Introduction

The world economy mainly consists of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).¹ Although less visible, SMEs are the main thrust of economic development in most developing countries² and are responsible for maintaining sustainable growth and export earnings.³ Nevertheless, due to the scale of their operations, SMEs are vulnerable to trade obstacles that can easily reduce SME competitiveness in the global market.

* An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the 4 th Conference on Food Law& Policy organized by Center for Trans-Pacifi c Partnership and Transnational Trade Laws, School of Law, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. The author would like to thank the participants at the conference for very helpful comments.

1 See World Trade Organization, World Trade Report 2016: Levelling the Trading Field for SMEs (Geneva, World Trade Organization 2016), at 14—20; Viral Pandya, “Comparative Analysis of Development of SMEs in Developed and Developing Countries”, 2012 International Conference on Business and Manage­ment, Sept. 6—7, 2012, Phuket, Thailand, available at www.researchgate.net/publication/266594413_ Comparative_analysis_of_development_of_SMEs_in_developed_and_developing_countries.

2 Musara Mazanai & Olawale Fatoki, “The Effectiveness of Business Development Services Providers (BDS) in Improving Access to Debt Finance by Start-up SMEs in South Africa” (2011) 3(4) Interna­tional Journal of Economics and Finance 208.

3 Normah M. Aris, SMEs: Building Blocks for Economic Growth, at 1—13, National Statistics Conference Department of Statistics, Malaysia, Sept.

4 Arancha Gonzalez, “Leveraging Trade Facilitation Reforms for Increased SME Competitiveness” in Thilo Rensmann (ed), Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in International Economic Law (Oxford, Oxford University Press 2017), at 38, 39. The United States may be an exception, as 98% of its exporters are SMEs and accounted for 33% of export in value. See U.S. Department of Commerce, “National Export Initiative Fact Sheet” (2014), available at http://trade.gov/nei/nei-fact-sheet.asp (last accessed Apr. 12, 2019).

5 World Trade Organization, supra note 1, at 31—55.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003271918-7 that MNEs and TNCs are the main actors in international trade, international economic law governing the transboundary movement of goods, services, and capital has long focused on the needs of MNEs.^[181] The needs of SMEs are largely ignored.^[182]

Although the predominant portion of SME operations are geographi­cally limited and rarely extend beyond borders, SMEs are increasingly able to operate beyond their domestic habitat. By becoming part of global value chains (GVCs), suppliers to MNEs, or directly participating in international trade, SMEs have become more visible and active in international trade practices. States have also gradually realized that sustainable development of SMEs would help states achieve economic growth and employment and improve wages and working conditions. A consensus to adopt policies that would encourage the growth of SMEs and facilitate their integration into the value chain has gradually emerged and was eventually reflected in the adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop­ment.^[183] In the G20 Strategy for Global Trade Growth, adopted in 2016 at the Hangzhou Summit, leaders also encouraged states to explore the possibility of facilitating SME participation in global business, in particular through e-commerce.^[184]

E-commerce is a product oftechnology development.

Since e-commerce significantly undercuts the cost for a business to operate beyond the border and expand its operation, it is also considered an effective means to strengthen SMEs’ ability to participate in international trade. To better assist SMEs in participating in global business via e-commerce and eventually creating revenues and economic development for the country, trade regulations are currently being reassessed and are under reform at both the multilateral and regional levels. It is hoped that SMEs can achieve greater success and sustain economic developments by operating through e-commerce.

The promotion of SMEs and e-commerce performance are indisputably important, but so is the necessity to protect other equally essential interests. Because SMEs operate on a small scale and through disaggregated means, their distinctive operation features also create regulatory challenges for government authorities.

In five parts, this chapter discusses how the development of e-commerce and SME operations brings challenges to states’ SPS enforcement over imported food products. Taking Taiwan’s recent experience in preventing the spread of the African swine fever epidemic as a case study, this chapter highlights the risks associated with the flourishing development of cross-border SME opera­tions and how current border control measures are unequipped to address such threats. Following the introduction section, the second part of this chapter starts by introducing the standard border measures adopted by states, includ­ing the customs clearance procedure for goods and parcels. As the theme of this chapter focuses on the customs enforcement of SPS measures, the analysis mainly centers on practices relating to the importation of food and agricultural goods. In the third section, we then turn to discussing the rapid development of SMEs and how e-commerce helps SMEs expand their participation in inter­national trade. Section IV of this chapter explains how the new trade mod­els weaken the effectiveness of the current SPS regulations and enforcement mechanisms. Again, centering on Taiwan’s recent experience in preventing the African swine fever epidemic, this section highlights the current border control mechanism’s weakness and discusses how the regulatory framework can be bet­ter reformed. Section V concludes.

II.