International Trade in Services.pdf - DSpace at Khazar University

Legal Services: Does More Trade Rhyme with Better Justice 89
• practice area
• form of establishment
• conditions for the name of the firm (a key form of branding)
• ability to hire or partner with local lawyers
• ability to work for a local law firm or work as a foreign legal consultant
• marketing and advertising
• capital controls
• tax policy (for example, double taxation)
• access to visas and transit requirements
On the bilateral level, export promotion activities can help domestic law firms
build relationships with potential partners and clients. Such efforts can be used to
introduce and match law firms with foreign partners, include law firms in industry
exhibitions abroad and at home, train firm representatives in export market
research, or take other measures to facilitate trade. Box 3.9 provides an example of
a particular type of trade facilitating arrangement pertaining to the crossborder
movement of professionals.
Box 3.9: Negotiating Fast-Track Visa Procedures to Facilitate Crossborder
Movement
Often, lawyers must cross borders to visit and represent clients abroad. Cumbersome,
unpredictable, and slow visa procedures are serious obstacles to trade in legal services.
Concessions under Mode 4 of the GATS are a major request of developing countries in
the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. However, no compromise has so
far been found. Yet, pragmatic solutions can sometimes be discovered at the bilateral
or regional level to facilitate the movement of professionals.
The fear of a host country is that a nonresident entering its territory overstays and
becomes an illegal immigrant. Temporary movement is often seen as a steppingstone
for permanent migration. Countries therefore tend to be more restrictive than
necessary for the attribution of business and other temporary visas. Yet, a guarantor
for the return of the traveling professional might, in this context, overcome the
concerns of the host country about illegal immigration. And, in the case of the legal
profession (or, similarly, for other professions), the bar of lawyers could play this
guarantor role because formal registration to this professional body is often
mandatory, and members are well identified, incorporated, and established.
In Tunisia, a number of professions have negotiated a fast-track visa procedure
with the French Consulate. Thus, the professional body of accountants collects
requests for business visas from its members, submits them to the consulate, and
receives multiple-entry visas within a day or two. The engineers have negotiated a
similar arrangement and have different priority lists depending on the seniority of the
member and the type of business. The professional body can therefore assess the
credibility and urgency of each request. As a side benefit, this system also helps keep
track of professional movement and international transactions, thereby contributing
to the collection of better data on the trade in legal services.