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Services trade

Ranging from architecture to voice-mail telecommunications and to space transport, services are the largest and most dynamic component of both developed and developing country economies. Important in their own right, they also serve as crucial inputs into the production of most goods.
Their inclusion in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations led to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Since January 2000, they have become the subject of multilateral trade negotiations.

See also:
> The services negotiations
> Negotiations, implementation and development: the Doha agenda
> Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration

SERVICES TOPICS
The GATS covers all services, with few exceptions.

> Services sectoral classification list
  

SECTORS:
Business and professional services 

> Accountancy services

> Advertising services

> Architectural and engineering services

> Computer and related services

> Legal services

Communication services 

> Audiovisual services

> Postal and courier, express mail services

> Telecommunications

Construction and related services

Distribution services

Educational services

Energy services

Environmental services

Financial services

Health and social services

Tourism services

Transport services 

> Air transport

> Maritime transport

> Services auxiliary to all modes of transport

Movement of natural persons

News  back to top

Introduction to services trade and the WTO agreement  back to top

Services — rules for growth and investment
A first explanation, in “Understanding the WTO”, the introduction to the WTO.

GATS: objectives, coverage and disciplines
A more in-depth look, in question-and-answer form.

Introduction to GATS
Download in MS Word 97 format (22 pages; 163KB; opens in a new window).
> Consult the Guide to downloading files.

Interactive course: General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)

Video on the GATS

The mandate  back to top

Browse or download the text of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) from the legal texts gateway. The GATS is the first multilateral, legally binding set of rules covering international trade in services. See also related instruments.

Find decisions of WTO bodies concerning the GATS in the Analytical Index — Guide to WTO Law and Practice

Schedules of commitments and MFN exemptions

• Introduction, with links to retrieve commitments and exemptions from Documents Online
• Services Database
  You can use this database to retrieve the services schedule for a Member, or to compare services commitments across Members. The database does not include data on current negotiations.
• How to read a schedule

The protocols
Results of Post-Uruguay Round negotiations: on telecommunications, financial services, and movement of natural persons.

The Doha negotiating mandate
Section on services in the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration

Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration

Work in the WTO  back to top

The new negotiations A new services round began in early 2000. The mandate, negotiating proposals and developments in the negotiations.

The activities of the Services Council and its subsidiary bodies ... including the Committee on financial services, the Working Party on specific commitments, the Working Group on domestic regulation, and the Working Party on GATS rules.

Post-Uruguay Round negotiations (1994-97) After the 1986-94 Uruguay Round, negotiations on maritime transport, the movement of natural persons, financial services and telecommunications continued.

Special events  back to top

The Council for Trade in Services and its different committees organize occasional seminars and symposiums on specific services themes.

• Symposium on Mode 4 of the GATS — Taking Stock and Moving Forward, 22-23 September 2008
• Basic Telecommunications Negotiations: 10th Anniversary Symposium — 20-21 February 2008
• Seminar on Liberalisation in Computer and Related Services — 28 September 2005
• Symposium on Cross-Border Supply of Services — 28-29 April 2005
• Seminar on Managing the movement of People: what can be learned for Mode 4 of the GATS? — 4-5 October 2004
• Workshop on Domestic Regulation — 29-30 March 2004
• Symposium on Movement of natural persons (mode 4) under the GATS — 11-12 April 2002
• Symposium on assessment of trade in services — 14-15 March 2002
• Symposium on tourism services — 22-23 February 2001

Publications on services

> Staff working paper: LDC Poverty Alleviation and the Doha Development Agenda: Is Tourism being Neglected?   Video debate: What has been the impact of telecoms liberalization?   > Measuring Trade in Services — A training module    > Interactive course: General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)    > Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services    > Guide to the GATS available from the online bookshop    > GATS — Fact and fiction A brochure aimed at debunking the myths and falsehoods surrounding the GATS and the new negotiations.    > Analysis and publications Sectoral background papers, economic effects of services liberalization, health-care, comments on the necessity test, etc.

See also: 

> International Trade Centre (opens in new window) — Services trade promotion for developing countries.

Analysis and publications  back to top

Sectoral background papers, economic effects of services liberalization, health-care, comments on the necessity test, etc.

WTO Staff Working Papers:

ERSD-2008-05	Measuring GATS Mode 4 Trade Flows Joscelyn Magdeleine and Andreas Maurer Abstract   Download (pdf format, 20 pages, 114KB, opens in a new window)
ERSD-2008-03	LDC Poverty Alleviation and the Doha Development Agenda: Is Tourism being Neglected? Dale Honeck Abstract   Download (pdf format, 46 pages, 253KB, opens in a new window)
ERSD-2006-11	Foreign Banking: Do Countries’ WTO Commitments Match Actual Practices? James R. Barth, Juan A. Marchetti, Daniel E. Nolle and Wanvimol Sawangngoenyuang Abstract   Download (pdf format, 59 pages, 231KB, opens in new window)
ERSD-2006-08	Determining "likeness" under the GATS: Squaring the circle? Mireille Cossy Abstract   Download (pdf format, 53 pages, 245KB, opens in new window)
ERSD-2006-07	Services liberalization in the new generation of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs): How much further than the GATS? Martin Roy, Juan Marchetti, Hoe Lim Abstract   Download (pdf format, 63 pages, 315KB, opens in new window)
ERSD-2005-03	Public Services and the GATS Rolf Adlung Abstract   Download (MS Word format, 29 pages, 234KB, opens in new window)
ERSD-2005-01	Turning hills into mountains? Current commitments under the GATS and prospects for change Rudolf Adlung and Martin Roy Abstract   Download (MS Word format, 32 pages, 1123KB, opens in new window)
ERSD-2004-06	Developing countries in the WTO services negotiations Juan A. Marchetti Abstract   Download (MS Word format, 43 pages, 594KB, opens in new window)
ERSD-2004-05	The GATS turns ten: A Preliminary Stocktaking Rudolf Adlung Abstract   Download (MS Word format, 26 pages, 279KB, opens in new window)

Contact and enquiry points  back to top

GATS Article IV contact points are intended to facilitate the access of developing country members' service suppliers to information, and Article III enquiry points to provide information to other WTO members.