The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) contains international rules on the transnational supply of services in the framework of the WTO. While some free trade advocates have hailed the agreement as “the most important single development in the multilateral trading systems since the GATT,” many civil society groups and trade unions have been critical about the agreement and its possible future development in ongoing negotiations. They have voiced concerns about the potential impact of the GATS on local, national and regional policies aimed at economic and social development, environmental protection and cultural objectives.
This paper is divided into seven parts. After this introduction, it commences in Section II by offering some background on public services, and identifying the need to clearly define the scope and coverage of the GATS. Section III contains the provisions determining the substantive scope of the GATS. Based on an examination of WTO documents and discussions, section VI notes that there is currently no agreed understanding of this provision among WTO Members or within the Secretariat. The central part of this note, Section V examines Article I:3 in light of generallyaccepted principles of interpretation in public international law. It notes that the provision’s meaning is not entirely clear, and that an argument in favor of broad coverage can be made. Because many civil society groups are concerned about an expansive reading of GATS, Section VI explores further interpretative principles, and argues that a more narrow interpretation can be reached by using them. However, since these methods do not provide full legal certainty, the final section of this paper is devoted to “legislative” methods of narrowing the scope of GATS.