The World economy is dominated by service sector. The importance of services sector can be judged by the fact that 64.2% of world GDP in 2009 is contributed by services. The contribution of the services sector in India is 55.2% to its GDP providing employment for 25.4% of the India’s work...

The World economy is dominated by service sector. The importance of services sector can be judged by the fact that 64.2% of world GDP in 2009 is contributed by services. The contribution of the services sector in India is 55.2% to its GDP providing employment for 25.4% of the India’s work...

This research paper highlights the adverse impacts of the continuing WTO moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions on the developing and least developed countries. The rapidly progressing digitalization along with the ongoing pandemic and the food crisis are creating multiple...

This study investigates the effect of GATS, a service-specific trade agreement, on the survival of service exports from Kenya to 176 countries between 1995 and 2019. Services are classified at a 1-digit level: travel, transport, computer and information, construction, financial, insurance,...

Market access is the most important liberalizing principle in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It entails a general prohibition of quantitative restrictions, which however is conditional on commitments undertaken by Members in their respective Schedules of Commitments. Case-law...

Recent advances in quantifying the effect of services sector bindings in trade agreements based on the extent of reduction of “water in the GATS” – measured as the difference in openness under applied services trade regimes as measured by the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) and...

When it comes to services traded through the international movement of individuals (mode 4), Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) have increasingly adopted trade-facilitating disciplines that both build upon and innovate the GATS framework. By analysing relevant provisions of RTAs, we are able to...

This study investigates the effect of GATS, a service-specific trade agreement, on the survival of service exports from Kenya to 176 countries between 1995 and 2019. Services are classified at a 1-digit level: travel, transport, computer and information, construction, financial, insurance,...

This research paper highlights the adverse impacts of the continuing WTO moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions on the developing and least developed countries. The rapidly progressing digitalization along with the ongoing pandemic and the food crisis are creating multiple...

GATS and services negotiations -- GATS and preferential services agreements -- GATS and international standards -- GATS and digital trade -- GATS and data flows -- GATS and development -- Concluding observations.

Purpose As a growth industry in the international tourism segment market, halal tourism domestic policy should align with General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as an international trade in services regulation. This paper aims to examine Indonesia’s halal tourism policy and its...

This paper reviews the Philippines' participation in services trade agreements to date at the multilateral (WTO GATS), regional (ASEAN and dialogue partners), and bilateral levels (PJEPA and PH-EFTA FTA). It also discusses the government's institutional arrangements for trade in services...

Agreed commitments under GATS — both general and specific — amount to substantial qualifications to the exercise of sovereignty and powers in shaping domestic regulation of services. Members therefore agreed to introduce security exceptions aimed to preserve Members’ freedom of action in...

This contribution offers a comprehensive analysis of Art. XIX GATS, entitled “Negotiation of Specific Commitments”, which clarifies the manner in which negotiations under the GATS should proceed in order to progressively achieve higher levels of liberalization. This provision also identifies...

This paper identifies regulators’ increasing discretionary practices in the innovation sectors and examines whether international economic law is prepared for this supervisory evolution. As demonstrated by the three cases studied, very often technology laws themselves do not entail sufficient...

Research on trade in education services intensified at the beginning of the 21st century after the proposal to include these services into the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of WTO. The proposal triggered controversy among many academics, arguing that education...

This paper considers liberalization of trade in both inter-temporal intermediation services and goods in a joint spatial-intertemporal trade model. Joint multi-commodity spatial intertemporal models are not (to our knowledge) used in the trade literature as general comparative statics results...

The general and specific obligations undertaken under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by Members in relation to non-discrimination and market access and a level playing field in services, may under certain circumstances, considerably restrict the pursuit of equally legitimate,...

While the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provided for the applicability of non-violation and situation complaints to the settlement of disputes in the area of intellectual property (IP), when the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements were adopted...

Rising global terror concerns at the turn of the century brought about a sweeping set of security measures on the international stage. Among them were Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreements, which require airlines to share passenger data with destination countries days before a flight takes off....

Measures restricting data flows outside one's borders, including mandatory data/server localization measures, are not only a barrier to trade, but also largely ineffective in achieving better internet security or trust. Nevertheless, governments deploy such measures, primarily on grounds of...

This is an updated commentary of Article IX of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on business practices, including a textual analysis of the provision, as well as an examination of the pertinent WTO case law and of other related international and regional rules and practices

The growing importance of services trade for countries across the world is well-documented in the services and trade literatures. At the same time, regulatory and administrative barriers to the movement of service suppliers to deliver services internationally have resulted in very low shares of...

In 2016, the Government of India proposed negotiations on an agreement to facilitate trade in services to complement the 2013 World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement in goods. The proposal did not find much support, but plurilateral talks launched in 2017 on various policy areas...

Services have long been perceived as playing a secondary role in world trade. In particular, the role of services trade policies and multilateral services commitments often tends to be downplayed. However, in value added terms, services account for about 50% of world trade and are significant in...

Services have long been perceived as playing a secondary role in world trade. In particular, the role of services trade policies and multilateral services commitments often tends to be downplayed. However, in value added terms, services account for about 50% of world trade and are significant in...

Experience has shown there has been a need for prudential measures to be imposed on financial services. The global financial crisis of 2007-08 is quite an emblematic example. Therefore, states and financial institutions have united to establish standards as for financial services like the Basel...

This paper quantifies the economic implications of reducing barriers to services trade in the context of the Trade in International Services Agreement (TISA) using an extension of the GTAP model which incorporates a dynamic mechanism, a MONASH-style investment function, and disaggregated...