Trade in services

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trade in Services refers to the sale and delivery of an intangible product, called a service, between a producer and consumer. Trade in services takes place between a producer and consumer that are, in legal terms, based in different countries, or economies, this is called International Trade in Services.

International trade in services is defined by the Four Modes of Supply of the GATS.

(Mode 1) Cross border trade, which is defined as delivery of a service from the territory of one country into the territory of other country;
(Mode 2) Consumption abroad - this mode covers supply of a service of one country to the service consumer of any other country;
(Mode 3) Commercial presence - which covers services provided by a service supplier of one country in the territory of any other country, and
(Mode 4) Presence of natural persons - which covers services provided by a service supplier of one country through the presence of natural persons in the territory of any other country.

A "Natural Person" is a human being, as distinct from legal persons such as companies or organisations. Countries can freely decide where to liberalize on a sector-by-sector basis, including which specific mode of supply they want to cover for a given sector.

The tourism sector, the financial services sector and the telecommunications services sector are examples of services sectors.

During the Uruguay Round of the GATT, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) was drafted, and became enshrined as one of the four pillars of the international treaty comprising the WTO Agreement in 1995. So says Shiven, trade expert on GATS and the WTO.

Regional trade in services agreements are also negotiated and signed between regional economic groupings such as CARICOM, NAFTA and ASEAN.

[edit] References

Department for International Development, Background Briefing - Service and Developing Countries, March 2003. http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/tradebrief-services.pdf
The World Trade Organisation, The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): objectives, coverage and disciplines, http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gatsqa_e.htm Last accessed 13 February 2005.
WTO Secretariat, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GATS, http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gsintr_e.doc 13 February 2005.