Services
Conclusiones
Las microempresas y las pymes son heterogéneas por naturaleza, y abarcan desde pequeños productores de servicios no comerciables hasta proveedores de productos digitales que empiezan su actividad ya con perspectivas de negocio mundial, desde agricultores con baja productividad hasta productores de cultivos selectos, y desde sastrerías del sector no estructurado hasta fábricas formales de confección.
Introduction
These Services Profiles provide users with statistics on key “infrastructure services”, i.e., transport, telecommunications as well as financial and insurance services for 186 economies. For the first time the Profiles cover all WTO members and most observers. The information is derived from multiple statistical domains, such as national accounts, employment statistics, balance of payments statistics, Foreign affiliates statistics (FATS), Foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics, as well as quantitative indicators, largely sourced from international/regional organizations and specialized bodies. Statistics are presented in standardized format for quick reference.
Services liberalization in PTAs and the WTO: The experiences of India and Singapore
The services sector plays a crucial role in the economic growth and development of both India and Singapore. The two countries have liberalized unilaterally and developed global competitiveness in selected services, and now they are major exporters. Consequently, they not only have an aggressive interest in the multilateral liberalization of trade in services, but also perceive this sector as an integral part of their preferential trade agreements.
Le commerce des services dans l’avenir
Cette section vise à offrir quelques orientations sur l’évolution future de la structure du commerce des services. S’appuyant sur une approche originale, elle commence par exposer les tendances récentes en matière de coûts du commerce liés aux services et par recenser les facteurs qui influent sur ces coûts. Ensuite, les grandes tendances à venir en matière de technologie, de démographie, de revenu et de changement climatique sont examinées afin d’expliquer en quoi elles peuvent influer sur le choix des pays quant aux services qu’ils échangeront, avec qui ils les échangeront et de quelle manière. Enfin, l’impact potentiel de ces tendances sur le commerce des services est quantifié au moyen du Modèle du commerce mondial de l’OMC.
Regulation of postal services in a changing market environment: Lessons from Australia and elsewhere
The digital revolution and the exponential growth of the Internet have led to radical changes in the ways in which countries conduct their commerce, communicate and store information. Coupled with the digital revolution, the last several decades have also seen a fundamental rethink of the role of the state in the economy. Broadly, the past reliance in many countries on state control and regulation has given way to a greater emphasis on competition, trade openness and market forces.
Wto Domestic Regulation and Services Trade
Domestic regulation of services sectors has a significant impact on services trade liberalization, which is why General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) disciplines are negotiated in the WTO. With the help of analyses and case studies from academics, regulators and trade experts, this book explores the scope and limits of WTO legal principles to promote domestic regulatory reform. Case studies discuss country specific challenges and experiences of regulating important service sectors, such as finance, telecommunications, distribution, legal, education, health, postal and logistics services, as well as the role of regulatory impact assessments. The findings will interest trade officials, policy makers, regulators, think tanks, and businesses concerned with the implications of domestic regulation on access to services markets, and with the opportunities for formulating trade disciplines in this area. It is also a useful resource for academics and students researching regulatory approaches and practices in services sectors.
Quel rôle pour la coopération internationale en ce qui concerne les politiques relatives au commerce des services ?
Le commerce des services ne cesse d’évoluer. La technologie et les réformes réglementaires entraînent une transformation fondamentale, en créant une nouvelle demande tout en contribuant à la réduction des coûts du commerce et en offrant de nouvelles possibilités en matière de commerce des services. Sous l’effet des chaînes de valeur mondiales, des évolutions démographiques, de l’augmentation du revenu par habitant dans les marchés émergents et des préoccupations environnementales, la demande de services fournis depuis l’étranger est en hausse. L’évolution des modes, des acteurs et de la composition du commerce des services accroît sa contribution possible à la croissance économique inclusive et au développement, mais elle engendre également un certain nombre de défis auxquels il faut répondre pour réaliser ce potentiel.
GATS plus or minus? Services commitments in comparative contexts for Colombia and Uruguay
The increasing proliferation of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements has put new twists and brought new questions to the fore in the old debate on the effects of these agreements (either separately or together) on the concerned economies, as well as on world trade as a whole. By July 2007 nearly 380 preferential trade agreements had been notified to the WTO, and it is estimated that over 400 PTAs will be in force by 2010. Earlier the chief concern had been whether regional or bilateral agreements were building blocks or stumbling blocks toward multilateralism; this became an issue, empirically for a while, centering on how the two types of agreements had to exist “side by side,” for better or for worse (Fisch, 2001). As one Colombian negotiator put it: “The WTO is not a place of liberalization, but consolidation”. The concern is now revisited in the context of a possible breakdown or slowing down of the multilateral order itself, and the increasing pressure on small economies to meet the demands of the great powers in bilateral free trade agreements in defecting from both regional and multilateral trade arrangements. This chapter attends to the latter set of concerns in speaking of the GATS+-type arrangements becoming de rigueur in bilateral agreements. In doing so, however, it also showcases trade as an increasingly complex set of arrangements between local, national, regional, and international dynamics.
Introduction
Les Profils commerciaux contiennent des renseignements détaillés sur le commerce des marchandises, y compris les principaux produits échangés par chaque économie, une section élargie sur le commerce des services commerciaux et des statistiques sur la propriété intellectuelle. Ces renseignements, mis à la disposition des Membres de l’OMC, des pays ayant le statut d’observateur et de certaines autres économies, proviennent de multiples domaines tels que les statistiques douanières, les comptes nationaux, les statistiques de la balance des paiements, les statistiques du commerce des filiales étrangères (FATS) et les statistiques de la propriété industrielle. Les données proviennent du Secrétariat de l’OMC et de sources extérieures, et elles sont présentées de manière uniformisée et fonctionnelle pour pouvoir être consultées rapidement.
Services trade in the future
This section attempts to provide some guidance as to how services trade patterns will change. Using a novel approach, this section begins by showing recent trends in trade costs related to services and identifying the factors affecting these costs. Then, major future trends in technology, demography, income and climate change are examined with a view to explaining how these trends can affect the choice of which services countries trade and with whom they trade, as well as how they trade. Finally, the potential impact of these trends on trade in services is quantified using the WTO Global Trade Model.
Introduction to Part III
In Part III of this book, a number of case studies on domestic regulation in services sectors are presented. These case studies concern the following sectors: legal services, telecommunications, information and communications technology, mobile banking, financial services, higher education, logistical services, postal services and retail food distribution.
Conclusiones
En las últimas décadas, los servicios se han convertido en la espina dorsal de la economía mundial y en el componente más dinámico del comercio internacional. Cada vez es más fácil comercializarlos, en gran medida gracias a la digitalización. Desde la enseñanza en línea hasta los estudios jurídicos virtuales, la tecnología está penetrando en todos los sectores de servicios y transformando los que tradicionalmente se prestaban de forma presencial en servicios comerciables a distancia. El comercio, que durante mucho tiempo ha estado dominado por el intercambio de mercancías, se vincula cada vez más a los servicios, un proceso que está transformando la economía mundial.