Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

policy-making to match their needs, whether in
economic development or trade negotiations.
2.5. An important response of the international
community to the globalization of trade has been the
creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO),
which entered into force on 1 January 1995 as the
major outcome of the Uruguay Round of multilateral
trade negotiations. WTO provides a common
institutional framework for the conduct of trade
relations among its member countries. Its main
functions are to facilitate the implementation,
administration and operation of the multilateral trade
agreements; to provide a forum for further
negotiations; to review national trade policies; and to
secure positive solutions to trade disputes. The three
principal WTO agreements are the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1994, the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and
the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights. GATS is the first set of
legally enforceable disciplines and rules ever
negotiated and agreed at the world level to cover
international trade in services. 19
2.6. Trade negotiators require statistics as a guide to
negotiate specific commitments in trade in services
and thereafter to monitor compliance and the resulting
changes for each type of service. Statistics can aid the
evaluation of market access opportunities; inform
decisions on negotiating priorities and strategy;
support the comparison of commitments; facilitate the
assessment of the extent of liberalization achieved in
specific services and markets; and provide a statistical
background for the settling of disputes. Private
business also needs the information in order to be
aware of the possibilities offered by trade
liberalization. The analysis of markets for whatever
purpose also requires that trade data can be linked to
output data, whether in terms of activities or of
products.
2.7. The <strong>Manual</strong> acknowledges the tight constraints
under which statistical compilers operate, whether in
national statistics offices, central banks or other
institutions, as well as the need not to burden private
enterprise unduly, while still providing a clear
ultimate goal for a conceptually complete framework.
19 . World Trade Organization, The Results of the Uruguay Round
of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Legal Texts (Geneva,
1995), annex 1B.
10
2. The General Agreement on Trade in Services
(a) Structure and guiding principles of GATS
2.8. GATS establishes a set of rules and disciplines
governing the use by WTO member countries of trade
measures in services. Such measures consist of laws,
regulations, administrative actions and decisions
affecting the purchase, payment or use of a service or the
presence of foreign service suppliers. The GATS
disciplines extend across all government levels,
including non-governmental bodies in the exercise of
delegated powers.
2.9. The pillars of GATS are a set of general
obligations, many of which apply directly and
automatically to all WTO members and all services;
specific commitments resulting from negotiations, whose
scope is limited to the sectors and transactions in which
a member has undertaken access obligations; and several
annexes covering specific sectors or trade-related
matters such as the movement of natural persons.
2.10. First and foremost among the general obligations
is the principle of most-favoured-nation (MFN)
treatment, which forbids any form of discrimination
between services and service suppliers originating in
different countries. Thus, regardless of whether or not a
country allows foreign competition in a sector, it must
apply the same conditions to services and service
providers from all other WTO member countries. 20
Another general obligation (transparency) requires WTO
members to publish all trade-related measures and
establish national enquiry points to respond to other
members’ information requests.
2.11. Specific commitments, relating to market access,
national treatment and any additional undertakings, are
specified and bound in national schedules as a result of
negotiations. 21 While the GATS requires all member
countries to submit such a schedule, it does not obligate
20 An annex on MFN exemptions allowed WTO members to list
exemptions for measures existing at the date of entry into
force of GATS. These exemptions should in principle last no
longer than 10 years; they are subject to review and must be
(re)negotiated in subsequent trade rounds. New exemptions
can be granted only in special circumstances and require a
waiver under the WTO Agreement.
21 When commitments are “bound” in national schedules, this
means that in general they cannot be easily modified or
withdrawn; because “unbinding” is a difficult process, the
commitments are virtually guaranteed conditions for foreign
exporters and investors.