Posted
27th May 2001
GATS,
What Me Worry?
New Zealanders who remember Rogernomics would do well to be
a aware of GATS. This is a snipped report of a seminar on the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) held by the World
Development Movement (WDM) on 29 March 2001. The seminar was
attended by 40 participants from trade unions and non-governmental
organisations. In addition, messages of support were received
from a wide range of unions and professional bodies who weren't
able to attend on the day. The objectives of the seminar were:
- to deepen our common understanding of GATS, exchanging experience
across different disciplines and service sectors
- to set GATS in the context of the current trend towards liberalisation,
privatisation and deregulation of public services
- to explore the implications of GATS for different service
sectors, with a view to each organisation consulting their own
membership on GATS
Although
the seminar was organised by WDM, whose primary concern relates
to the impact of GATS on developing countries, it was agreed
that the seminar should concentrate much of its focus on the
British context, so as to make use of the considerable expertise
available on public sector experience in this country. The seminar
was held under Chatham House rules; as a result this document
presents a report of the day's proceedings without attributing
comments to individuals.
WHAT IS GATS? A public opinion poll due to be published in a
forthcoming Sunday newspaper claims that 12% of the British
public have heard of GATS. However, given how little public
debate there has been on GATS, people may have heard of the
acronym but not understand the trade agreement that lies behind
it. GATS is one of the 28 free trade agreements of the World
Trade Organisation (WTO).
Although
attempts to launch a new trade round at the WTO's Seattle Ministerial
in November 1999 failed, GATS is part of the 'built-in' agenda
agreed when the WTO was conceived in 1994. As with the Agreement
on Agriculture, therefore, the WTO is already committed to further
negotiations on it. The GATS 2000 negotiations were launched
in February last year. As a result of these negotiations, the
scope of GATS will expand. GATS is unique among WTO agreements
in that it mandates WTO members to return to the negotiating
table on a regular basis and expand their GATS commitments.
Under
GATS, WTO members are committed to 'progressively liberalise'
their service sectors. In this respect, as the WTO itself acknowledges,
GATS goes far beyond other WTO agreements. In keeping with other
WTO agreements, however, GATS can be enforced. The WTO is the
only international body with the power to enforce liberalisation
policies, which it does through the rulings of its disputes
settlement panels. WTO rulings are binding on its member states,
and the panels can authorise trade sanctions against members
which are adjudged to be in contravention of WTO agreements.
Broad coverage GATS covers 160 service sectors in total, ranging
from road building to water delivery, education, health care,
telecommunications, tourism and insurance. Its main objective
is twofold: to open those sectors which are closed and to remove
barriers to further trade in those which are already open. As
with other WTO agreements, the main beneficiaries of this process
of liberalisation are multinational corporations, and it is
no surprise to learn that they were behind GATS in the first
place. In the words of David Hartridge, Director of the WTO's
Services Division, "Without the enormous pressure generated
by the American financial services sector, particularly companies
like American Express and Citicorp, there would have been no
services agreement." GATS identifies four different 'modes of
supply' for trade in services:
1)
cross-border supply: - where only the service itself crosses
the border from one country into another (eg international telephone
calls, internet services or telemedicine)
2) consumption abroad: - where individuals travel to another
country to make use of a service there (eg tourists travelling
abroad, or patients travelling to take advantage of health care
provided in a foreign country)
3) commercial presence: - where a foreign company sets up a
subsidiary or branch within another country (eg banks, water
companies or transport companies setting up shop) in another
country)
4) presence of natural persons: - where individuals travel to
another country to provide a service there temporarily (eg nurses,
software engineers or - as the WTO says - fashion models)
New Zealand has been caught sleeping once by the pro-corporate,
ex-treasury, of-late-multi-millionaires like Fernyhough, Gibbs,
Dean. To be ripped off as a nation twice would be the height
of stupidity, which of course is no gurantee that it won't happen
with people like `sell the lot' Prebble still in parliament
and economic dry 84 labour Cabinet member Helen Clark now Prime
Minister..
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