Among the various types of non-tariff barriers to trade, standards andtechnical regulations measure imposed by trading partners is one ofthe determinants to Indonesia's export activities that often have beenneglected. Probiem in meeting the standards (the terms “standards”and technical regulations” are used interchangeabiy throughout thisstudy) has always been on the top three of developed countries’complaints to the agriculture-based imports from Indonesia. On theother hand, stricter imposition of standards has now also being appliedby several importing countries, including the European Union (EU),which have been the main importers of Indonesian agriculturalproducts.This study covers Indonesia's export activities to four partner countriesin EU, on four selected agricultural commodity groups during theperiods of 1990-2005. Export activities were analyzed with a singie-country Gravity Modei approach (Chevassus-Lozza, et ai., 2005) whichuses the constant elasticity of substitution (CES) utility function inderiving an operationai gravity model. Standards are included as thevariabies of trade restrictiveness, parameterized by stocks ofstandards developed both by the Indonesia as exporter, and EUcountries as importers. Estimation for the model was done through theSeemingiy Unreiated Regression (SUR) for disaggregated pooied data.The results of analysis shows that a single-country gravity model usedin this study is able to assess the impacts of standards measures onIndonesias export activities in the selected commodity groups. Anincrease of foreign specific standards imposition reduces Indonesiasexports by 0.07 per cent, thus, act as trade deterrence and lead tocompetition disadvantage for Indonesia. On the other hand, anincrease of Nationai Standards of Indonesia imposition gives roie tocompetitive advantage and increases Indonesias exports by 0.03 percent. |