International Trade in Services.pdf - DSpace at Khazar University

26 International Trade in Services
Table 1.4. Six Efficient Regulatory Principles and Related Good Regulatory Practices
1. Transparency and openness in decision making
a. Systematic public availability of information
b. Clear, simple procedures for making and implementing rules
c. Systematic reliance on public consultation
d. Clear, open, effective appeal procedures
e. Efforts to ensure transparency in particular areas
2. Nondiscrimination
a. Narrow exceptions in practice (avoid overt discrimination)
b. Contestable markets for government procurement
c. Extent of awareness and efforts to avoid (de facto) discriminatory effects in regulation
d. Liberal policies toward foreign ownership and investment
3. Avoidance of unnecessary trade restrictiveness
a. Use of regulatory impact assessment with due attention to trade effects
b. Demonstrated efforts to favor trade-friendly regulatory approaches
c. Simplification of administrative requirements
4. Application of competition principles from an international perspective
a. Open, accessible complaint procedures for challenging regulatory or private actions that
may impair market openness
5. Use of internationally harmonized measures
a. Reference to international standards as the basis for national standards and domestic
regulations
b. Systematic monitoring of efforts to use international standards
c. Acceptance of foreign measures as functionally equivalent
6. Streamlining of conformity assessment procedures
a. Establishing market confidence through accreditation mechanisms
b. Demonstrated flexibility toward the use of alternative approaches for avoiding duplicative
conformity assessment procedures
Source: Authors’ compilation based on OECD (2005).
services, have received less attention than other sectors (such as the financial,
telecommunications, and transport sectors). As shown in the following chapters,
there are many opportunities for the expansion of trade in these nonbackbone
services that can be realized, provided certain accompanying policy measures are
undertaken. These measures are designed to increase the competitiveness and efficiency
of developing-country markets; they involve both the expansion of foreign
markets for exports and of domestic markets for the imports of the various services.
In this respect, international labor mobility and the outsourcing of key service activities
are crucial issues.
The framework for conducting and analyzing the service trade and the liberalization
of regulatory barriers that impede this trade is provided by the GATS. The four
modes of classifying international service transactions are useful in clarifying the
different forms and interrelationships of the service categories. We point out that a
number of developing countries have achieved notable success in a variety of nonbackbone
services domestically and with their trading partners. Regulations are