Handbook of GATS Commitments - Trade in Services Under the WTO

This Handbook presents in graphic format an overview of all services commitments made by 146 WTO Members as of December 2002. The detailed charts for each WTO Member are designed to answer the question: What services does this country allow foreign businesses to offer?

The charts not only identify services sectors in which Members have undertaken legal commitments to allow foreign access, but also indicate the level of these commitments.

The Handbook is intended as a tool for private companies, trade negotiators and researchers. For example, a private company seeking to invest abroad could refer to the book for an overview of market access opportunities in any one of the 146 WTO Member countries.

The Handbook also identifies instances of unclear commitments in Members schedules. The book should help negotiators to review such cases in the current services round and therefore avoid ambiguities in the next generation of commitments.

The Handbook has numerous distinct features:

Illustrates the level of WTO Members commitments pertaining to market access and non-discriminatory treatment for foreign suppliers:

• In all services sectors
• Across each of the four modes of supply (i.e. cross-border, consumption abroad, commercial presence and movement of natural persons)

The charts indicate the level of market access commitments, representing them as full, partial or unbound.

Indicates other factors within the same matrix, including the existence of:

• Horizontal limitations (applicable to all scheduled sectors)
• Additional commitments
• MFN exemptions
• Unscheduled services sectors (those which are not included in a Members schedule of commitments)

The charts consolidate into a single matrix the results of all services negotiations in the WTO, which must otherwise be sought in the Uruguay Round schedules, four additional Protocols and the schedules of commitments of countries which have acceded to the WTO since the Uruguay Round.

Identifies cases in which:

• A Members description for a scheduled sector does not correspond entirely to that provided in either the GATS Services Sectoral Classification List (W/120) or the United Nations Central Product Classification list (UNCPC). In such cases, one might have difficulty determining whether the Members commitment covers the entire sector as defined in the standard lists.
• The sector or sub-sector in which a Member has undertaken commitments is narrower or wider in scope than that provided in the GATS Services Sectoral Classification List.

The charts identify ambiguity in the scope of commitments. Error or ambiguity in the drafting of schedules may leave the meaning or legal force of commitments unclear. It may undermine the legal security which the commitments provide for business, and can lead to misunderstanding and even disputes between governments.

The current round of comprehensive services negotiations, in which all existing schedules will be withdrawn and replaced by new ones, provides negotiators and drafters of schedules the opportunity to clarify commitments.

The Handbook provides information that will highlight what is at stake in the negotiations and will identify areas in which improved commitments would benefit consumers and suppliers of services and the countries making the commitments. These features make the Handbook a quick and comprehensive reference guide to WTO Members services commitments and a compendium that is the first of its kind.

Countries covered are as follows: