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SERVICES: SECTOR
BY SECTOR Financial services Financial services is an area where further negotiations were scheduled to improve on the commitments included in the initial Uruguay Round schedules. Officially the first set of talks ended in July 1995, but the governments decided that more could be achieved if further talks could be held. These latest negotiations ended in December 1997. |
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A first explanation of financial services, in Understanding the WTO, the introduction to the WTO. Currently, financial services, like all services, are included in the new services negotiations, which began January 2000.
Principles of the trade in financial services are contained, like for all services, in the GATS. Included in the GATS, is the Annex on financial services. Paragraph 2 of the Annex addresses prudential measures. The Post-Uruguay round negotiations on financial services attached the fifth protocol (adopted 14 November 1997, entered into force1 March 1999) to the GATS. The Fifth Protocol provides for the annexation of new financial services schedules to the Uruguay Round services schedules. Seventy (70) countries participated in the 1997 financial services negotiations. As of November 2003, 3 of them have not yet ratified their commitments.During the Uruguay Round, specific commitments to provide market access and national treatment were made in the sector, but they were not considered enough to conclude the negotiations. List of all financial services commitments and MFN exemptions Informal summary of the main improvements in the 1997 financial services commitments Status of acceptances of the fifth protocol All commitments and MFN exemptions The Committee on Trade in Financial Services looks at the status of acceptance of the Fifth Protocol whether the Members who participated in the financial services negotiations in 1997 have ratified their commitments. It also looks at the classification of financial services and at developments in financial services trade.
A summary of the Uruguay Round and Post-Uruguay Round negotiations in financial services Successful conclusion of the WTOs financial services negotiations Statement by former WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero
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- WTO Secretariat study on financial services (1997): Opening Markets in Financial Services and the Role of the GATS (Downloadable file in pdf (portable document format), 57 pages; 839 KB). Press release on the study. |
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