Preparing Requests and Offers

7.2 Identifying Relevant Trading Partners, Sectors and Modes

As in traditional GATT rounds, governments may seek the assistance of private sector associations in identifying commercially promising export markets and defining negotiating interests. The need for consultations may be even higher in services than in merchandise trade, given the broad modal coverage of the GATS — possibly implying that active and defensive interests overlap within the same sector — and the dearth of detailed trade statistics and market information.

Brand recognition and goodwill are particularly important marketing factors in services trade. Potential customers tend to prefer well-known and — established suppliers since it is particularly difficult in services, given their non-tangible nature, to assess the quality of individual product. Potentially interesting export destinations therefore include markets/countries:

1. where nationals move for post-secondary education and training;
2. to which nationals have emigrated;
3. with which close trade and investment links exist.

These destinations may be the same as for merchandise trade. Available evidence suggests, however, that services exports are generally destined for a broader range of markets.

A variety of sources may help to identify potentially interesting sectors and modes, including background papers prepared by the WTO Secretariat in 1998 and 1999 as well as a broad range of negotiating proposals tabled by both developed and developing countries since early 2000. They are all available on the WTO Website. The background papers cover inter alia:

• Accountancy services
• Advertising services
• Architecture and engineering
• Audiovisual services
• Construction
• Distribution services
• Education services
• Energy services
• Environmental services
• Financial services
• Health and social services
• Land and maritime transport services
• Telecommunication services
• Tourism services
• Modes 1, 2 and 3
• Mode 4

The papers have been compiled into a WTO Secretariat publication, Guide to the GATS: An Overview of Issues for Further Liberalization of Trade in Services (2000).

Many service firms rely on personal contacts and/or the existence of branches or representative offices to disseminate information and to advice (potential) clients abroad. Policies restricting temporary entry under mode 4 or commercial incorporation under mode 3 may thus have ramifications on trade under other modes as well. A broader perspective may be warranted, keeping in mind not only the importance of commercial presence and the presence of natural persons, but also of e-commerce as a potential substitute in particular in the case of small and occasional exporters.

The International Trade Centre’s GATS Consultation Kit can be helpful in structuring the domestic consultation process.