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This paper discusses what could be done to expand services trade and investment through a multilateral agreement in the World Trade Organization. A distinction is made between market access liberalization and the regulatory preconditions for benefiting from market opening. The authors argue that prospects for multilateral services liberalization would be enhanced by making national treatment the objective of World Trade Organization services negotiations, thereby clarifying the scope of World Trade Organization commitments for regulators. Moreover, liberalization by smaller and poorer members of the World Trade Organization would be facilitated by complementary actions to strengthen regulatory capacity. If pursued as part of the operationalization of the World Trade Organization's 2006 Aid for Trade taskforce report, the World Trade Organization could become more relevant in promoting not just services liberalization but, more importantly, domestic reforms of services policies.
This paper discusses what could be done to expand services trade and investment through a multilateral agreement in the World Trade Organization. A distinction is made between market access liberalization and the regulatory preconditions for benefiting from market opening. The authors argue that prospects for multilateral services liberalization would be enhanced by making national treatment the objective of World Trade Organization services negotiations, thereby clarifying the scope of World Trade Organization commitments for regulators. Moreover, liberalization by smaller and poorer members of the World Trade Organization would be facilitated by complementary actions to strengthen regulatory capacity. If pursued as part of the operationalization of the World Trade Organization's 2006 Aid for Trade taskforce report, the World Trade Organization could become more relevant in promoting not just services liberalization but, more importantly, domestic reforms of services policies.
"The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) extends the multilateral trading system to services. Little is said In the GATS about subsidies, beyond stipulating that subsidies are subject to the existing provisions, including the most-favoured-nation and national-treatment principles, and that Members shall enter into negotiations with a view to developing the disciplines necessary to avoid the trade distorting effects of subsidies." "This timely book provides a comprehensive analysis of services subsidies under the GATS. It begins with a description of services and trade in services, and of the salient characteristics that make regulation of services subsidies more complex than those associated with agricultural and industrial goods. It then analyzes the economic arguments underpinning the need for regulation, as well as the need for governments to retain sufficient latitude to implement non-trade-related policy measures. A description of the information available on services subsidies is followed by a classification of services subsidies according to their distortive effects, and by a detailed analysis of those elements that may form a definition of services subsidies for the purpose of a future regulatory framework." "A key section is devoted to the analysis of those existing provisions of the GATS that may exert a certain measure of discipline on services subsidies, and to the question of the desirability and technical feasibility of countervailing measures. Rules on services subsidies contained in regional trade agreements and the need for special and differential treatment for services subsidies by developing countries are also discussed. Finally, and prior to the conclusion, two sectoral studies deal with the question of subsidies aimed at attracting foreign direct investment and subsidies to the audiovisual sector." "This work represents the first extensive and comprehensive analysis of the issue of services subsidies in the context of the GATS, and includes numerous references to relevant European Union State Aid legislation and jurisprudence." --Book Jacket.
Like tariffs and other border measures, national regulatory barriers impede international trade. Unlike tariffs, however, such barriers usually indicate an important domestic policy choice. This 'conflict of interest' has emerged as a crucial issue in international law, particularly with regard to services, such as telecommunications and health services. This study is the first to analyze the potential impact of incompatibilities between national regulatory regimes and the rules and obligations imposed by the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). In the process of arriving at his challenging concluding theses, the author investigates such relevant concepts as the following: the political and ideological dynamics of GATS negotiations services trade liberalization in regional integration systems, particularly in EC law policies common to diverse national regulatory systems the notions of 'deregulation' and 'privatization' the human rights implications of international trade law the GATS obligations of market access, national treatment, and most-favoured-nation treatment the role of the WTO's dispute settlement organs GATS transparency obligations Professor Krajewski's study is of enormous significance to specialists in regulatory policies and instruments at all national and sectoral levels, especially in the context of ongoing GATS negotiations. As the author warns: Unless GATS negotiators and national regulators have a thorough understanding of the relationship between GATS obligations and regulatory policies and instruments, they cannot effectively use the flexible elements of GATS and could reach an agreement which they may later regret.
