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Erschienen in:
Critical Theory and Practice in International Economic Law and the New Global Governance Kapitel lesen Erstes Kapitel lesen

2016 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

Trade in Services and Regulatory Flexibility: 20 Years of GATS, 20 Years of Critique

verfasst von : Panagiotis Delimatsis

Erschienen in: European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2016

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) was a key achievement of the multilateral trade negotiations during the Uruguay Round. Twenty years later, the service sector is probably the most dynamic economic sector. The expansion of global value chains and of the on-demand economy will only increase the importance of services. However, the relevance of the GATS for the global economy has suffered from the deficiencies of the GATS legal framework. The purpose of the present article is not to defend the GATS. The GATS is an artefact of the 90s that struggles to remain a living instrument amidst the most severe existential crisis that has ever hit the multilateral trading system. Rather, this contribution aims at offering an account of the GATS birth defects, critically review its inability to take stock of the progress made the last 15 years of multilateral trade negotiations, discuss its development-related potential and assess its future prospects amidst regional service-related initiatives that threaten its existence, including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). A key conclusion of this paper is that a ‘GATS 2.0’ is warranted and should be focused on guaranteeing non-discrimination and ensuring good governance.

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Vorheriges Kapitel From GATS to TiSA: Pushing the Trade in Services Regime Beyond the Limits
Nächstes Kapitel The Current System of Trade and Intellectual Property Rights
Fußnoten
1
Cf Avgouleas (2009), p. 24.
 
2
See Kelsey’s article in this volume (Kelsey 2016, section 1), quoting Stiglitz J (2009) Report of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, United Nations.
 
3
Again, and quite ironically, this resilience may be the result of isolation from the global economy and underdevelopment of the financial system. See Huang (2010), p. 219.
 
4
Take the case of the scandal-tainted Libor benchmark. In the aftermath of the Libor scandal, and despite previous pledges relating to future management of Libor by the UK Financial Services Authority (now split into the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority), it is a private corporation, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), that administers the Libor benchmark. ICE is supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority. See Intercontinental Exchange to take over running Libor benchmark. Financial Times, 17 January 2014.
 
5
See Delimatsis (2013), p. 139.
 
6
Again, more trade liberalization does not ipso facto guarantee more development. Social policies and pro-poor strategies for vulnerable groups are essential.
 
7
See WTO, World Trade Report (2014), p. 24.
 
8
United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2013—The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World, p. 11.
 
9
See, for instance, the very important progress that was achieved and the advanced draft text produced in the negotiations relating to domestic regulation 4 years ago. Very little was done ever since due to unsatisfactory progress in other negotiating areas.
 
10
See Hoekman and Mattoo (2008), p. 23.
 
11
Cf. Hancher and Sauter (2010).
 
12
Cross-border supply; consumption abroad; commercial presence; and temporary movement of natural persons. There is no doubt that the GATS is an investment agreement, as over 50 % of services trade is conducted through Mode 3. See Magdeleine J and Maurer A (2008) Measuring GATS Mode 4 Trade Flows. WTO Staff Working Paper ERSD-2008-05.
 
13
The so-called ‘negative list’ approach means in the GATS jargon that, other than the sectors and sub-sectors that are explicitly listed in a Member’s Schedule of MFN exemptions, the MFN principle applies to all other sectors.
 
14
See, among many, Case C-439/99, Commission v. Italy [2002] ECR I-305, para. 39–40; and Joined Cases C-94/04 & C-202/04, Cipolla [2006] ECR I-11421.
 
15
GATT, Services Sectoral Classification List MTN.GNS/W/120, 10 July 1991. The CPC 1991 that was used for the W/120 has been subsequently revised, but the W/120 remained unchanged. However, some WTO Members that acceded after the end of the Uruguay Round used subsequent versions of the CPC.
 
16
For instance, in the aftermath of the United States—Measures Affecting the Cross-Border Supply of Gambling and Betting Services (US – Gambling) saga, the US sought to change the entry of its schedule with respect to the cross-border supply of gambling and betting services. However, this has been impossible for more than 2 years now.
 
17
Also Appellate Body Report, US – Gambling, para. 180.
 
18
The distinction is allegedly based on whether a health-related services is associated with a given type of institutional nursing. See WTO, Council for Trade in Services, Health and Social Services, Background Note by the Secretariat, S/C/W/50, 18 September 1998, p. 20.
 
19
See WTO, Council for Trade in Services, Energy Services, S/C/W/311, 12 January 2010, p. 2.
 
20
See also See WTO, Council for Trade in Services (Special Session), Energy Services, Communication from the United States, S/CSS/W/24, 18 December 2000, Annex A.
 
21
Also Appellate Body Report, US – Gambling, para. 202–203.
 
22
Appellate Body Report, US – Gambling, para. 200.
 
23
Appellate Body Report, European Communities—Customs Classification of Certain Computer Equipment, WT/DS62/AB/R, WT/DS67/AB/R, WT/DS68/AB/R, adopted 22 June 1998 (EC – Computer Equipment), para. 109.
 
