Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade: Examples & Guide

What Are Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade?

A non-tariff barrier (NTB) is any government measure other than a customs duty that restricts, distorts, or raises the cost of trade. It can be regulatory, procedural, administrative, or quantitative. Tariffs tax the price; NTBs block or complicate access. The UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) non-tariff measures overview is the authoritative reference.

UNCTAD draws a useful line. A non-tariff measure (NTM) is any policy measure other than an ordinary tariff, and many NTMs are legitimate. An NTB is the subset applied with protectionist intent or that is more trade-restrictive than necessary. Every NTB is an NTM. Not every NTM is an NTB.

What Is the Difference Between Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers?

A tariff is a visible price barrier that appears on the customs declaration. A non-tariff barrier is an often opaque compliance and access barrier. Tariffs are easy to quantify and challenge. NTBs are harder to measure, harder to see, and harder to contest. Our explainer on what a tariff is and who pays it covers the price side in full.

Source: UNCTAD NTM/NTB distinction and the WTO agreements cited below.

Why Do Non-Tariff Barriers Matter More Than Tariffs Now?

Non-tariff measures now impose higher trade costs than tariffs for the large majority of economies. As free trade agreements (FTAs) push average tariffs down, NTBs become the dominant friction. The UNCTAD Global Trade Update, May 2026 found NTMs cost more than tariffs for 88% of countries. Non-transparent rules alone add cost equal to a 28% tariff.

A zero-tariff deal is not zero-friction. To claim preferential rates under an FTA, exporters must prove rules of origin with supplier declarations and certificates. That proof is itself an NTB cost. The tariff line reads zero while the paperwork bill climbs.

When Are Non-Tariff Barriers Legitimate, and When Are They Protectionism?

Most NTMs exist for real health, safety, and consumer-protection reasons. They become barriers when they discriminate against imports or restrict trade more than needed to meet the objective. That legal line has held since the WTO was founded on 1 January 1995. The pattern exporters must plan for is “legitimate on the surface, restrictive in effect.”

The WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade sets the two tests. Article 2.1 requires imports get treatment no less favourable than like domestic products. Article 2.2 requires regulations be no more trade-restrictive than necessary to meet a legitimate objective, such as safety, health, or the environment. The WTO SPS Agreement adds a scientific-justification test for health measures.

What Are the Types of Non-Tariff Barriers?

Non-tariff barriers fall into nine practitioner groups: technical standards, sanitary measures, quantitative restrictions, customs procedures, rules of origin, local content rules, trade defense duties, subsidies and procurement, and export controls. The formal framework behind them is UNCTAD’s classification, which organizes all NTMs into 16 chapters labeled A to P.

The UNCTAD International Classification of Non-Tariff Measures, 2019 version is the internationally agreed taxonomy. Its first edition was adopted in 2012. Chapters A to O cover import-related measures; Chapter P covers export-related measures.

What Are Real Examples of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade?

Non-tariff barriers show up as duplicate testing, health certificates, quotas, customs delays, sourcing rules, and export licenses. Each one adds cost or time without a duty appearing on the invoice. The categories below are the ones exporters meet most often.

What Are Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)?

Technical barriers to trade require a product to meet destination-market standards even when it is already certified elsewhere. Great Britain uses UKCA marking, China uses the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) mark, and the United States uses Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification for electronics. Country-specific labeling and language rules add further cost. Duplicate testing per market is the classic TBT expense.

What Are Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures?

Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures are health and biosecurity rules for food, animals, and plants. Examples include export health certificates for animal products entering the EU after Brexit, Japan’s pesticide positive-list rules, and the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) foreign supplier verification. SPS hits perishables hardest, because delay destroys the value of the shipment before it clears.

What Are Quotas, Tariff Rate Quotas, and Import Licensing?

A tariff rate quota (TRQ) lets a set volume enter at a low or zero tariff, while volume above the cap faces a much higher rate. The UK keeps TRQs on sensitive farm goods such as dairy, meat, and sugar, inherited and renegotiated from EU schedules. Import licensing controls goods like firearms and chemicals. Embargoes are the extreme case.

