Medidas não tarifárias como instrumento de política comercial: O conceito, sua importância e as evidências recentes de seu uso no Brasil

This article draws from the recent literature on non-tariff measures to provide an overview of the analysis of these measures, addressing its definition and classification, as well as some recent evidence on its use in the world and in Brazil. Non-tariff measures are defined as any policy measures, except import tariffs, which may have the potential to affect international trade, changing prices, quantities traded, or both. This definition comprises both measures that restrict trade and those that promote it, and includes measures traditionally adopted as substitutes for tariffs (quotas and price control measures, for example) and trade remedies, and more complex measures such as technical and health regulations, whose main purpose is generally not restrict trade, but to achieve other public policy objectives. The article presents some preliminary analyzes based on a project led by UNCTAD in order to collect and provide standardized data on NTMs, and provides a brief picture of the use of certain non-tariff measures by Brazil, with emphasis on the period after the global crisis in 2008-2009. The article also addresses the challenges involved in the reform of NTMs framework, which involves the challenge of ensuring that these measures achieve the legitimate objectives for which they are intended, without causing unnecessary impacts on trade.