Services
Information communications technology: The Mauritian experience of regulation and reform
This chapter presents the evolution of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Mauritius and the advances made in defining clear institutional policy legal and regulatory frameworks which have positively influenced trade in the ICT services. The case study analyses the pre-existing conditions that facilitated competition in telecommunications thus paving the way to making ICT a key pillar for the development of the Mauritian economy through its Cyber Island Strategy. The study also reviews the prominent role played by the sector ministry and the ICT regulator in fostering widespread application of modern technologies and reporting on the ensuing economic benefits for the country.
Services liberalization, negotiations and regulation: Some lessons from the GATS experience
The services economy has been undergoing a major transformation over the last three decades moving away from the old model where services were more often than not government functions provided by public utility entities towards a new paradigm of private sector-led competitive markets where services are exchanged on a commercial basis. Accordingly the role of governments has fundamentally changed in many activities from being the provider of the service into that of the supervisor or regulator in pursuit of public interests. Increasingly services markets continue to be liberalized motivated by the usual gains from competition (better quality lower prices wider choices expanding markets and more job creation).
Balancing legal certainty with regulatory flexibility
The concept of legal certainty is a central element of most legal systems in the world (Maxeiner 2008: 28). It can be associated with the rule of law but variations exist concerning its exact contours and its relative importance vis-à-vis other fundamental legal principles. In particular legal certainty is often contrasted with principles of justice or rightfulness (von Arnauld 2006: 638). Indeed a formal understanding of legal certainty which focuses on issues of stability and consistency does not guarantee a fair and just outcome. More fundamentally even though legal certainty is one of the most effective safeguards against governmental and administrative arbitrariness it offers no protection against unjust or unfair laws. How can the potential for conflict between legal certainty and justice be solved?
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.
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.
Opening services markets at the regional level under the CAFTA-DR: The cases of Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic
The cases of Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic (DR) offer interesting examples of why smaller countries choose to negotiate in a regional context and help explain why the CAFTA-DR regional agreement has led both of them to make services commitments that go significantly beyond their WTO GATS schedules.
The liberalization of postal and courier services: Ready for delivery?
Even if postal and courier services represent traditional means of communication they remain essential to a country’s economic and social development even in today’s information society where new communication technologies keep emerging. Nevertheless these services have been transformed in many aspects in order to face the challenges resulting from the IT revolution.
Services liberalization in the WTO and in PTAs
The first decade of this century has been characterized by intensive trade negotiations. Countries all over the world have resorted to a plethora of fora and mechanisms to enhance trade opportunities overseas. Negotiations at the WTO have been ongoing since November 2001 under the umbrella of the Doha Development Agenda. In parallel to that many new preferential trade agreements have entered into force.
PTAs in services: Friends or foes of the multilateral trading system?
Preferential trade agreements are proliferating around the globe. By the end of July 2007 380 PTAs had been notified to the WTO. Only 142 of these agreements were concluded between 1948 and 1994 – the period from the establishment of the GATT to the end of the Uruguay Round. The remaining agreements entered into force thereafter. To put it provocatively it could be said that just after WTO members pledged their commitment to a non-discriminatory trading system by concluding the most far-reaching of all multilateral trading rounds they went off to sign a plethora of discriminatory trading pacts.
Services trade and growth
One of the stylized facts of economic development is that the share of services in GDP and employment rises as per capita income increases. In the lowest-income countries services generate some 35 percent of GDP. This rises to over 70 percent of national income and employment in OECD countries. The expansion in the services intensity of economies is driven by a number of factors. Standard explanations revolve around both demand- and supply-side factors including income elasticities of demand for services that exceed one limited scope for labor productivity improvements in the supply of consumer (final product) services and the rise in demand for coordination and intermediation services associated with structural change (e.g. the shift out of subsistence agriculture urbanization changes in business practices) and the expansion of the extent of the market as well as incentives for firms and government bodies to spin off service activities to specialized providers (outsourcing). Advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) are increasingly permitting cross-border – disembodied – trade in labor-intensive services accelerating the growth of services activities.
Opening Markets for Trade in Services
Trade in services is an increasingly important part of global trade and as such figures prominently in multilateral regional and bilateral trade negotiations. In this volume of essays academics negotiators and experts from various international organizations explore the challenges motivations and achievements of such negotiations. The contributions highlight issues in important services sectors such as distribution energy finance telecommunications air transport and the postal and audiovisual sectors as well as areas such as cross-border trade the movement of natural persons and government procurement. Case studies look into the experiences of specific countries. The focus on sector analysis and country experiences sheds light on the state of services liberalization and the regulation of international trade in services at the beginning of the twenty-first century making this an indispensable guide to ongoing and future international negotiations on this topic.
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.
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.
Financial services liberalization in the WTO and PTAs
The financial services sector has been going through a dramatic process of change for the last two decades. Technological change deregulation and the opening up of financial systems to international competition amongst other factors have reshaped the financial landscape for ever. Against this background trade in financial services (understood as both cross-border financial transactions and the establishment of premises abroad) has expanded at a rapid pace prompting a deeper integration of markets worldwide.
A warmer welcome? Access for natural persons under PTAs
In comparison to the other three modes of supplying services under the GATS few market opening commitments have been undertaken by WTO members with respect to the movement of natural persons – mode 4 – as a result of the Uruguay Round and subsequent extended negotiations. This begs the question: have WTO members been more forthcoming in their PTAs?
A reader’s guide to basic GATS concepts and negotiations
The purpose of this appendix is to provide the reader with an overview of key concepts used in negotiations on trade in services. Many of these concepts find their origin in the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services which has served as the model for the services chapters contained in many preferential trade agreements. Reference to other concepts not pertaining to the GATS but nevertheless necessary to understand other negotiating models is made whenever appropriate. The appendix also provides an overview of current services negotiations within the WTO Doha Development Agenda.
The liberalization of energy services: Are PTAs more energetic than the GATS?
Energy is an indispensable component of daily life. It gives us light allows us to cook our food and heat – or cool – our homes and transports us on road rail or water or in the air. It underpins all economic activities. A lack of reliable and affordable energy supply affects human welfare and economic development. The importance of this sector for social and economic life coupled with the specificities of energy trade have led governments to be directly involved in the provision of energy goods and services. Until the beginning of the 1990s the structure of the energy sector left limited room for private operators. The market was dominated by large vertically integrated state-owned utilities which were responsible for the whole chain from exploration and production to marketing and sale to the final consumer; trade in energy was seen essentially as trade in goods in which services were a value added element. Moreover many countries endowed with energy resources were not members of the GATT/WTO.