EU Shows Flexibility On Structure Of Services Deal, If It Follows GATS

摘要

The European Union has shown new flexibility on the critical issue of how a new services plurilateral agreement between the U.S., EU and other interested World Trade Organization members would be structured, provided it closely follows the structure of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), sources said. This means the EU has moved away from its earlier opposition to a plurilateral deal that would be negotiated under Article V of the GATS and not extended on a most-favored nation (MFN) basis to all WTO members. At the same time, the EU is insisting that a plurilateral deal negotiated under Article V must follow key features of the GATS, such as members affirmatively identifying which services sector sectors they are opening to foreign competition under the so-called positive list approach.