IMPLICATIONS OF MORE RESTRICTIVE CADMIUM STANDARDS: A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE DEVELOPING WORLD
E. Figueroa B.
Dept. of Economics and National Center for the Environment, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile; Department of Marketing, Business Economics and Law, University of Alberta, Calgary, Canada

The paper analyzes the implications of more restrictive cadmium standards for producers and exporters in the developing world. In the past, cadmium regulations have not caused serious difficulties for developing countries' exports to reach international markets. However, the trend observed in the developed world in recent years, characterized by a clearly increasing governmental and general awareness of the possible health effects of cadmium, a movement towards tightening permitted cadmium levels and contents, and a proactive attitude to produce cadmium-free products, could set a more competitive environment for the exports from developing countries in the future. A worse scenario for developing countries would be that cadmium restrictions are used as a disguised trade barrier for their products in the future. In any case, more restrictive cadmium standards will require improving the capacities of many developing countries to properly deal with the new requirements imposed by them. One such requirement will be to have institutions and laboratories within their own boundaries that are internationally recognized to certify cadmium levels and contents.