Main Building Blocks: Agreement, Annexes, and Schedules

2.2 Unconditional General Obligations

Each Member has to respect certain general obligations that apply regardless of the existence of specific commitments. These include MFN treatment (Article II), some basic transparency provisions (Article III), the availability of legal remedies (Article VI:2), compliance of monopolies and exclusive providers with the MFN obligation (Article VIII:1), consultations on business practices (Article  IX), and consultations on subsidies that affect trade (Article XV:2). In several cases, the same Article contains both unconditional and conditional obligations.

Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

As already mentioned in Chapter 1.5, the MFN principle applies across all sectors and all Members. However, under the Annex on Article II Exemptions, there is a possibility for Members, at the time of entry into force of the Agreement (or date of accession), to seek exemptions not exceeding a period of ten years in principle. More than 80 Members currently maintain such exemptions, which are mostly intended to cover trade preferences on a regional basis. The sectors predominantly concerned are road transport and audiovisual services, followed by maritime transport and banking services.

Transparency

Under Article III, each Member is required to publish promptly “all relevant measures of general application” that affect operation of the Agreement. Members must also notify the Council for Trade in Services of new or changed laws, regulations or administrative guidelines that significantly affect trade in sectors subject to Specific Commitments. These transparency obligations are particularly relevant in the services area where the role of regulation — as a trade protective instrument and/or as a domestic policy tool — tends to feature more prominently than in most other segments of the economy.

Members also have a general obligation to establish an enquiry point to respond to requests from other Members. Moreover, pursuant to Article IV:2, developed countries (and other Members to the extent possible) are to establish contact points to which developing country service suppliers can turn for relevant information.