24
As the Appellate Body noted in EC – Computer Equipment [para. 82] when interpreting GATT Schedules, “the security and predictability of tariff concessions would be seriously undermined if the concessions in Members’ Schedules were to be interpreted on the basis of the subjective views of certain exporting Members alone”.
 
25
Cf. Leroux (2007), p. 757. The Appellate Body confirmed that treaty interpretation ‘is ultimately a holistic exercise that should not be mechanically subdivided into rigid components’. See Appellate Body Report, China—Measures Affecting Trading Rights and Distribution Services for Certain Publications and Audiovisual Entertainment Products, WT/DS363/AB/R, adopted 19 January 2010 (China – Publications and Audiovisual Products), para. 348.
 
26
See, for instance, Appellate Body Report, US – Gambling.
 
27
This can be contrasted to the GATT where only the Harmonized System of the World Customs Organization (WCO) is the relevant benchmark.
 
28
See also Ortino (2006), p. 124. The Appellate Body implicitly agreed with this limitation in US – Gambling, para. 182.
 
29
See also Krajewski (2005), p. 417.
 
30
The Appellate Body considered these Guidelines to be relevant preparatory work under Art. 32 VCLT, reversing the Panel’s previous finding that they constitute context within the meaning of Art. 31 VCLT.
 
31
Panel Report, China – Publications and Audiovisual Products, para. 7.1237.
 
32
See Appellate Body Report, China – Publications and Audiovisual Products, para. 396.
 
33
Appellate Body Report, China – Publications and Audiovisual Products, para. 397; also Delimatsis (2011), p. 281.
 
34
Borchert et al. (2011), p. 115.
 
35
See the Opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) 1/2008 on the modification of the EU GATS Schedule [2009] ECR I-11129, para. 114.
 
36
Cf European Commission, Green Paper on Services of General Interest, COM(2003) 270 final.
 
37
GATS Financial Services Annex, paragraph 1(b).
 
38
See Art. 1:3(c) GATS and para. 1(b) of the Financial Services Annex.
 
39
Cf. Krajewski (2003), p. 341.
 
40
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Art. 207:4.
 
41
Delimatsis (2011), p. 281.
 
42
The US – Gambling saga is telling in this respect: for its own domestic reasons, the US was willing to protect the horseracing industry from the otherwise general prohibition on remote gambling and betting.
 
43
See Kelsey (2016), section 2.
 
44
See, among others, cases such as Reyners, Gebhard and Wouters.
 
45
On the incompleteness of the WTO agreements, see Horn H, Maggi G and Staiger R (2006) Trade Agreements as Endogenously Incomplete Contracts. NBER Working Paper No 12745.
 
46
As to government procurement, the Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services, under section B.2, entails an exception to the overall absence of disciplines on government procurement by requiring that public entities respect MFN and non-discrimination when they purchase financial services.
 
47
See Delimatsis (2010).
 
48
See Marchetti J and Roy M (2013) The TISA Initiative: An Overview of Market Access Issues. WTO Staff Working Paper ERSD-2013-11, p. 27.
 
49
See Council of the European Union, Draft Directives for the negotiation of a plurilateral agreement on trade in services, 6891/13, ADD1, 8 March 2013.
 
51
See Kelsey (2016), section 10.
 
52
See Kelsey (2016), section 4.3.
 
53
Keohane et al. (2009), p. 23.
 
Literatur
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Delimatsis P (2010) Concluding the WTO services negotiations on domestic regulation—hopes and fears. World Trade Rev 9(4):643–673CrossRef
Delimatsis P (2011) Protecting public morals in a digital age: revisiting the WTO rulings on US—Gambling and China—Publications and Audiovisual Products. J Int Econ Law 14(2):257–293CrossRef
Delimatsis P (2013) Institutional transparency in the WTO. In: Bianchi A, Peters A (eds) Transparency in international law. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 112–141CrossRef
Hancher L, Sauter W (2010) One step beyond? from Sodemare to DocMorris: the EU’s freedom of establishment case law concerning healthcare. CML Rev 47(1):117–146
Hoekman B, Mattoo A (2008) Services trade and growth. In: Marchetti J, Roy M (eds) Opening markets for trade in services—countries and sectors in bilateral and WTO negotiations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 21–58
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Kelsey J (2016) From GATS to TiSA: pushing the trade in services regime beyond the limits. In: Bungenberg M, Hermann C, Krajewski M, Terhechte J (eds) European yearbook of international economic law, vol 7. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 119–151
Keohane R, Macedo S, Moravcsik A (2009) Democracy-enhancing multilateralism. Int Organ 63:1–31CrossRef
Krajewski M (2003) Public services and trade liberalisation: mapping the legal framework. J Int Econ Law 6(2):341–367CrossRef
Krajewski M (2005) Playing by the rules of the game? Leg Issues Econ Integr 32(4):417–447
Leroux EH (2007) Eleven years of GATS case-law: what have we learned? J Int Econ Law 10(4):749–793CrossRef
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Metadaten
Titel
Trade in Services and Regulatory Flexibility: 20 Years of GATS, 20 Years of Critique
verfasst von
Panagiotis Delimatsis
Copyright-Jahr
2016
Buch
European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2016

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29214-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-29215-1

Copyright-Jahr: 2016

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29215-1_7