{"id":422,"date":"2016-06-20T15:44:37","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T19:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/?page_id=422"},"modified":"2016-08-31T23:41:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T03:41:08","slug":"4-2-services","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/4-trade-provisions\/4-2-services\/","title":{"rendered":"4.2 Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

Services are covered by multiple existing trade agreements and are the subject of current trade negotiations. At the multilateral level, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is administered by the WTO. Expansion of the GATS is a component of the now-stalled Doha Round. Some WTO members, seeking to accelerate the pace of liberalization of services, are also negotiating a stand-alone plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).<\/p>\n

In addition, both existing RTIAs as well as new ones under negotiation have chapters dedicated to liberalization of services. Services are also covered by RTIA chapters on investment, procurement, the temporary entry of foreign workers, financial services, telecommunications, e-commerce, and energy. RTIAs may include language on services from the GATS and sometimes include placeholders to insert GATS text once it has finally been agreed at the WTO.<\/p>\n

Services are not defined in trade agreements. A UN classification system\u2014CPCprov\u2014is often used to make service commitments. Environmentally significant activities classified as services in this system include: site preparation for mining; prospecting; oil and gas drilling if done on a fee or contract basis; environmental monitoring; waste treatment and disposal; energy pipeline construction; and construction, operation and maintenance of wind or solar energy installations.<\/p>\n

In environmental services such as the latter, it is arguably beneficial to draft services law that encourages commercial presence of foreign service providers, especially in countries where the domestic service providers do not have world-class expertise; entry of foreign service providers will improve the level of environmental services offered and has the potential to upgrade the capacity of domestic providers. It may also benefit the environment to encourage entry of foreign service providers in non-environmental areas such as finance, communications and transport, since environmental goods and service providers will often count on such foundational services in making their own investments. Horizontal commitments to fair process are important for such service providers.<\/p>\n

One of the areas of negotiations in GATS, possibly in TiSA15<\/sup> and in many RTIA texts is domestic regulation of services. The contemplated scope of application of the disciplines would be broad, applying to measures \u201crelating to\u201d licensing requirements and procedures, qualification requirements and procedures, and technical standards:<\/p>\n