Australian exporters have listed 30 trade barriers since Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL), the Export Council of Australia (ECA) and Industry Growth Centres collaborated to launch a new Trade Barriers Register (TBR) recently.
The TBR was launched to better understand the challenges that impede the ability of Australian exporters to compete globally, and to assist them to overcome these.
Ahead of the launch of the TBR in September; red tape, opaque standards, unnecessary technical regulations and discriminatory practices were some known obstacles.
Besides giving exporters a platform to report regulatory and commercial barriers, the register serves as an information portal where producers can find the latest trade news.
Once exporters report these barriers, they are either advised on how to minimize the impact or the barriers are removed.
At the time of the launch, acting CEO of the ECA Heath Baker pointed out that as “free trade agreements have lowered the tariffs Australian businesses face internationally, other forms of trade barriers have grown in relevance.”