Less than the Gats: 'Negative Preferences' in Regional Services Agreements

Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): The Trade Effect of Regulatory Differences

“…The regulatory heterogeneity indices, in contrast, record information at a country pair level, which opens the possibility for capturing preferential agreements. To do so, detailed information on the commitments in RTAs is needed, but as has been documented in several studies (Adlung and Morris, 2010;Adlung and Miroudot, 2012) RTAs typically do not go beyond, at best, binding existing levels of openness. Using existing regulation that applies on an MFN basis should therefore give a fairly accurate description of both the level and the differences in services trade restrictions.…”

Poison in the Wine? Tracing Gats-Minus Commitments in Regional Trade Agreements

“…In turn, this implies that all services sub-sectors covered by the schedule are affected. 46 Concerning the EC -CARIFORUM EPA see Adlung and Morrison (2010). 47 We have also included in this group four of the Stabilisation and Association Agreements signed by the EC (with Albania, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro) where MFN provisions cover the GATS, but apply only to establishment.…”

“…In order to meet this condition, agreements should not provide for the a priori exclusion of any mode of supply." In turn, the latter stipulation raises the question, inter alia, whether it is sufficient for an agreement to simply reproduce, possibly with some minor changes, the GATS commitments a Member has undertaken under a particular mode; see also Adlung and Morrison (2010).…”

“…However, as long as such attempts fail to achieve what might be considered "substantial coverage", the agreement would remain deficient. For more details see Adlung and Morrison (2010). 22 The basic requirement, i.e., non-discrimination of foreign-owned juridical persons engaged in substantive business operations, is to be found in Article V:6, the flexibility provision in Article V:3(b).…”

“…In contrast, mode 4 represents a small portion of services trade covered by the GATS, estimated at less 54 A case in point is the European Communities' reduction of the scope of health and social services, committed without further qualification in the EC 12 GATS schedule, to "privately funded services" in the EC -CARIFORUM EPA. For a detailed discussion see Adlung and Morrison (2010). 55 The Sectoral Classification List is attached to the Scheduling Guidelines (S/L/92, see above n 11).…”