WTO urges India to cut trade-restrictive measures reliance, New Delhi flags global non-tariff barriers
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat, ahead of India's 8th Trade Policy Review, urged India to improve its business environment and reduce reliance on high tariffs, import-export controls and other trade-restrictive measures to boost competitiveness and attract foreign investment.
India's 8th Trade Policy Review took place at the WTO in Geneva around 21 and 23 July 2026, covering the review period from January 2021 to December 2025, with the Commerce Secretary leading India's delegation.
India, in turn, flagged non-tariff barriers imposed by other WTO members as a global concern, calling for stronger WTO disciplines and a functioning dispute settlement mechanism.
More than 900 written questions were submitted by WTO member countries on India's trade policies, covering digitisation reforms, MSMEs, women's economic participation and industrial policy initiatives.
WTO Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM)
The Trade Policy Review Mechanism is a WTO surveillance instrument that periodically examines member countries' trade policies and practices for transparency. It originated in 1989 under GATT following the Uruguay Round's Mid-Term Review, and was formally institutionalised as Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO in 1994/1995. Its purpose is to improve adherence to WTO rules through peer scrutiny rather than binding sanctions — a review does not itself impose obligations but generates a Secretariat report and a government report, discussed by the Trade Policy Review Body.
Key Details
- Review frequency is tied to a member's share of world trade: since 2016 reforms, the four largest traders (EU, US, China, Japan) are reviewed every 3 years, the next 16 largest every 5 years, and other members every 7 years.
- India's 8th TPR covers January 2021 to December 2025 and was conducted in July 2026, based on both a government policy statement and an independent WTO Secretariat report.
- The mechanism has no enforcement power — it is a transparency and peer-review tool, distinct from the binding WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism.
The Secretariat's critique of India's tariff and non-tariff measures is precisely the kind of independent assessment the TPRM is designed to produce, feeding into a public record without binding India to change policy.
Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and multilateral trade rules
Non-tariff barriers are restrictions on trade that operate through means other than tariffs — import licensing, quotas, technical standards, sanitary/phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, customs procedures and subsidies. As applied tariffs have fallen globally under WTO commitments, NTBs have become the dominant instrument of trade protection, addressed under WTO agreements such as the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the SPS Agreement, both concluded during the 1986–1994 Uruguay Round.
Key Details
- India's stated position calls for WTO action against non-tariff barriers used by other countries to restrict market access, alongside measures against non-market economy practices.
- India simultaneously faces Secretariat criticism for its own tariff structure and import-export control regime, illustrating the two-sided nature of the NTB debate at the WTO.
The article captures both sides of this debate — the WTO Secretariat's call for India to cut its own trade-restrictive measures, and India's parallel call for global action against non-tariff barriers used by its trading partners.
WTO Dispute Settlement Body and the Appellate Body crisis
The WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) provides a two-tier adjudication system: a panel stage and an Appellate Body for appeals. The Appellate Body has been non-functional since December 2019 because the United States blocked new judicial appointments (a blockage that began around 2016–2017 and reached quorum failure by December 2019), leaving disputes that are appealed unable to be resolved with binding legal effect ("appeals into the void").
Key Details
- Since December 2019, the Appellate Body has lacked the minimum three members needed to hear appeals.
- India has repeatedly called for restoring a functioning, binding two-tier dispute settlement mechanism at the WTO, alongside NTB discipline.
- An interim Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) exists among a subset of WTO members as a partial workaround, though India's participation status varies by context.
India's push for "ensuring a strong dispute resolution mechanism" directly references this unresolved Appellate Body paralysis, a long-standing systemic issue in multilateral trade governance.
- India's 8th WTO Trade Policy Review: held around 21 and 23 July 2026 in Geneva, covering January 2021–December 2025.
- Over 900 written questions submitted by WTO members ahead of the review.
- WTO Appellate Body has been without quorum since December 2019 due to blocked member appointments.
- TPR review frequency: top 4 traders every 3 years, next 16 every 5 years, others every 7 years (post-2016 reform).