The Impact of ISPM 15 on Trade Performance: (The case of: Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique)

International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 15 (ISPM 15) is a subset of harmonised Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measure on Wood Packaging Materials (WPM). The standard impact on trade volume is considered large, as WPM is commonly used in international shipment for the majority of commodities. This paper analyzes to what extent ISPM 15 standard implemented by the five African countries, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, affects trade performance. Gravity model approach employed to assess the impact of the standard between the years 1992 to 2014. The result shows, food products’ export of the selected African countries’ to EU countries are highly sensitive to ISPM 15 standard. The direction and extent of the standard effect varies depending on country and product group mix under consideration. With regard to trade interaction of the selected African countries with all trading partners, the standard has trade distortion effect on both export and import of agricultural and nonagricultural product groups’. Interestingly, meeting the requirement of the standard does not necessarily improve or ensure these countries’ better trade performance. The study findings have implication that other factors such as political stability, absence of terrorism as well as other SPS and NTB measures predominantly regulate trade interaction with EU countries.