A Comparative Overview of the Incidence of Non-Tariff Measures on Trade in Lao PDR

An efficient and transparent regulatory
framework governing international trade is a necessary
condition for countries to realize the benefits of
international trade. Over the last decade, Lao PDR has been
deepening its economic ties with the global economy through
the formal accession to the WTO in 2013. At the regional
level, the country is committed to be full member of the
ASEAN Economic Community. These agreements entailed profound
changes to Lao PDR’s regulatory framework governing
international trade. This report provides an overview of
the incidence on NTMs on import flows in Lao PDR before and
after WTO accession and identifies lingering regulatory
hurdles that may still hamper the ability of the country to
reap the gains of a deeper integration. Employing detailed
and comparable NTM information, this note characterizes the
changes in the trade related regulatory framework in Lao PDR
and compares the current scheme with that of other countries
in Asia. The report also combines econometric estimations of
Ad-Valorem Equivalents (AVEs) of NTMs with qualitative
information collected through fieldwork to identify priority
measure to streamline. This report is organized as follows.
Section two discusses main conceptual issues and presents
the data and metrics to examine the role of NTMs in import
flows. Section three, describes the trade incidence of NTMs
and compares it with similar countries and with the
situation prior to WTO accession. Section four combines an
econometric technique with qualitative information to
discuss the stringency of NTMs. Section five presents some
concluding remarks and provides some recommendation for reform.