Media releases
Monday, 1 July 2002 - MVT064/2002
GATS to Open Doors for Australian Exporters
The Australian services sector is set to benefit from the Federal
Government’s ongoing efforts to break down market access barriers
and discriminatory practices in international services trade, Trade
Minister Mark Vaile said today.
Mr Vaile said Australia would lodge later today, in Geneva, initial
requests under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) General Agreement
on Trade in Services (GATS) to 33 countries aimed at improving market
access in some 17 services sectors.
“The Services sector is our fastest growing export sector, with around
65 per cent of all Australian exporters involved in delivering services,”
Mr Vaile said.
“Services exports in areas such as telecommunications, finance, tourism
and education are very important to the Australian economy, accounting
for 20 per cent or $A31.2b of our total export earnings in 2001.”
“The GATS negotiations are expected to create further export opportunities
for businesses involved in the services sector including professional
services, financial services, telecommunications, education, mining,
construction services and air, land and sea transport.
“Today four out of every five Australian workers are employed in
services industries.
“Australia’s market access requests are a comprehensive package reflecting
the scale, breadth and diversity of our international services trade
interests.”
Mr Vaile said Australia’s requests had been prepared in close consultation
with relevant industry associations and individual firms, as well
as input from State and Territory government agencies and community
groups.
“Our requests address issues facing Australian exporters such as
lack of transparency of domestic regulation, restrictions on commercial
presence, and temporary business entry.”
Mr Vaile said Trade Ministers agreed at the WTO Ministerial conference
in Doha last year that initial requests under the GATS negotiations
should be lodged by 30 June. WTO Members are expected to respond
formally to those requests with “initial offers” by 31 March 2003.
“The door remains open for further requests, and there will be ongoing
consultation with industry and other stakeholders to ensure all our
market access interests are covered.
“The Government will also consult widely in preparing its response
to any requests received by Australia. In responding to requests,
the Government will ensure its ability to regulate services is maintained
and that cultural and other policy objectives are taken into account.”
Mr Vaile was quick to dismiss a misinformation campaign surrounding
Australia’s participation in the GATS, instead emphasising the benefits
to Australia.
“Breaking down market access barriers and discriminatory practices
in international services trade will lead to the creation of more
jobs in Australia’s flourishing services sector both at home and abroad.”
Media Contact: Mark Croxford +61 02 6277 7420
BACKGROUNDER
SUMMARY OF AUSTRALIA’S REQUESTS UNDER THE GATS NEGOTIATONS
Background on the GATS
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is an international
treaty administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The treaty
came into force in 1995 and Australia has been a signatory since its
inception.
The GATS aims to provide a framework of rules for international trade
in services.
Under the GATS, WTO Members can negotiate commitments to open
specific service sectors to foreign competition and to afford foreign
suppliers the same treatment as domestic suppliers. Members can also
make commitments about the operation of their domestic regulation
of services.
However, the nature and extent of these commitments are strictly
a matter of choice for Member governments. Member governments can
choose not to make commitments in a particular sector. They can also
structure their commitments so that they can discriminate between
foreign and domestic suppliers.
Members cannot be forced under the GATS to open up service sectors
to foreign competition or to provide foreign suppliers with the same
treatment as domestic suppliers.
The GATS also unequivocally affirms a Member government’s right to
regulate, and introduce new regulations on, the supply of services.
The current GATS negotiations
Article XIX of the GATS provides a mandate for regular rounds of
negotiations with the aim of achieving progressively higher levels
of liberalisation of international trade in services, in line with
the objectives of the Agreement. The current round of GATS negotiations
was launched in January 2000.
At the WTO Ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001,
WTO Ministers agreed on timeframes for the commencement of the market
access phase of the GATS negotiations. Under the Ministerial declaration,
Members should lodge their initial requests by 30 June 2002. Members
are expected to respond to these initial requests by 31 March 2003.
Members are not obliged to respond positively to any particular request.
Nor is there any requirement for reciprocity. That is, a request
made by a Member in one area does not mean the country is obliged
to accept a similar request made of it.
The Doha Ministerial declaration specifically reaffirmed the right
of Members to regulate, or introduce new regulations on, the supply
of serices.
The Doha declaration also affirmed that the services negotiations
would form part of a broader round of trade negotiations, covering
other sectors and issues such as agriculture, industrial goods, intellectual
property, investment and competition. The Doha round, as it is termed,
is scheduled to conclude in January 2005.
Australia’s initial GATS requests
Australia’s objectives in the current GATS negotiations are to improve
the number and quality of market access and other trade-related commitments
made by our major trading partners in services, whilst safeguarding
our interests in those areas where we may not wish to make commitments.
