Services Trade Liberalization and Regulatory Reform PDF Download

Author: Bernard M. Hoekman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Free trade
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Trade and investment in services is inhibited by a range of policy restrictions, but the best offers so far in the Doha negotiations are on average twice as restrictive as actual policy. They will generate no additional market opening. Regulatory concerns help explain the limited progress. We develop two proposals to enhance the prospects for both liberalization of services trade and regulatory reform. The first is for governments to create mechanisms ('services knowledge platforms') to bring together regulators, trade officials and stakeholders to discuss services regulatory reform. Such mechanisms could identify reform priorities and opportunities for utilization of 'aid for trade' resources, thereby putting in place the preconditions for future market opening. The second proposal is for a new approach to negotiations in the WTO, with a critical mass of countries that account for the bulk of services production agreeing to lock-in applied levels of protection and pre-committing to reform of policies affecting FDI and international movement for individual service providers--two areas where current policy is most restrictive and potential benefits from liberalization are greatest. If these proposals cannot be fully implemented in the Doha time frame, then any Doha agreement could at least lay the basis for a forward-looking program of international cooperation along the proposed lines.

Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264193626
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
This conference proceedings presents national experiences of regulatory reform and trade in order to foster consensus-building on best practices. Such practices include enhanced transparency, non-discriminatory due process, independence of regulators and active implementation of competition policy.

Author: Markus Krajewski
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041121412
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
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.

Author: Bernard Hoekman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 27

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Book Description
Trade and investment in services are inhibited by a range of policy restrictions, but the best offers so far in the Doha negotiations are on average twice as restrictive as actual policy. They will generate no additional market opening. Regulatory concerns help explain the limited progress. This paper develops two proposals to enhance the prospects for both liberalization of services trade and regulatory reform. The first is for governments to create mechanisms ( "services knowledge platforms" ) to bring together regulators, trade officials, and stakeholders to discuss services regulatory reform. Such mechanisms could identify reform priorities and opportunities for utilization of "aid for trade" resources, thereby putting in place the preconditions for future market opening. The second proposal is for a new approach to negotiations in the World Trade Organization, with a critical mass of countries that account for the bulk of services production agreeing to lock-in applied levels of protection and pre-committing to reform of policies affecting foreign direct investment and international movement for individual service providers -- two areas where current policy is most restrictive and potential benefits from liberalization are greatest. If these proposals cannot be fully implemented in the Doha time frame, then any Doha agreement could at least lay the basis for a forward-looking program of international cooperation along the proposed lines.

Author: Aaditya Mattoo
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821354086
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This text addresses two central questions: what impact can international trade rules on services have on the exercise of domestic regulatory sovereignty, and how can services negotiations be harnessed to promote and consolidate domestic policy reform across highly diverse sectors?.

Author: Aik Hoe Lim
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107062357
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Innovative, interdisciplinary, practitioner-oriented insights into the key challenges faced in addressing the services trade liberalization and domestic regulation interface.

Author: Sherry M. Stephenson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815721024
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
A Brookings Institution Press and the Organization of American States publication The services sector—including financial services, telecommunications, transportation, tourism, and professional services—has become critical to the continued economic dynamism in the Americas. And the quality and competitiveness of this sector are essential to economic growth and development. On average, services—increasingly traded in more numerous and far-reaching ways than goods—account for nearly two-thirds of the gross domestic product of the Western Hemisphere. The importance of the sector, however, is disproportionately large in Central America and the Caribbean, where it often is the major source of employment and of foreign exchange.This timely volume is the first to review and analyze trade agreements covering the services sector in the Western Hemisphere and their relationship to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), in force since 1995 as an integral part of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Negotiations on liberalizing services trade are continuing at the multilateral, the regional or hemispheric, and the subregional levels. It is imperative to understand what is being discussed and implemented at these different levels and to articulate the linkages and relationships among the various agreements and the disciplines and obligations they contain. Services Trade in the Western Hemisphere informs the reader about these issues and more. Part 1 deals with the main issues relevant to the liberalization of services trade at the multilateral and regional levels, including improvements to the GATS architecture, the scope of regulatory reform, the relationship between the treatment of services and investment, WTO requirements that must be fulfilled by parties to an economic integration agreement, and disagreements brought to the multilateral dispute settlement process. Part 2 examines the scope, content, and liberalizing approach of subregional agreements in the Western Hemisphere, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and those p

Author: Panagiotis Delimatsis
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191566705
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
In 2005 the WTO Appellate body ruled that the United States' total prohibition on cross border gambling services was unlawful under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The questions raised by the case - whether and how a Government could block service provision on moral grounds - went to the heart of key controversies surrounding international economic law. How do you reconcile a liberal system of international trade in services with national governments' desire to protect social values through service regulation? How much control are the WTO members willing to transfer to the WTO? How much regulatory diversity can the international trading system withstand? This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the regulation of services under the WTO's GATS Agreement. Through a thorough examination of the GATS negotiation history, substantive provisions, judicial interpretation, and ongoing reform process, the book presents a clear picture of how the multilateral trading system justifies and tolerates regulatory diversity. In this respect, the book focuses on the core general principles of necessity and transparency, which would allow the assessment of the consistency with the GATS of domestic regulations in services at a horizontal, cross-sectoral level. In addition, the book reviews with a critical eye the ongoing GATS negotiations on the creation of rules on domestic regulations.

Author: Pierre Sauve
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815716815
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 572

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Book Description
A Brookings Institution Press and the Center for Business and Government at Harvard University publication With the negotiation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the policies affecting access to, and conditions of competition in, service markets are today firmly rooted in the multilateral trading system. Written with policymakers and practitioners in mind, the essays in this volume address some of the most pressing questions arising in services trade today—some of which were not addressed by the first generation of GATS negotiators.

Author: Aik Hoe Lim
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139917250
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
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.