Negotiations on Domestic Regulation and Trade in Services (GATS Article VI): A Legal Analysis of Selected Current Issues

Abstract

This chapter argues that it may be difficult for developing countries to insist on policy flexibility for their own domestic prudential regulation of services and request greater, asymmetric disciplines on regulatory barriers in developed countries if such barriers impede services exports from developing countries. The chapter distinguishes horizontal disciplines, sectoral disciplines, and specifically negotiated disciplines, and examines related legal problems (such as discrimination against foreign ‘like services’ and ‘like service providers’ inconsistent with Articles II, XVII General Agreement on Trade in Services, ‘nullification or impairment’ of specific commitments inconsistent with Article VI:5, measures ‘not more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of the service’ in the sense of Article VI:4). The Disciplines on Domestic Regulation in the Accountancy Sector, adopted by the World Trade Organization Council on Trade in Services in 1998, and the Article VI:4 Work Programme are also discussed here.