The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the WTO presented on 5 April their joint trade policy brief on "Services domestic regulation in the WTO: Cutting red tape, slashing trade costs, and facilitating services trade” (26 November 2021), which highlights the economic benefits that are expected to flow from implementation of the new outcome on services domestic regulation adopted by a group of 67 WTO members.

The study finds that annual cost savings in services trade could amount to USD 150 billion globally due to a reduction in red tape and increased transparency, with particularly important gains for financial, business, communications and transport services. It shows that implementing the outcome on services domestic regulation will:

• Improve the business climate
• Looking-in good regulatory practice and facilitate international services trade
• Lower trade costs and lead to broader trade benefits for the economies
• Generate significant trade costs savings beyond the participating Members

Programme