Voluntary export restraint agreements are an increasingly common measure used to restrict international trade in particular commodities. They have been applied to the EEC sheepmeat market since 1980 as part of the Common Agricultural Policy. In this paper, theoretical implications of voluntary export restraints are analysed and compared with alternative trade barriers, such as variable levies. The effects of the various trade barriers which the EEC could impose on sheepmeat imports are quantified using an econometric model of the world sheepmeat market. From the exporters' viewpoint, voluntary export restraints are shown to be the least harmful form of providing protection against imports into the EEC.