Impact of Non-Tariff Barriers in the EEU: Results of Enterprise Surveys

After the establishment of the Customs Union (CU) and the Single Economic Space (SES), Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have repeatedly stated the need to eliminate exemptions, limitations, and barriers to mutual trade in goods and services. This report represents the first stage of a study on the economic impact of reduction within the SES and the emerging Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade among Member States. It gives an overview of works on the definition and classification of NTBs, and the quantitative assessment and calculation of the economic effects of NTBs reduction. The report also presents the results of surveys and interviews with enterprises and companies of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia that export goods and services to the markets of the CU and EEU. These surveys and interviews revealed respondents’ views on the NTBs they face when exporting to each of the partner states. They also obtained quantitative estimates of NTBs as a percentage of the value of exported goods, which made it possible to estimate the costs of each of the NTBs to the enterprises.