BD, 38 other countries notify virus-linked export bars to WTO

Eighty countries and customs territories have so far introduced export prohibitions or restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report, prepared by the Secretariat of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), unveiled the findings on Friday.

It, however, added that only 39 countries including Bangladesh have so far notified the export restriction measures to the WTO in compliance with the rules of the multilateral trade organisation.

“Although only a handful of notifications were submitted in March 2020, when the new export prohibitions or restrictions began to be implemented, the number of notifications has increased considerably since the beginning of April,” the information note of the WTO.

“To date, 13 members (or 39 if the EU member states are counted individually) have notified under the QR [Quantitative Restriction] Decision the introduction of new export prohibitions or restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.

The member countries are: Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, the European Union (an economic union of 26 countries), Georgia, Israel, the Republic of Korea, the Kyrgyz Republic, North Macedonia, Thailand and Ukraine.

On April 14, Bangladesh formally notified the WTO that it had introduced temporary export prohibition on two products- surgical mask and disinfectants (hand sanitisers).

“Due to the global outbreak of COVID-19 and critical shortage of the products, the measure was adopted to ensure adequacy of the products as they are the vital tools for tackling the pandemic,” said the notification.

Again, Bangladesh is the only member of the WTO which has also notified the removal of temporary export bans.

In the formal notification, submitted to WTO, the country also mentioned that the export restrictions [for face masks and hand sanitiser] were effective from March 12 to April 02 this year.

As the WTO report is based on information from official sources and news outlets, the secretariat expressed concern on ‘current lack of transparency at the multilateral level’ and also ‘long-term risks that export restrictions pose to global supply chains and public welfare.’

The new export prohibitions and restrictions mostly cover medical supplies such as face masks, pharmaceuticals, ventilators and other medical equipment, the report finds. Some of the measures have extended the controls to other products such as food and toilet paper.