The book delves into the main domestic regulation principles which trade negotiators have been seeking to craft, under the mandate of the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), as a means of reducing the impact of regulatory diversity, simplifying procedures, making procedures more transparent and avoiding unnecessary complexity or disguised restrictions.

The book also includes country and sector-specific case studies, which focus on a particular regulatory experience or challenge; they discuss general approaches, mechanisms or solutions that have been applied across a range of sectors. The case studies help shed light on how some of the issues discussed in the domestic regulation disciplines have been addressed.

Contributors to this volume include WTO staff, academics, regulators and experts from other international organizations. A foreword has been provided by the WTO’s Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo.

The editors of the book are Aik Hoe Lim, Counsellor in the Trade in Services Division of the WTO Secretariat, and Bart De Meester, member of the Legal Service of the European Commission and formerly a Legal Affairs Officer at the WTO.

WTO Domestic Regulation and Services Trade may be ordered from the WTO’s Online Bookshop and can be purchased locally through CUP stockists across the world.

Further information about the book, including access to the table of contents and the Summary and Overview, is available here.