An introduction to domestic regulation and GATS

International trade in services is governed principally by regulatory measures. Unlike trade in goods, border measures in the form of tariffs and quotas are not the main barriers to trade. This peculiarity of services trade is due to the manner by which services are produced and consumed. Due to the intangible and non-storable nature of services, suppliers and consumers often have to be in physical proximity to each other for the transaction to be completed. For this reason, economists have traditionally considered services to be non-tradable across borders and have paid little attention to it in trade theory.