How to Perform a Balanced Assessment of an Individual Country’s Market Accessibility: Exploring the Perspective of Non-Preferential Trade Partners

Abstract

This study acknowledges that there are many information sources concerning the different elements of market accessibility, but that often these focus on specific issues and are therefore not useful in isolation when wanting to assess a country’s market accessibility profile (a profile that is broader than the scope of most leading publications). Additionally, in recent times, certain leading publications have had their methodologies challenged. As such, attempting to perform an assessment of a country’s overall market accessibility credentials can be challenging; therefore, a form of guidance and structure is needed.

Given the limitations of relying on individual publications, it is recommended that market accessibility be defined as the combination of three core elements: tariffs, non-tariff measures and ease-of-doing-business. Findings relating to these elements can form an overall market access profile that can be used to compare and contrast different countries.

A recommended analysis approach combines the use and interpretation of a host of well-established and enduring secondary research sources including ease-of-doing-business rankings; non-tariff databases; and applied tariff rate schedules. These can be complemented by findings from academia that explore certain regulations, sectors and themes in greater detail.

Using Thailand for case study purposes, this approach provides policy makers and other interested stakeholders with a worked example of how to perform an initial, high-level assessment of a country’s market accessibility credentials.

This study can act as a foundation to build from with regard establishing an accepted market accessibility toolkit, or become an important element of a broader trade policy toolkit.