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GATS

This informative text explores the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), a key pillar of the WTO, and how it applies to air transport, covering principles, commitments, scheduling, and future negotiations.

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GATS

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  1. GATS - WHAT IS IT? - TO WHAT EXTENT DOES IT APPLY TO AIR TRANSPORT? Pierre Latrille - WTO - March 2003

  2. GATS: WHAT IS IT? • One of the three pillars of WTO • WTO, founded 1995 • Successor GATT (1947) • Which successfully liberalized and expanded trade in goods, by applying: • most-favoured-nation principle • National treatment principle • Tariff bindings • Dispute settlement mechanism

  3. GATS: WHAT IS IT? • WTO Coverage: goods, services, intellectual property, with integrated dispute settlement • The General Agreement on Trade in Services lowers barriers to trade through: • MFN • Market access/national treatment bindings • Transparency, rules on domestic regulation • Dispute settlement

  4. GATS: WHAT IS IT? GATS principles applying across the board (i.e. regardless of the presence of absence of commitments) • Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment (no discrimination among Members or preferences to non Members) • Transparency (publication of measures) • Domestic Regulation (mechanisms for appeal of administrative decisions) • Recognition (of licenses and certifications and licensing and qualification criteria) • Monopolies & exclusive providers (prevent actions affecting MFN obligation) • Business Practices (consultations on anti-competitive practices of companies)

  5. GATS: WHAT IS IT? GATS commitments: • Guarantee the conditions of operation of foreign services suppliers at a certain negotiated level of market access and national treatment • Ensure that this level cannot be deteriorated • Make this level available as a minimum to all WTO Members • Are subject to periodic negotiations with a view to improve them

  6. GATS: WHAT IS IT?GATS PRINCIPLES APPLYING TO COMMITTED SERVICES • Transparency (notification of new or revised measures to WTO) • Domestic Regulation (requirements, criteria & standards to be objective, publicly known and not unnecessarily onerous, procedures not restrictive, implement measures impartially, promptly inform applicants for licenses or other authorizations) • Monopolies & exclusive providers (prevent actions adversely affecting commitments) • Payments & Transfers (no restrictions affecting commitments)

  7. GATS: WHAT IS IT?AREAS FOR FUTURE NEGOTIATIONS • Emergency Safeguard Measures • Government Procurement • Subsidies • Domestic Regulation: A work program to elaborate more specific disciplines.

  8. GATS: WHAT IS IT? “Scheduling” principles: • Positive listing of sectors • Negative listing of restrictions • Market Access: • discriminatory and non-discriminatory measures • 6 exhaustive categories: • number of suppliers, • value of transactions/assets, • number of operations, • number of persons, • legal form, • foreign capital

  9. GATS: WHAT IS IT? Scheduling principles: (continued) • NT: any discriminatory measure de facto or de jure • The modes of delivery: cross-border, consumption abroad, commercial presence, temporary movement of natural persons • The additional commitments • The freedom to modulate • The minimum MFN standard effect

  10. GATS: WHAT IS IT?

  11. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT • The annex on air transport excludes from the scope of the GATS : • traffic rights, however granted or • services related to the exercise of traffic rights except: • aircraft repair and maintenance services • selling and marketing of air transport services • computer reservation system services

  12. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT • Traffic rights are defined in a wide manner: “the right for scheduled and non-scheduled services to operate and/or to carry passengers, cargo and mail for remuneration or hire from, to, within, or over the territory of a Member, including points to be served, routes to be operated, types of traffic to be carried, capacity to be provided, tariffs to be charged and their conditions, and criteria for designation of airlines, including such criteria as number, ownership, and control.”

  13. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT • The ”services directly related to traffic rights” are not defined except for the three of them explicitly included in the scope of the GATS: • "Aircraft repair and maintenance services" mean such activities when undertaken on an aircraft or a part thereof while it is withdrawn from service and do not include so-called line maintenance.

  14. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT • "Selling and marketing of air transport services" mean opportunities for the air carrier concerned to sell and market freely its air transport services including all aspects of marketing such as market research, advertising and distribution. These activities do not include the pricing of air transport services nor the applicable conditions. • "Computer reservation system (CRS) services" mean services provided by computerised systems that contain information about air carriers' schedules, availability, fares and fare rules, through which reservations can be made or tickets may be issued

  15. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT • Results of the negotiations (1990-1993): • maintenance: 34 commitments 2 MFN exemptions • marketing: 23 commitments 17 MFN exemptions • CRS: 28 commitments 16 MFN exemptions

  16. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTAnalysis of Commitments Made by Members on Maintenance Services(Number of Full, Partial and Non-Commitments by Mode of Supply)

  17. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTAnalysis of Commitments Made by Members on Selling and Marketing Services (Number of Full, Partial and Non-Commitments by Mode of Supply)

  18. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT Analysis of Commitments Made by Members on Computer Reservation Services (Number of Full, Partial and Non-Commitments by Mode of Supply)

  19. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT WHAT NEXT? Other Commitments taken in Air Transport Services (Number of Full, Partial and Non-Commitments by Mode of Supply)

  20. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTMFN Exemptions in Air Transport Services

  21. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT Between 1995 and 2003, 14 acceding countries out of 22 have taken air transport commitments, namely: Albania, Bulgaria, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Oman, Panama and Armenia

  22. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT Among the 13 offers of acceding countries that are presently discussed, 5 contain air transport draft commitments, namely: Cambodia, FYROM, Russia, Saudia Arabia, Ukraine Two parallel processes started in 2000: the review the GATS 2000 Negotiations

  23. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORT WHAT NEXT? • 1° Doha Development Agenda: • like all other services, the three explicitly covered services will be the subject of new negotiations as of November 1999 in order to : • add or improve commitments • reduce or suppress MFN exemptions

  24. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? Negotiations started January 2000 Exchange of requests June 2002 Exchange of offers March 2003 Cancun Min. Conference September 2003 End of Negotiations December 2004

  25. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? Discussions based on “negotiating proposals” Over 100 proposals, among which 6 are on air transport (EU, Norway, Chile, New Zealand and Colombia & Costa Rica)

  26. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? Except for Colombia and Costa Rica... Great similarities in the proposals: Inclusion of ancillary services such as ground handling, leasing, catering, airport management, services auxiliary to all modes of transport But also some variations: - Norway: Over flight and transit - Australia*: Non-scheduled, dedicated freight, ownership * No formal proposal yet

  27. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? 2° “review”: The annex stipulates that:” The Council for Trade in Services shall review periodically, and at least every five years, developments in the air transport sector and the operation of this Annex with a view to considering the possible further application of the Agreement in this sector.”

  28. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? A) Review of developments in 14 subsectors 1. Aircraft repair and maintenance 2. Selling and marketing including e-com 3. Computer reservation services 4. Franchising 5. Services auxiliary to all modes of transport 6. Rental and leasing 7. Catering

  29. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? (cont’d) 8. Refuelling 9. Ground handling 10. Airport management services 11. Air traffic control services 12. General aviation services 13. Other auxiliary services 14. Commercial aviation

  30. GATS AND AIR TRANSPORTWHAT NEXT? B)Operation of the Annex: Conflicting views C) Extension of the Annex: No consensus for an extension of the Annex No consensus to undertake work of clarification on the Annex 4 Meetings so far: Sept & Dec 2000, October 2001 & March 2002

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