A trade restriction is an artificial restriction on the
trade of
goods and/or
services between two or more
countries
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, so ...
. It is the byproduct of
protectionism. However, the term is controversial because what one part may see as a trade restriction another may see as a way to
protect consumers from inferior, harmful or dangerous products.
Examples
German purity laws: Beer
Germany required the production of beer to adhere to
its purity law. The law, originally implemented in
Bavaria in 1516 and eventually becoming law for
newly unified Germany in 1871, made many foreign beers unable to be sold in Germany as "beer". This law was struck down in 1987 by the
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
, but is still voluntarily followed by many German breweries.
US motor vehicle headlamps
Rectangular
headlamps were promoted in the United States where round lamps were required until 1975. By 1979, the majority of new cars now had the
rectangular headlamps. Again, the US permitted only two standardized sizes of
rectangular sealed-beam lamp: A system of two 200 mm x 142 mm high/low beam units corresponding to the existing 7" round format, or a system of four 165 mm x 100 mm units (two high/low and two high-beam) corresponding to the existing 5¾ inch (146 mm) round format.
In 1968, the
US Department of Transportation outlawed any decorative or protective element in front of the headlamps if the headlamps are switched on. Glass-covered headlamps, like those used on the
Jaguar E-Type
The Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, is a British sports car that was manufactured by Jaguar Cars Ltd between 1961 and 1974. Its combination of beauty, high performance, and competitive pricing established the m ...
, the pre-1968
VW Beetle, the
Porsche 356, the
Citroën DS and
Ferrari Daytona, now had to be equipped with uncovered headlamps for the US market, further altering the look of European models sold in the United States. The change meant that vehicles designed for solid
aerodynamic performance could not achieve it for the US market.
In 1984, the Department changed the rule to allow replaceable-bulb headlamps of nonstandard shapes. However, some automaker could equip a vehicle with the same type of headlamps in the US as in the rest of the world. US headlamp standards are governed by
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, which is incompatible with the
UNECE standards, used in most of the rest of the world.
Canada has its own headlamp standards that are similar to the US standard but allows UNECE-compliant headlamps. Headlamps were used in cars but also for traffic violation stops.
Non-tariff barriers to trade
Protectionism
{{trade-stub