GATS 2000 negotiations: options for developing countries

The major achievement of the Uruguay Round was to formulate an agreement on trade in services which provided for the following:

• the recognition of the basic asymmetry in the services capacity and regulatory framework and trade in services of developed and developing countries
• the need to respect national policy objectives and level of development
• the obligation that developed countries will take concrete measures aimed at strengthening the domestic services sectors of developing countries, access to technology distribution channels and information networks and market information
• the obligation to grant effective market access in sectors and modes of export interest to developing countries
• a mechanism for progressive liberalisation of market access and national treatment in line with their development situation providing flexibility for developing countries to open fewer sectors, liberalise fewer types of transactions and, when making access to their markets available to foreign service suppliers, attaching to such access conditions aimed at achieving the objectives increasing participation in trade in services

These principles have not to date been effectively implemented. The negotiating guidelines and procedures for the new round would need to operationalise the balance achieved in the GATS framework and maintain the architecture of the GATS intact. The following are a selection from the report that need to be reflected in the guidelines:

• achieving recognition of the imbalance in the results of specific commitments under GATS and the need for taking concrete measures to rectify this in favour of developing countries by effectively liberalizing access in sectors and modes of interest to them
• clarifying the existing commitments through establishing a mechanism to undertake a comprehensive country by country review/assessment of the schedule of commitments to identify patterns of bound commitments, and the most important barriers/limitations/ restrictions, and to clarify the extent of market access and national treatment, and to see whether commitments meet the obligations contained in GATS, e.g. Article IV and Mode 4
• achieving symmetry between capital and labour to ensure efficiency and economic welfare benefits through revision of the Annex on Movement of Natural Persons, removal of ENT limitations on movement of natural persons and developing clear criteria for application of remaining ENTs, replacing nationality requirements with residency requirements
• ensuring full transparency in respect to measures affecting supply of services including immigration legislation and labour market regime, and binding existing market access contained in national legislation