Negotiations on services domestic regulation conclude successfully in Geneva
Geneva: 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members announced on December 2, 2021, the successful conclusion of negotiations aimed at slashing administrative costs and creating a more transparent operating environment for service providers hoping to do business in foreign markets.
The decision was taken by Heads of Geneva delegations from these WTO members during the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation. The declaration noted the conclusion of the negotiations on new disciplines relating to domestic regulation for services that seek to improve the business climate, lower trade costs and cut red tape so as to facilitate services trade worldwide. It also welcomed the schedules submitted by WTO members participating in the negotiations spelling out how each participant will incorporate the new disciplines into its existing services commitments. In the declaration, participants commit to certifying the new commitments within 12 months.
“This is the first set of rules on services in 24 years. It addresses a dynamic and fast-growing segment of global output. This agreement has been completed despite the postponement of MC12. It will save businesses, especially small businesses, USD 150 billion annually in costs according to WTO and OECD research. It upgrades WTO rule making. It shows the WTO is up and moving!” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
The new disciplines — covering licensing and qualification requirements and procedures as well as technical standards — seek to make the domestic processes regulating the authorization to supply a service clearer, more predictable and more transparent and not unduly burdensome. The outcome of these negotiations will be applied on a “most-favoured nation” basis, meaning that it will benefit the full WTO membership.
Research by the WTO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests that the reduction in trade costs from implementing the new disciplines could amount to USD 150 billion annually globally, with particularly important gains for financial, business, communications and transport services. Dr Okonjo-Iweala noted that the outcome seeks to address the trade bottlenecks identified by businesses and welcomed the support expressed by the business community throughout the negotiations.
The provision on non-discrimination between men and women is the first of its kind to be included in a WTO negotiated text and seeks to boost women’s participation in services trade. “This agreement also breaks new ground in that, for the first time in the WTO’s history, members will commit to ensuring non-discrimination between men and women in their services regulations,” said DG Okonjo-Iweala, praising the participants for “exploring new ways of supporting women’s economic empowerment”.
– global bihari bureau