Australia has made initial GATS requests of 33 WTO Members. These
requests will seek the removal of market access barriers and regulatory
measures that discriminate against Australian service exporters in
overseas markets across 17 service sectors.
The countries covered in Australia’s GATS requests are located across
the globe. In particular, requests have been directed at the European
Communities and their Member States, USA, and Canada; countries in
North Asia, South Asia, and South East Asia; and some countries in
Latin America, the South Pacific and Africa. This profile is consistent
with Australia’s status as a services exporter with geographically
diverse trading interests.
The sectors covered in Australia’s GATS requests are:
- Accountancy
- Architecture
- Engineering
- Legal
- Services related to mining
- Computer and related services (eg, software implementation,
data processing, installation of computer software)
- Construction
- Distribution
- Education
- Environmental services
- Financial
- Maritime transport
- Pipeline transport
- Freight logistics (ie, services related to the movement
of goods through and within national borders, such as cargo-handling,
storage and warehousing, transport agency, container station and
depot services, and inventory management services)
- Air Transport (ie, air transport services not directly
related to the exercise of traffic rights such as food and beverage
serving, cargo handling, and bulk storage of liquids and gases)
- Telecommunications
- Sporting services (eg, sporting event organisation and
promotion, operation of sporting facilities).
Some examples of the kinds of barriers we have raised with various
trading partners in our sectoral requests include:
- Lack of transparency in domestic regulation, particularly in the
administration of licensing arrangements
- Strict quotas on the number of foreign firms that can be established
in a local market
- Restrictions on the amount of equity an Australian firm can take
in a local enterprise
- Restrictions on the form of legal presence an Australian firm
can establish overseas
- Issues relating to the recognition of Australian qualifications.
The requests also address “cross-sectoral” issues relating to commercial
presence restrictions (eg, rigid limits on foreign ownership of firms
in the services sector; requirements for joint ventures with local
firms; restrictions on the acquisition of interests in land for
business purposes), lack of transparency of domestic regulation,
and restrictions relating to the temporary movement of natural persons
who are service suppliers.
Australia’s requests of developing and least developed country WTO
Members are generally less extensive than for developed WTO Members.
This is in line with GATS provisions that there be appropriate flexibility
for developing country Members.
Some examples of specific negotiating objectives and requests in
some sectors are as follows:
Legal services – we will be seeking commitments from trading
partners that enable Australian lawyers to enter an overseas market
and practice home country (Australian) law, international law, and
third country law (where qualified), without having to meet the more
burdensome requirements of having to qualify to practise host country
law. When combined with the right to form voluntary commercial associations
with local firms, these commitments would create a regulatory environment
in which local and foreign lawyers and firms could engage in providing
a wide range of transnational legal services to local and international
clients
Environmental services – we will be seeking to create a more
open and predictable international trading environment for our dynamic
and rapidly growing environmental services industry. We will be seeking
market access commitments in activities such as waste water, refuse
disposal, and services relating to the protection of ambient air and
climate. With regard to services relating to water for human use,
Australia’s requests deal with our interests in exporting technical
advice and consultancy services, rather than direct investment overseas
(ie, establishing a commercial presence), since this is where our
commercial interests are currently most pronounced.
Education – we will be making requests that are oriented to
ensuring that orderly, transparent processes are in place for accrediting
courses and programs offered by Australian institutions, and seeking
greater transparency in approval processes for Australian institutions
seeking to establish a presence offshore.
Telecommunications – in addition to targeting barriers to
the establishment of a viable commercial presence overseas, we will
be seeking commitments which clarify and strengthen the pro-competition
principles set out in the WTO’s Reference Paper on Basic Telecommunications.
These principles aim to ensure that international carriers can gain
reasonable, non-discriminatory, cost-oriented access to local network
facilities. Procedural transparency issues, such as the existence
of an effective, independent regulator, transparent and efficient
licensing procedures, and dispute settlement processes will be emphasised.
These and other sectoral interests in our requests of trading partners
were foreshadowed in various negotiating proposals that have been
tabled in the Council of Trade in Services in Geneva over the last
eighteen months (see copies on DFAT website: www.dfat.gov.au/trade/services/negotiations.html).
Further information about Australia’s interests in the GATS negotiations
can be obtained from the DFAT website. This includes the WTO Doha
bulletin produced by the Office of Trade Negotiations, DFAT, which
provides regular updates and progress reports on the WTO services
negotations
Local Date:
Friday, 21-Nov-2008 16:04:06 EST
