Publications

This case story describes how Swedish authorities worked with a specific case in which a small company experienced difficulties in direct imports of cut flowers from Ethiopia to Sweden. It describes the dialogue between authorities and between authorities and actors from the private sector, and how a mapping exercise was used to facilitate the process for the company.

Trade in plant products means certain risks of introduction and spread of plant pests. Protective measures taken to minimise phytosanitary risks are therefore important. Phytosanitary inspections are conducted within a chain of border activities including customs declaration, handling of fees etc.The complexity of the chain poses challenges to both business operators and authorities.  

The internal market is based on the freedoms of movement of goods, services, persons and capital. These four freedoms were introduced in the Treaty of Rome some 60 years ago, long before the emergence of the digital economy. Today our societies are increasingly dependent on the processing and transfer of data. Almost all transactions involve the movement of data at some point and our economies are relying on a smooth and free flow of data.

The EU Member States do not fully comply with the Single market’s rules and principles and this undermines the credibility and effectiveness of the EU. This creates significant problems for citizens and companies and prevents the Single Market from fully delivering projected benefits. 

The Government has assigned the National Board of Trade to analyse the possible effects of the CETA agreement on the environment, human and animal health and democratic decision-making. 

Servicification means that manufacturing activities and competitiveness increasingly depend on services. Yet, there are still many remaining barriers to the free movement of services within and outside the EU. Is the manufacturing industry’s increasing use of services a possibility to build competitiveness in the EU or a challenge to it?

This information sheet gives a description of how the Transatlantic Standards Approval Scheme (TSAS) could function in reality. The product used in the example is a refrigerator. The information sheet is only available  in English.

Contemporary FTAs increasingly include provisions pertaining to sustainable development. Although these provisions vary in form and scope, a growing number of FTAs contain substantive sustainability commitments, which gives rise to questions about their effective implementation and enforcement. Addressing these questions is the main objective of this paper.

The purpose of the report is to synthesize efforts to monitor protectionism in the 21st century. In doing that, the National Board of Trade analyses the status and character of modern-day protectionism, as well as important trends, including the overarching question of whether protectionism is on the rise or in decline.

In the report, the Board applies a comprehensive view of protectionism, including barriers to trade in goods, trade in services, investment flows, movement of people and data flows. The report is part of a comprehensive effort during 2016 to analyse the nature and effect of current protectionism.

This report examines how 3D printing affects the production of goods and also how companies trade with each other and what they trade. It also highlights the entrance of new actors, notably small- and medium-sized companies, on the trading scene. Finally, the report examines whether the current multilateral trade rules (WTO) are equipped to regulate production using 3D technology and trade with 3D-printed products or if WTO regulations need to be reformed in order to not stand in the way of further 3D printing expansion.

3D printing as a production method is growing rapidly. 3D printing is a technology that builds physical objects directly from 3D computer-aided design (CAD) data and adds different materials, layer-by-layer, with the help of a 3D printer. With 3DP certain stages of manufacturing are bundled into one and certain transportation of goods is replaced by transmission of data. The creation and transfer of the CAD files is the main component in 3D printing and is also the main difference between 3D printing and traditional production methods.

How many jobs in Sweden are supported by trade, and how important are global value chains for jobs in the Swedish economy? This report examines how employment in Sweden is linked with international trade, capturing the relationship to both domestic and global value chains. The results show that nearly 30 per cent of jobs in Sweden are supported by trade. The majority of these jobs are in the services sectors, especially for suppliers to the exporting part of the economy. This means that trade barriers potentially hurt both employment in the exporting sector and, through domestic value chains, employment among domestic manufacturing and services suppliers.​

During the past years, several databases have been published, connecting input-output tables with international trade. This creates new possibilities for analyses from a value chain perspective. In this report, the World Input Output Database (WIOD), including employment figures from its Socio-Economic Accounts, has been used. In this way, WIOD makes it possible to estimate e.g. how important Sweden's trade with the USA is for employment in Sweden.