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GATS TRAINING MODULE: CHAPTER 5

Role and Responsibilities of Member Governments

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5.1 Ministries and Agencies Involved

Given the regulatory intensity of many service activities and the range of sectors involved, proper co-ordination and information across agencies and government levels is critical for at least three purposes:

1. Ensuring awareness of the types of GATS-related measures falling under a ministry’s or agency’s jurisdiction.
    
2. Ensuring that each ministry/agency has properly identified and analyzed — against the background of existing GATS obligations, including specific commitments — its current use of measures.
    
3. Ensuring that, in preparing new measures, relevant GATS obligations — including notification requirements — are taken into account and complied with.
    

As noted before, apart from specific commitments, there are in principle two types of legal obligations under the Agreement: unconditional obligations that apply across all services covered by GATS, and conditional obligations that apply only to sectors where specific commitments have been made.

A. Obligations in all sectors falling under the GATS (“unconditional”):

• Ensure compliance with MFN requirement (Article II)
    
• Publish all measures pertaining to or affecting the operation of GATS (Article III:1)
    
• Institute legal complaints mechanisms for affected suppliers (Article VI:2)
    
• Ensure that recognition measures are compatible with the provisions of Article VII
    
• Prevent monopolies from undermining the MFN requirement (Article VIII:1)
    
• Consult with other Members, upon request, on business practices that may restrain competition (Article IX:2)
    

B. Obligations in sectors in which GATS commitments have been undertaken (“conditional”):

• Notify any new laws, regulations etc. that significantly affect trade (Article III:3)
   
• Administer regulations in a reasonable, objective, and impartial manner (Article VI:1)
   
• Prevent licensing and qualification requirements and technical standards from nullifying or impairing commitments (relevant criteria are specified in Article VI:5)
   
• Prevent monopolies from undermining commitments (Article VIII:1 and 2)
   
• Ensure absence of restrictions on payments and transfers (Article XI:1)
   
    

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