Contents 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Background 2 1.1 Significance of study 4 1.2 Aims and Objective of the Study 5 1.3 Research Questions 5 2. Literature review 6 2.1 Defining private standards 6 2.2 Azerbaijan foreign trade overview 8 3. Standards, Exports and Developing Countries 9 3.1 Historical Emergence and Development of Private Standards 9 3.2 GlobalGAP 10 3.2 Assessing impact of private food standards 11 3.2.1. Impact indicators used in the literature - What to measure? 11 3.2. Impact assessment methodologies: How to measure? 13 4. Empirical Framework 14 4.1 Private Standards as Facilitators to Trade 14 4.2 Private Standards as Barriers to Trade 16 5. Analysis of the Impact of Private Food Standards on Azerbaijan's Export Trade Based On Literature Review Methodology 18 5.1 The General Form of the Literature Review Methodology…………… 18 5.2 Model Construction; Analysis of literature papers reviewed 21 5.5 Results and Analysis 24 6.6 Country differences: An Empirical Analysis 30 7. A Strategic Analysis on How to Protect Azerbaijan National Foreign Trade from Adverse Effects of Private Standards. 31 References 33

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
In the last two decades, the increased globalization has seen trade standards take center stage in agri-trade regulations. Private standards have emerged as one of the most important mode of market governance in many countries. As many issues emerge pertaining to implications of food practices on health, the focus is on ensuring that the foods that enter or leave a given country meet the minimum standards for health. According to OECD (2004) the agri-food sector has seen the emergence of private standards to regulate not only the production standards but also handling and processing. The growing significance of private food standards in the agri-food sector has raised question