What Causes Customs Procedure and Documentation Delays?

Misclassified goods and incomplete paperwork cause border delays, storage fees, and audits. The recurring friction is Harmonized System (HS) code classification and customs valuation disputes, where the declared code or value is challenged at the border. After Brexit, GB-EU trade also gained full customs declarations that did not exist inside the single market.

What Are Local Content Requirements?

Local content requirements force a share of a product’s value or components to be sourced domestically to reach a market or win a public tender. The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ties electric-vehicle tax credits to North American assembly and battery sourcing. Rules like these push exporters to restructure supply chains or lose access.

What Are Export Controls and Licensing?

Export controls require a licence to ship dual-use goods that have both civilian and military applications, such as satellite components and cybersecurity tools. The UK operates strategic export controls, and the EU runs its dual-use regulation. Current semiconductor export controls on China are a high-profile example. These rules restrict trade without any customs duty.

What Are the UKCA Marking Rules Now?

UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking did not permanently replace the CE mark. The UK government has extended CE recognition indefinitely for most product categories, while UKCA remains available and required for some regulated areas. Current gov.uk guidance on using the UKCA marking, last updated 7 April 2026, confirms both marks are valid for placing goods on the Great Britain market.

The indefinite extension covers 18 regulations owned by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), implemented through the Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/696. The mandatory UKCA deadline had already moved from 31 December 2022 to 31 December 2024 before the indefinite CE extension removed the switch for these categories.

What Non-Tariff Barriers Appeared Post-Brexit?

Brexit converted a frictionless internal market into a full third-country border, creating NTBs in both directions. Customs declarations, rules-of-origin proofs, export health certificates, and phased SPS checks all appeared where none existed inside the single market. The UK published the final Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) on 29 August 2023, setting a staged timeline for new import controls.

The UK estimates the risk-based BTOM model will save businesses around £520 million per year versus the fuller controls once planned for 2022, by cutting duplicate data and paperwork.

How Do Non-Tariff Barriers Affect Trade Margins?

Non-tariff barriers raise landed cost through testing, certification, documentation labor, delay, and inventory buffers. These costs fall hardest on small exporters because they are largely fixed per market and cannot be spread over large volumes. OECD estimates that technical NTMs raise agricultural import prices by nearly 15% on average, layered on top of any tariff.

The OECD methodology behind that 15% figure covers roughly 5,000 products across more than 80 countries. Much of the NTB burden is opacity, not the underlying rule, which is why transparency and alignment recover so much cost.

How Do You Navigate Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade?

Treat NTBs as a planning problem before quoting, not a border surprise after shipping. The playbook below works for small and mid-sized exporters managing import compliance across markets.

1. Confirm HS codes and destination regulatory regimes before you quote, because misclassification is the most common and most avoidable NTB error.
2. Map certification requirements per market, since UKCA, CE, CCC, FCC, and SPS documents each carry their own lead time.
3. Use FTA preferences where the rules-of-origin cost is worth it, because the paperwork sometimes exceeds the duty saved.
4. Monitor policy changes through WTO ePing and government NTB alert portals, as UKCA extensions and BTOM phases shift fast.
5. Automate customs documentation and filing, which cuts the delays, storage fees, and audits that erode margin.

Our global tariff risk mitigation strategies guide extends this to both barrier types, and the 7 steps to manage tariffs in a trade war post covers trade defense duties.

How Commenda Helps You Manage Non-Tariff Barriers

Non-tariff barriers are more prevalent and more complex than tariffs today. Most serve legitimate regulatory purposes, and the exporters who win treat them as a planning problem rather than a border surprise. Certainty comes from knowing what applies, where, and when, before you quote.

Commenda’s global indirect tax platform gives exporters certainty across registrations, filings, and cross-border tax obligations, with 100+ ERP, API, and custom integrations that keep classification and documentation clean. For further reading, see our explainer on what the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is and the tariff explainer.

Book a demo at https://www.commenda.io/book-a-demo for a free cross-border compliance exposure review.