General Agreement On Trade In Services

A comprehensive analysis of GATS that considers its historical context, the national preferences that shaped it, and a path to a GATS 2.0. The previous two volumes in The Regulation of International Trade analyzed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the first successful agreement to generate multilateral trade liberalization, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), for which the GATT laid the groundwork. In this third volume, Petros Mavroidis turns to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), a WTO treaty that took effect in 1995, and offers a comprehensive analysis that considers the historical context of the GATS, the national preferences that shaped it, and a path to a GATS 2.0.

This volume will be a valuable reference tool for the WTO community as a whole, as well as for professionals and researchers, who deal with one of the sectors concerned, e.g. financial services and telecommunications.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is an historical agreement covering a wide range of international service transactions. This guide presents the key features of the multilateral system of trade rules covering services. It also identifies the main opportunities and challenges that may be encountered at the practical business level in the implementation of GATS rules and market access commitments.

Trade in Higher Education: The role of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) - Internationalization of higher education has been evolving over the years. Today, trade in education has become an important framework under which cross-border mobility of students, institutions, programs, and teachers takes place. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has systematized and formalized the conditions for trade in services including education. This book provides a detailed analysis of various dimensions of the GATS and its implications for development of higher education, especially in developing countries. The analysis also provides a critical assessment of the benefits derived and potential threats posed by trading in education. It is hoped that the study will provide useful insights on the issue for educational policy-makers, planners, and researchers.

"The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) extends the multilateral trading system to services. Little is said In the GATS about subsidies, beyond stipulating that subsidies are subject to the existing provisions, including the most-favoured-nation and national-treatment principles, and that Members shall enter into negotiations with a view to developing the disciplines necessary to avoid the trade distorting effects of subsidies." "This timely book provides a comprehensive analysis of services subsidies under the GATS. It begins with a description of services and trade in services, and of the salient characteristics that make regulation of services subsidies more complex than those associated with agricultural and industrial goods. It then analyzes the economic arguments underpinning the need for regulation, as well as the need for governments to retain sufficient latitude to implement non-trade-related policy measures. A description of the information available on services subsidies is followed by a classification of services subsidies according to their distortive effects, and by a detailed analysis of those elements that may form a definition of services subsidies for the purpose of a future regulatory framework." "A key section is devoted to the analysis of those existing provisions of the GATS that may exert a certain measure of discipline on services subsidies, and to the question of the desirability and technical feasibility of countervailing measures. Rules on services subsidies contained in regional trade agreements and the need for special and differential treatment for services subsidies by developing countries are also discussed. Finally, and prior to the conclusion, two sectoral studies deal with the question of subsidies aimed at attracting foreign direct investment and subsidies to the audiovisual sector." "This work represents the first extensive and comprehensive analysis of the issue of services subsidies in the context of the GATS, and includes numerous references to relevant European Union State Aid legislation and jurisprudence." --Book Jacket.

"The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has extended its institutional arsenal since the Kennedy round in the early 1960s. The current institutional design is the outcome of the Uruguay round and agreements reached in the ongoing Doha round (begun in 2001). One of the institutional outgrowths of GATT is the World Trade Organization (WT0), created in 1995. In this book, Petros Mavroidis offers a detailed examination of WTO agreements regulating trade in goods, discussing legal context, policy background, economic rationale, and case law."--Publisher's description.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a historical agreement covering a wide range of international service transactions. In support of further trade negotiations, the Guide also highlights issues in which the business community may wish to provide input as preparations for trade negotiations move forward.