This article compares domestic regulation provisions in the field of international trade in services for two economic integration agreements with the Republic of Korea: the Free Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea (2011) and the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Korea (2011). It examines the subjects of transparency, regulatory cooperation, competition law and policy and their institutional context in order to assess the depth of integration generated and the level of compatibility that results between the agreements. The article determines that many of the subjects are treated in a softer law manner that establishes ongoing systems of cooperation in order to realise the agreements' objectives of addressing regulatory barriers for foreign services and service providers. In some cases these softer law approaches may reflect the policy space parties choose to retain in their own domestic systems for balancing trade and regulatory objectives. For most of the subjects, the approaches employed are similar, suggesting that the two agreements are rendered generally compatible for the types of regulatory activities incurred by the common signatory. The two subject areas of transparency and sector-specific domestic regulation present some more legally binding and actionable elements and there are some differences between the agreements in how these elements are addressed. For these, there is more risk of regulatory fragmentation as between the agreements and questions can be raised as to how this is resolved by a national regulatory system. Finally, the article considers some implications for the multilateral trading system of the World Trade Organization presented by the provisions examined in these agreements. To the extent that softer regulatory approaches emphasise the building of agency relationships over time, one can question whether this is a likely possible model of a larger group of WTO members. For those subjects that present somewhat more rigorous legal approaches, one can more easily consider how these models might translate to the WTO discussion as potential benchmarks for enhancing multilateral trade in services.
Due to globalisation and their role as enablers in global value chains, services are playing an increasingly important role in international trade. The supply of services around the world provokes an increased vulnerability to certain barriers, created by differing domestic regulation. This increase is caused by the fact that services are being supplied in various countries, at the same time, which obliges the service supplier to adapt to every country's domestic regulation regarding his specific service. The need for country-specific adaptation to domestic regulation entails significant (sometimes even prohibitive) costs.The fact that services value chains and services-intermediates have grown immensely has implications for the global economy and the trade barriers that need to be addressed. However, the present normative framework for trade does not adequately deal with the issue of regulatory incoherence. This paper compares the approach taken in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and contrasts its incompleteness with the new provisions in both the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The aim of this paper is to assess whether these two new "deep-RTAs" successfully include new disciplines dealing with regulatory incoherence.
The WTO plays an important role in supporting efforts to achieve international regulatory cooperation (IRC) and to facilitate trade. First, the WTO provides a multilateral framework for trade among its 164 members, with a view to ensuring that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. Second, the WTO’s Agreements provide important legal disciplines, helping to promote good regulatory practice and IRC at the domestic level as a means of reducing unnecessary barriers to trade. This publication highlights how the WTO’s Agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and the work of their related Committees promote opportunities for regulatory cooperation among governments and ease trade frictions. It demonstrates how members’ notification of draft measures, harmonisation of measures with international standards, discussion of specific trade concerns and other practices help to facilitate global trade in goods. The study also makes recommendations on how to benefit further from the transparency and cooperation opportunities provided by the TBT and SPS Agreements.
Innovative, interdisciplinary, practitioner-oriented insights into the key challenges faced in addressing the services trade liberalization and domestic regulation interface.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a historical agreement covering a wide range of international service transactions. In support of further trade negotiations, the Guide also highlights issues in which the business community may wish to provide input as preparations for trade negotiations move forward.
The benefits of services trade reform are huge but services negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) are making little progress. A proximate cause is the current negotiating process, based on an inertial request-and-offer approach rather than a set of goals that would give direction and momentum to the negotiations. The paper suggests that WTO members should consider: (1) locking in the current openness of cross-border trade for a wide range of services; (2) eliminating barriers to foreign investment either immediately or in a phased manner where regulatory inadequacies need to be remedied; and (3) allowing greater freedom of international movement at least for intra-corporate transferees and for service providers to fulfill specific services contracts. A deeper problem is that WTO members have sought to negotiate market access in services without adequately addressing concerns that the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commitments limit regulatory freedom unduly and unpredictably, that regulatory institutions in many countries are too weak to cope with liberalized markets, and that there is no provision for the regulatory cooperation that is necessary for successful liberalization, particularly of temporary labor mobility. Three types of actions are needed: (1) at the current stage of its development, the GATS must focus primarily on disciplines for measures that discriminate against foreign services and providers, rather than on politically sensitive and legally complex rules for nondiscriminatory measures; (2) a credible assistance mechanism must be established to help developing countries make the regulatory improvements needed for successful liberalization; and (3) where necessary, WTO members should make access commitments on labor mobility conditional on the fulfillment of specific conditions by source countries-to screen services providers, accept and facilitate their return, and combat illegal migration.