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Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., New York, Oxford, Wien. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Telecommunications Services, 72 member states have made commitments with regard to the increasing international competition in the telecommunications sector. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the regulatory framework at a multilateral level. It deals with the growing importance and the technological evolution of the telecommunications sector. Furthermore, it describes the negotiations on telecommunications at WTO level. The book gives insights into the provisions of the Annex on Telecommunications and describes their impact on the services industry. Moreover, the commitments relating to basic telecommunications are analyzed. The author specifically examines the reference paper which sets out rules for competition in the telecommunications sector and interprets these provisions in the light of the existing multilateral rules. Contents: WTO/ITU - Annex on Telecommunications - Schedule of Commitments on Basic Telecommunications - Reference Paper - Competition Law - Telecommunications Law.
This book is a systematic comparative study of WTO and EU law relevant for universal service provision, and a timely contribution to the ongoing scholarly and policy debates about the concept and scope of universal service. Universal service is one of the most significant regulatory issues worldwide and it is likely to remain so. The central question dealt with by the author is how the technologically intensive sector of telecommunications services can be regulated in a socially fair way in the light of liberalisation and the immense importance of ICTs in the Information Society. The author investigates whether the legal frameworks of WTO and EU can meet the challenges of the rapid and dramatic technological and social change and formulates relevant policy recommendations. The book is of interest to both scholars and practitioners in several disciplines, such as EU and WTO law, telecommunications law and regulation, political science regarding market regulation and governance as well as European integration and WTO. Olga Batura is affiliated to the Leuphana Law School, University of Lüneburg, Germany, and to the European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithania.
Although a growing number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) include telecommunications provisions, the collection and systematization of information on telecommunications provisions in RTAs remain limited. This paper addresses this gap by mapping and reviewing the different types of provisions on telecommunications found in RTAs that have been notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The analysis reveals that telecommunications provisions in RTAs cover a broad range of regulatory issues, from access and use to anticompetition to standards and technical regulations and cooperation. While some telecommunications provisions, in particular on telecommunications services, replicate existing WTO rules, many other provisions add clarifications or expand some of the disciplines set out in the WTO agreements. At the same time, new types of provisions have been devised to address new regulatory and technological issues, including mobile services, internet access and consumer rights. These new provisions, consistent with the overall aim of the WTO rules, aim at fostering a pro-competitive regulatory framework of the telecommunications sector.
The publication contains an explanation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment and some of the key issues that arise in its negotiation, particularly the scope and application of MFN treatment to the liberalization and protection of foreign investors in recent treaty practice. The paper provides policy options as regards the traditional application of MFN treatment and identifies reactions by States to the unexpected broad use of MFN treatment, and provides several drafting options, such as specifying or narrowing down the scope of application of MFN treatment to certain types of activities, clarifying the nature of "treatment" under the IIA, clarifying the comparison that an arbitral tribunal needs to undertake as well as a qualification of the comparison "in like circumstances" or excluding its use in investor-State cases.
Conference report : Washington, D.C., 1997.
The U.S.-Mexico case (2002-04) was the first (and so far only) case of World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution on telecommunications services and the first on services only. The findings of the Panel charged with settling the dispute contain interpretations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), especially its Annex on Telecommunications and the Reference Paper that sets regulatory principles. Although these interpretations strictly apply only to the case examined, they have implications for other countries and sectors and beyond trade law. The following are some of the findings. Telecommunications services originated in one country and terminated in another country are cross-border services under the GATS irrespective of whether the same service provider is present in both countries. The accounting rate regime, whereby operators share revenue from international services provided jointly, is subject to the discipline of cost-based interconnection for countries that have adopted the Reference Paper. Uniform settlement rates and proportional return are anticompetitive practices under the Reference Paper even when they are mandated by law. The lack of implementing regulations does not excuse the country from meeting its commitments under the GATS. Mexico and the United States, although not in full agreement with the Panel, did not appeal. An agreed plan to address the underlying legal and regulatory issues was successfully implemented in July 2005.
Innovative, interdisciplinary, practitioner-oriented insights into the key challenges faced in addressing the services trade liberalization and domestic regulation interface.
This research explores how multilateralism in trade has worked over the past twenty years - and provides some lessons about how it can work in the future. It describes the WTO's achievements across a number of key areas, including: strengthening the institutional foundations of the trade system; widening its membership and increasing participation; deepening trade integration through lower barriers and stronger rules; improving transparency and policy dialogue; strengthening dispute settlement; expanding cooperation with other international organizations; and enhancing public outreach. It concludes that the WTO has achieved much over its first twenty years but the success of the WTO has inevitably given rise to new challenges.