These ongoing services negotiations have been incorporated into the Doha Development Agenda, launched by the FOURTH WTO Ministerial Council in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. The Doha Declaration endorses the work already done, reaffirms negotiating guidelines and procedures, and sets out some key elements of the timetable, including a deadline for the submission of market access applications by no more than 30 June 2002 and the first offers until 31 March 2003, while the current regime and other issues continue in the Council`s subsidiary bodies. Only less than one-third of all members submitted applications and offers as of that date. The deadline for the Doha Round is January 2005. The GATS, like all other Uruguay Round agreements, is an annex to the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement. It therefore does not have its own signing and ratification process, but will come into force at the same time as the WTO agreement and all other annexes. There is no opt-out of the GATS: those who want to take advantage of the other elements of the Uruguay cycle must also respect the GATS. Members are free to tailor the coverage of the sector and the content of these commitments as they see fit. Commitments therefore generally reflect the objectives and constraints of national policy as a whole and in different sectors. While some members have provided fewer than a handful of services, others have adopted market access and national processing disciplines in more than 120 services out of a total of 160.
Transparency: GATS members are required, among other things, to publish all measures of general application and to set up national investigative bodies to respond to requests for information from other members. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is the first multilateral agreement on trade in services. It was negotiated in the last round of multilateral trade negotiations, the Uruguay Round, and came into force in 1995. The GATS provides a framework for the rules governing trade in services, sets a mechanism for countries to commit to liberalizing trade in services, and provides a mechanism for resolving disputes between countries. However, timetables have been only a first step in the complex process of liberalizing trade in services, and many countries continue to establish restrictions and conditions for both market access and national treatment. These restrictions are set in each country`s calendar. The continuation of GATS services negotiations is aimed at removing these restrictions and conditions. The creation of the GATS was one of the key principles of the Uruguay Round, the results of which came into force in January 1995. The GATS was essentially inspired by the same objectives as its merchandise trade counterpart, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): the creation of a credible and reliable system of international trade rules; Ensure fair and equitable treatment of all participants (principle of non-discrimination); boosting economic activity through guaranteed political ties; Promoting trade and development through gradual liberalization.
Trackbacks for this post