Good Regulatory Practice Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements

Governments are increasingly negotiating rules on non-tariff barriers in their trade agreements, looking to address this significant source of trade costs. This paper looks at the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement to see how their respective approaches to good regulatory practices (GRPs)—a type of regulatory policy provision—and what developing countries and least developed countries should consider in their own trade negotiations.