Gats and domestic regulation: Balancing the right to regulate and trade liberalization

The World Trade Organization and trade in services

Volumn , Issue , 2008, Pages 207-264

  Wouters, Jan ^a,b   Coppens, Dominic ^b  

^a International Law and the Law of International Organizations ^*  (Belgium)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84882838160     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004162440.1-1024     Document Type: Chapter

References (29)

1. See inter alia United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Investment Report 2004: the Shift towards Services, New York and Geneva, United Nations, 2004
2. M. Matsushita, T.J. Schoenbaum and P.C. Mavroidis, The World Trade Organization. Law, Practice, and Policy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003, 229.
3. Emphasis added
4. M.D. Reagan, Regulation-The Politics of Policy, Boston and Toronto, Little, Brown and Company, 1987, 15.
5. See A. Mattoo and P. Sauvé, "Domestic Regulation and Trade in Services: Looking Ahead", in A. Mattoo and P. Sauvé (eds.), Domestic Regulation and Service Trade Liberalization, Washington, World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003, 223-224.
6. M. Krajewski. distinguishes three general approaches to liberalization, supplemented by the application of a necessity test: non-discrimination, mutual recognition and harmonization/ standardization.
7. M. Krajewski, National Regulation and Trade Liberalization in Services. The Legal Impact of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on National Regulatory Autonomy, The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 2003, 6.
8. This positive list approach was a request of developing countries, which felt they did not have the administrative resources required to determine all the measures that apply to each sector and to decide which they want to exempt
9. See B.M. Hoekman and M.M. Kostecki, The political economy of the World Trading System. The WTO and Beyond, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, 2nd ed., 254.
10. A. Mattoo, "Shaping future GATS rules for Trade in Services", paper prepared for an NBER Conference on Trade in Services, June 2000, available at: http://econ.worldbank.org/files/1716_wps2596.pdf, 10.
11. See also R. Chanda, "GATS and its implications for developing countries: Key issues and concerns", Discussion Paper of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, November 2002, 7-11, available at: http://www.un.org/esa/ esa02dp25.pdf.
12. WTO Secretariat, Trade in Services Division, "An Introduction to the GATS", 1999, 8, available at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gsintr_e.doc.
13. WTO Secretariat, Trade in Services Division, "An Introduction to the GATS", 1999, 9, available at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gsintr_e.doc.
14. G. Verhoosel, National Treatment and the WTO Dispute Settlement, Adjudicating the Boundaries of Regulatory Autonomy, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 98.
15. D. Luff, Le Droit de L'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce. Analyse Critique, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2004, 604.
16. WTO, Council for Trade in Services, "Decision on Professional Services", 4 April 1995, S/L/3
17. WTO, Council for Trade in Services, "Disciplines on Domestic Regulation in the Accountancy Sector", 17 December 1998, S/L/64
18. WTO, Council for Trade in Services, "Decision on Domestic Regulation", 26 April 1999, S/L/70
19. WTO, WPDR, note by the Chairman, "Disciplines on Domestic Regulation pursuant to GATS Artice VI:4 Consolidated Working Paper", July 2006, JOB(06)/225
20. WTO, WPDR, Communication from the United States, "Outline of US Position on a Draft Consolidated Text in the WPDR", 11 July 2006, JOB(06)/223
21. WTO, Council for Trade in Services, "Disciplines on Domestic Regulation in the Accountancy Sector", 17 December 1998, S/L/64
22. Council for Trade in Services, Decision on Disciplines relating to the Accountancy Sector, December 1998, S/L/63
23. D. Honeck, "Background to the Accountancy Disciplines", paper presented at Workshop on Domestic Regulation, 29-30 March 2004, available at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_ e/serv_e/workshop_march04_e/sess3_honeck2_e.doc.
24. WTO, WPDR, Informal Note by the Secretariat, Revision, "Examples of Measures to be Addressed by Disciplines under GATS Article VI:4", 16 November 2004, Job(02)/20/Rev9
25. See WTO, WPDR, Communication from Australia, "Development of Disciplines on Domestic Regulation for the Legal and Engineering Sectors", 6 September 2005 (S/WPDR/ W/34)
26. OECD, Trade Committee, Working Party on Trade Committee, "Strengthening Regulatory Transparency: Insights for the GATS from the Regulatory Reform Country Reviews", 11 April 2000, TD/TC/WP(99)43/FINAL, 56
27. WTO, "GATS: Fact and Fiction, Misunderstandings and scare stories", available at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gats_factfictionfalse_e.htm
28. The US would only accept non-operational language in the preamble. See WTO, WPDR, Communication from the United States, "Outline of US Position on a Draft Consolidated Text in the WPDR", 11 July 2006, JOB(06)/223.
29. Although the WPDR is open to all Members, capacity constraints of developing countries often prevent them from fully participating