This paper has provided some of the first empirical evidence on
the trade impacts of voluntary food and agriculture standards in
the EU. Our results highlight the fact that the effects of standards,
and in particular their character as barriers or catalysts, is highly
sector specific. In some cases, we find—in line with previous
work—that internationally harmonized EU standards tend to have
weak, or even slightly positive, trade impacts, whereas non-harmonized
standards—those that are unique to the EU—tend to be trade
inhibiting. This result is similar to findings that regulatory similarity
is trade enhancing (Vigani et al., 2012). However, the opposite
also applies in some sectors. It may be the case in those sectors that
standards impart valuable market information to exporters, and
thus can help promote, rather than inhibit, trade. Standards can
thus act as either barriers or catalysts depending on sector specificities,
as well as the degree of international harmonization present,
and the per capita income level of the exporter. The trade impacts
of non-harmonized EU standards tend to be particularly negative