Paving the Road to Global Markets

While tariff barriers have drastically reduced around the world, non-tariff barriers, including demonstrating compliance with technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures, remain a significant obstacle to trade and could be particularly daunting for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). International standards have been recognized as an effective way to reduce technical barriers to trade (TBT). This research examines the impact of Canada's participation in international standards development (measured by technical committee/subcommittee participation) on SMEs' likelihood to export. Drawing on a national SME survey, results of the analysis showed that, after controlling for potentially confounding firm and owner attributes, Canada's participation in international standards development has a positive impact on Canada's exports and is associated with engaging more SMEs in international trade.