Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Bates, Rebecca --- "The trade in water services – how does GATS apply to the water and sanitation services sector?" [2017] ELECD 323; in Chaisse, Julien (ed), "Charting the Water Regulatory Future" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 36

Book Title: Charting the Water Regulatory Future

Editor(s): Chaisse, Julien

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785366710

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: The trade in water services – how does GATS apply to the water and sanitation services sector?

Author(s): Bates, Rebecca

Number of pages: 19

Abstract/Description:

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)is a complex and at times poorly understood agreement. These characteristics are a direct result of its negotiation history and the compromises made by the Member States of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reach consensus regarding a services based agreement during the Uruguay round of negotiations. As a result of this negotiation process the GATS was designed to be an ‘opt in’ agreement through which two of the main provisions, Article XVI (national treatment) and Article XVII (market access) only apply in circumstances where a Member State nominates the sector for liberalisation. This however requires the ‘classification’ of the service being nominated for liberalisation. The list of services sectors and their classification for liberalisation are broadly contained within two documents, the W/120 Scheduling Guidelinesand Central Product Classification (CPC). The voluntary nature of the agreements and the non-exhaustive nature of the classification lists have done little to remove the uncertainty surrounding the document. The uncertainty is perhaps most pronounced in, but certainly not limited to, the area of water services where the very application of the agreement itself continues to be an issue.