ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is responsible for the preparation of this report, which was written by USTR staff. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, State, Transportation and the U.S. International Trade Commission. In preparing the report, substantial information was solicited from our Embassies abroad. Drafts of the report were circulated through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee. USTR is especially appreciative of the consistent support provided by the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration throughout the process of preparing the report. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Policy Coordination: Frederick L. Montgomery Project Director: Gregory C. Gerdes Production Assistant: Gloria D. Blue LIST OF FREQUENTLY USED ACRONYMS APEC ........................ Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ASEAN ....................... Association of Southeast Asian Nations BIT .......................... Bilateral Investment Treaty CACM ....................... Central American Common Market CARICOM .................... Caribbean Common Market CFTA ........................ Canada Free Trade Agreement EU ........................... European Union EFTA ........................ European Free Trade Association GATS ........................ General Agreement on Trade in Services GATT ........................ General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GCC ......................... Gulf Cooperation Council GDP ......................... Gross Domestic Product GSP ......................... Generalized System of Preferences IPR .......................... Intellectual Property Rights ITA .......................... Information Technology Agreement MAI ......................... Multilateral Agreement on Investment MERCOSUR .................. Southern Common Market MFA ......................... Multifiber Arrangement MOSS ........................ Market-Oriented-Sector-Selective MOU ......................... Memorandum of Understanding MRA ......................... Mutual Recognition Agreement NAFTA ....................... North American Free Trade Agreement NIS .......................... Newly Independent States OECD ........................ Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development SADC ........................ Southern African Development Community TRIPs ........................ Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights USDA ........................ U.S. Department of Agriculture USITC ....................... U.S. International Trade Commission USTR ........................ United States Trade Representative WTO ......................... World Trade Organization CONTENTS FOREWORD ........................................................... 1 ARAB LEAGUE (Boycott of Israel) ....................................... 7 ARGENTINA ........................................................ 9 AUSTRALIA ........................................................ 13 BRAZIL ............................................................ 21 BULGARIA ......................................................... 29 CANADA ........................................................... 33 CHILE ............................................................. 41 PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ....................................... 45 COLOMBIA ......................................................... 63 COSTA RICA ........................................................ 71 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC .............................................. 77 ECUADOR .......................................................... 81 EGYPT ............................................................. 87 EL SALVADOR ...................................................... 95 ETHIOPIA .......................................................... 97 EUROPEAN UNION .................................................. 99 GHANA ............................................................ 129 GUATEMALA ....................................................... 133 GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL ....................................... 137 HONDURAS ......................................................... 149 HONG KONG ........................................................ 153 HUNGARY .......................................................... 155 INDIA .............................................................. 161 INDONESIA ......................................................... 175 ISRAEL ............................................................ 187 JAPAN ............................................................. 193 KAZAKHSTAN ...................................................... 243 KENYA ............................................................ 247 KOREA ............................................................. 253 MALAYSIA ......................................................... 275 MEXICO ............................................................ 281 NEW ZEALAND ..................................................... 291 NICARAGUA ........................................................ 297 NIGERIA ........................................................... 301 NORWAY ........................................................... 305 PAKISTAN .......................................................... 309 PANAMA ........................................................... 315 PARAGUAY ......................................................... 319 PERU ............................................................. 323 PHILIPPINES ........................................................ 327 POLAND ........................................................... 339 RUSSIA ............................................................ 345 SINGAPORE ........................................................ 353 SOUTH AFRICA ..................................................... 359 SWITZERLAND ...................................................... 367 TAIWAN ........................................................... 371 THAILAND ......................................................... 377 TURKEY ........................................................... 385 UKRAINE ........................................................... 389 UZBEKISTAN ....................................................... 393 VENEZUELA ........................................................ 397 ZIMBABWE ......................................................... 403 INDEX ............................................................. 407 APPENDIX: U.S. Data for Given Trade Partners in Rank Order of U.S. Exports .... 413 FOREWORD The 1998 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is the thirteenth in an annual series that surveys significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. In accordance with section 181 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the 1974 Trade Act), as amended by section 303 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 (the 1984 Trade Act), section 1304 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the 1988 Trade Act) and section 311 of the Uruguay Round Trade Agreements Act (1994 Trade Act), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is required to submit to the President, the Senate Finance Committee, and appropriate committees in the House of Representatives, an annual report on significant foreign trade barriers. The statute requires an inventory of the most important foreign barriers affecting U.S. exports of goods and services, foreign direct investment by U.S. persons, and protection of intellectual property rights. Such an inventory facilitates negotiations aimed at reducing or eliminating these barriers. The report also provides a valuable tool in enforcing U.S. trade laws, with the goal of expanding global trade, which benefits all nations. The report provides, where feasible, quantitative estimates of the impact of these foreign practices on the value of U.S. exports. Information is also included on actions being taken to eliminate any act, policy, or practice identified in the report. SCOPE AND COVERAGE This report is based upon information compiled within USTR, the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, and other U.S. government agencies, and supplemented with information provided in response to a notice in the Federal Register, and by members of the private sector trade advisory committees and U.S. Embassies abroad. Trade barriers elude fixed definitions, but may be broadly defined as government laws, regulations, policies, or practices that either protect domestic products from foreign competition or artificially stimulate exports of particular domestic products. This report classifies foreign trade barriers into nine different categories. These categories cover government-imposed measures and policies that restrict, prevent, or impede the international exchange of goods and services. They include: ! Import policies (e.g., tariffs and other import charges, quantitative restrictions, import licensing, customs barriers); ! Standards, testing, labeling, and certification (including unnecessarily restrictive application of sanitary and phytosanitary standards and environmental measures, and refusal to accept U.S. manufacturers' self-certification of conformance to foreign product standards); ! Government procurement (e.g., “buy national” policies and closed bidding); Foreign Trade Barriers 1 Foreword ! Export subsidies (e.g., export financing on preferential terms and agricultural export subsidies that displace U.S.