Negotiation of Specific Commitments Under the GATS – A Legal Commentary on Article XIX GATS

Abstract

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 various factors that should be taken into account during the future negotiations on services, such as Members’ national policy objectives and their level of development, and ensuring appropriate flexibility for developing countries. The fact that the single undertaking approach appears to be currently in retreat in favour of a plurilateral approach offers interesting perspectives. Negotiations for additional services liberalization alone can also create an important number of trade-offs as many economies, developed and developing alike, maintain several barriers to trade in services. For this to occur, services negotiations will need to be driven by domestic priorities and forces that gradually encompass the extensive payoffs associated with the pursuit of regulatory reforms in the service sector.

Keywords: GATS, trade in services, progressive liberalization, schedules of commitments, negotiations of specific commitments, developing countries.

JEL Classification: F13, F15, K20, K33, L80, L88, O24, P45