Journal article: Recent years have seen a surge in economic integration agreements (EIAs) aiming at reducing trade barriers between countries. A large number of these EIAs include provisions on non-tariff measures (NTMs). This paper investigates whether the technical requirements contained in North-South Agreements affect international trade. More particularly, we assess to what extent North-South harmonization of technical barriers creates or reinforces a hub-and-spoke trade structure potentially detrimental tothe integration of Southern countries in world economy. Empirical results validates this conjecture.