Analytical Note, April 2011
Domestic Regulation of Services Sectors: Analysis of the Draft Negotiation Texts.
This document provides a paragraph by paragraph analysis of the draft domestic regulation texts which are currently being discussed at the WTO’s Working Party on Domestic Regulation (services negotiations).
As long as countries have opened and ‘bound’ at the WTO certain services sectors and modes of supply, the disciplines being negotiated on Licensing Requirements (LR); Licensing Procedures (LP); Qualification Requirements (QR); Qualification Procedures (QP) and Technical Standards (TS) apply in those sectors and modes. These disciplines stipulate that countries’ measures relating to LR; LP; QR; QP; and TS should be ‘pre-established’, based on ‘objective and transparent criteria’ and ‘relevant’ to the supply of the services. They should in principle not be ‘disguised restrictions on trade’; they should be ‘as simple as possible’ etc.
The analysis gives an overview of what is at stake, provides paragraph by paragraph comments on the negotiating texts, and also suggests some recommendations.
This article was tagged: Domestic Regulation, GATS, Services, World Trade Organization (WTO)
