Liberalization of Trade in Legal Services
Liberalization of Trade in Legal Services

Author: Gilles Muller

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2013-08-01

Total Pages: 527

ISBN-13: 9041148795

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The internationalization of legal services and the development of corporate law firms have led to profound changes in the practice of law, giving it a more commercial and international focus. These changes, coupled with a general intolerance of restrictions to competition, have led governments to reconsider the way they regulate the profession. Liberalization of trade in legal services takes place both at the multilateral level within the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and at the regional level within preferential trade agreements (PTAs). This book analyses the liberalization process that takes place at both levels. It is the first publication to undertake an in-depth analysis of the obligations contained in these agreements. Starting from an overview of the regulations related to legal services – and focusing on barriers to cross-border legal services that result from these regulations – the analysis goes a long way towards pinpointing which regulations should be removed and which adopted or preserved in order to facilitate international trade in legal services. Insightful considerations explore the cross-border features of such elements as the following: cross-border mergers and acquisitions; intellectual property rights; new financial instruments; business-to-business dispute resolution mechanisms; business permits; company formation; tax burdens; regulatory compliance; transparency rules; residency and local presence requirements; restrictions on (e.g.) ownership, investment, entry, fee-setting, and advertising; and extension of accountancy disciplines to legal services. Noting that the most successful global law firms are not those that impose one single culture but rather those that harmonize many cultures around shared core values and a consistent approach to clients, the author has produced a timely and far-reaching work that is highly relevant for international legal practice. It is sure to be warmly welcomed by legal practitioners, government officials and policymakers in the legal services sector, and advisors at governments and international organizations, as well as by academics and researchers.

WTO Domestic Regulation and Services Trade
WTO Domestic Regulation and Services Trade

Author: Aik Hoe Lim

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-03-13

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 1107062357

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Innovative, interdisciplinary, practitioner-oriented insights into the key challenges faced in addressing the services trade liberalization and domestic regulation interface.

Essentials of WTO Law
Essentials of WTO Law

Author: Peter Van den Bossche

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-04-02

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1107638933

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This concise and reader-friendly overview of WTO law is essential reading for anyone needing an introduction to this complex field.

Public Services and International Trade Liberalization
Public Services and International Trade Liberalization

Author: Barnali Choudhury

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-11-01

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1139789767

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Does public service liberalization pose a threat to gender and human rights? Traditionally considered essential services provided by a state to its citizens, public services are often viewed as public goods which embody social values. Subjecting them to market ideology thus raises concerns that the intrinsic social nature of these services will be negated. Moreover, as those most likely to be reliant on public services, public service liberalization may also further marginalize women. Nevertheless, states continue to increasingly liberalize public services. Barnali Choudhury explores the implications of public service liberalization. Using primarily a legal approach, but drawing from case studies, empirical research and gender theories, she examines whether liberalization under the General Agreement on Trade in Services and other liberalization vehicles such as preferential trade and investment agreements compromise human rights and gender objectives.

Domestic Regulation and Service Trade Liberalization
Domestic Regulation and Service Trade Liberalization

Author: Pierre Sauve

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2003-08-29

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 0821383434

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Trade in services, far more than trade in goods, is affected by a variety of domestic regulations, ranging from qualification and licensing requirements in professional services to pro-competitive regulation in telecommunications services. Experience shows that the quality of regulation strongly influences the consequences of trade liberalization. WTO members have agreed that a central task in the ongoing services negotiations will be to develop a set of rules to ensure that domestic regulations support rather than impede trade liberalization. Since these rules are bound to have a profound impact on the evolution of policy, particularly in developing countries, it is important that they be conducive to economically rational policy-making. This book addresses two central questions: What impact can international trade rules on services have on the exercise of domestic regulatory sovereignty? And how can services negotiations be harnessed to promote and consolidate domestic policy reform across highly diverse sectors? The book, with contributions from several of the world's leading experts in the field, explores a range of rule-making challenges arising at this policy interface, in areas such as transparency, standards and the adoption of a necessity test for services trade. Contributions also provide an in-depth look at these issues in the key areas of accountancy, energy, finance, health, telecommunications and transportation services.

Opening Markets for Trade in Services
Opening Markets for Trade in Services

Author: Juan A. Marchetti

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 785

ISBN-13: 0521516048

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This volume of essays explores the state of services liberalization and the regulation of international trade in services.

National Regulation and Trade Liberalization in Services
National Regulation and Trade Liberalization in Services

Author: Markus Krajewski

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9041121412

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Like tariffs and other border measures, national regulatory barriers impede international trade. Unlike tariffs, however, such barriers usually indicate an important domestic policy choice. This 'conflict of interest' has emerged as a crucial issue in international law, particularly with regard to services, such as telecommunications and health services. This study is the first to analyze the potential impact of incompatibilities between national regulatory regimes and the rules and obligations imposed by the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). In the process of arriving at his challenging concluding theses, the author investigates such relevant concepts as the following: the political and ideological dynamics of GATS negotiations services trade liberalization in regional integration systems, particularly in EC law policies common to diverse national regulatory systems the notions of 'deregulation' and 'privatization' the human rights implications of international trade law the GATS obligations of market access, national treatment, and most-favoured-nation treatment the role of the WTO's dispute settlement organs GATS transparency obligations Professor Krajewski's study is of enormous significance to specialists in regulatory policies and instruments at all national and sectoral levels, especially in the context of ongoing GATS negotiations. As the author warns: Unless GATS negotiators and national regulators have a thorough understanding of the relationship between GATS obligations and regulatory policies and instruments, they cannot effectively use the flexible elements of GATS and could reach an agreement which they may later regret.

The Regulation of International Trade, Volume 3
The Regulation of International Trade, Volume 3

Author: Petros C. Mavroidis

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-11-24

Total Pages: 753

ISBN-13: 0262360616

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A comprehensive analysis of GATS that considers its historical context, the national preferences that shaped it, and a path to a GATS 2.0. The previous two volumes in The Regulation of International Trade analyzed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the first successful agreement to generate multilateral trade liberalization, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), for which the GATT laid the groundwork. In this third volume, Petros Mavroidis turns to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), a WTO treaty that took effect in 1995, and offers a comprehensive analysis that considers the historical context of the GATS, the national preferences that shaped it, and a path to a GATS 2.0.