PRONTO is a collaborative research project on regulatory barriers to trade, supported by the European Commission under the FP7 programme.
Over the past fifty years, there has been significant progress in lowering tariff barriers to international trade. This has led to a growing awareness of the importance of what are termed the "new” Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs). The relevance of these new NTMs has grown with the rising importance of global sourcing and multinational enterprises. Today, with the dominance of global value chains and the increased tradability of non-tangible products, we are confronted with new and important questions about the impact of NTMs on competitiveness and productivity. The team working on PRONTO seeks new and better data, better methodologies, and better understanding of the impact of new NTMs on international investment and trade. This involves a collaborative effort between universities and those international organizations working on primary data development, with an important long-term goal being sustainability of information resources for tracking and guiding international economic policy in this area.
