TABLE OF CONTENTS Preamble Payments and Transfers Relating to the Provision of a 14 15 16 General Exceptions 17 General Definitions 18 19 20 Acceptance and Accession 21 Entry Into Force 22 23 24 National Legislation 25 26 27 28 29 30 Short-Term Restrictions for Balance of Payments Reasons Committee on Trade in Services Consultations, Dispute Settlement and Enforcement Reservations, Additional Commitments and Schedules. Expansion of Coverage Through Future Negotiations Withdrawal Non-Application of this Agreement Between Parties The attached communication is circulated at the request of the Permanent Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities to the members of the Group of Negotiations on Services. GATT SECRETARIAT GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES PREAMBLE MTN.GNS/W/105 The parties to this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "parties"), Desiring to establish a multilateral discipline of rules and procedures for International trade in services with a view to the expansion of such trade as a means of promoting economic growth of all trading partners and the development of developing countries, Recognising the need for immediate and progressive liberalisation by mutually advantageous arrangements with due respect for national policy objectives, leading to the provision of effective market access, so as to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the service industry of parties, Desiring to facilitate the increasing participation of developing countries in international trade and to secure additional benefits for their International trade by the application of differentiated measures according to their individual level of development and their competitiveness in specific sectors, and taking account of the serious difficulty of the least-developed countries in accepting negotiated commitments, Hereby agree as follows: ARTICLE I SCOPE AND COVERAGE 1. This Agreement applies to any measure of a party which relates to or affects the provision of a service involving : (a) the cross-border provision of the service, (b) the cross-border movement of consumers, (c) commercial or professional presence, whether temporary or permanent (Including through the acquisition of existing enterprises or the creation of wholly or partly-owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, partnerships, franchising operations, branches and representative offices), provided that activities are limited to the specific purpose for which access to the market was granted, (d) the cross-border movement of factors of production and, as regards personnel, those essential to the provision of the service, i.e. key personnel and other skilled personnel, and provided that such movement of personnel is limited to the specific purpose for which the access to the market is granted, and is of limited duration or is a discrete transaction. MTN.GNS/W/105 Page 4 2. This Agreement covers all services. An illustrative list of sectors of services is provided in Annex (...) of this Agreement. 3. The provisions of this Agreement shall not apply to an activity whenever it consists of the exercise of official authority. 4. The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied by parties to measures of With respect to all measures covered by this Agreement, each party shall provide immediately and unconditionally to any service or service provider of other parties treatment no less favourable than that accorded in like circumstances to services or providers of services of any other country. ARTICLE III ECONOMIC INTEGRATION 1. Subject to the conditions that the resulting regime is on the whole no more restrictive than that resulting from previous commitments set out in its schedule, this Agreement shall not prevent any party from being a party to an agreement aiming at a higher degree of liberalisation of trade in services in the framework of a customs union or a free-trade area within the meaning of Article XXIV paragraph 8 of the GATT, or to adopt an interim agreement leading to the formation of a customs union or a free-trade area whose scope would include trade in services. 2. Any party deciding to enter into an agreement referred to in paragraph 1 shall promptly notify the PARTIES and shall make available to them such information regarding the proposed agreement as will enable them to make such reports and recommendations to parties as they may deem appropriate. 3. Any substantial change subsequently made in liberalisation commitments undertaken in relation to agreements referred to in paragraph 1 shall be communicated to the PARTIES. 4. If a party considers that as a result of an agreement under paragraph 1 its interests under this Agreement are substantially affected it may address the matter under the procedure set forth in Article XXIII. The term "in like circumstances" is intended to address differences between services and forms of market access. It may be necessary in certain cases, to make a further distinction between different kinds of commercial presence. |