1.

What Kind of Commitments may be Requested or Offered?

A WTO Member can, for each mode of supply and for each service sector or sub-sector, request for, or offer, any of the following commitments:

• None - A WTO Member writes "none" in its schedule of commitments if it wishes to request, offer, or commit to, full liberalization. This means that there will be not be any limitations on market access or national treatment for the service sector and mode of supply in which this commitment is written;
  
  

• Unbound - A WTO Member writes "unbound" in its schedule of commitments for a given sector or mode of supply if it wishes to remain free to introduce or maintain laws or regulatiosns that limit market access or national treatment or favor domestic over foreign firms in that sector or mode of supply
  
  

• Limitations (to Market Access or National Treatment) - A WTO Member can describe and write specific limitations or condionalities to market access or national treatment in its Schedule of Specific Commitments. Such limitations can be those that are required by existing national laws or regulations.

Hence, if a WTO Member wants its trading partners to fully open up their domestic services sectors to foreign competition, it will request the latter to write down "None" as their market access and national treatment commitments. On the other hand, if a WTO Member wishes to retain regulatory flexibility or to make sure that it will continue to remain free to impose restrictions or regulations on the ability of foreign services and service providers to enter the country and compete with domestic firms, it should offer only "Unbound" commitments or at least list down the specific market access and national treatment limitations it wishes to retain.

2.

What are Horizontal Commitments?

"Horizontal Commitments" are those commitments that apply across-the-board to all the services sectors listed in the country's Schedule of Specific Commitments. The commitments are usually written at the beginning of the Schedule. They can refer to economic considerations that may be applicable to all the services sectors and sub-sectors listed in the Schedule.

3.

What does the request to take " full commitments" mean?

If a WTO Member in its request asks another Member to write "none" into its schedule, this is a request for "full commitments". When asking for such "full commitment", the demanding Member requests its trading partner to refrain from schedule / listing limitations or conditions to its commitment.

If the "requestee" agrees and writes down "none" as its market acess and national treatment limitations for that particular service sector, this means that it is commiting itself to provide full liberalization of such service sector. It commits itself to allowing the services and service providers of other WTO Members full access to the country's market of services consumers and that it will not impose any regulations that would restrict such access or discriminate in favor of domestic services or service suppliers. However, there are certain exceptional circumstances, such as those in GATS Article XIV and XIV bis, under which WTO Members can justify the imposition of regulations that violate their GATS obligations.

4.

How will WTO Members engage in GATS negotiations?

WTO Members started submitting their initial GATS negotiating requests to other selected WTO Members on 30 June 2002. These requests specify the services sectors of their trading partners that they wish to see liberalized and the extent of GATS commitments that they wish their trading partners to undertake with respect to those sectors. However, WTO Members are under no legal obligation to make requests under the GATS negotiations to their trading partners.

The submission of the initial offers or responses to those requests will commence on 31 March 2003. The WTO Members to whom requests have been made are not under any legal obligation to make any offers that directly correspond to the requests that they have received. In fact, they do not need to make any offers that directly correspond to the requests that they have received. In fact, they do not need to make any offers at all. However, as in the making of commitments, the existing power imbalances in the WTO and the economic pressures from developed countries can mean that developing countries will effectively have to make offers that they are neither willing nor ready to provide.

WTO Members to whom requests have been made, and who have made corresponding offers, will then engage in bilateral negotiations with the requesting WTO Member. However, any results of the bilateral negotiations that will be included in the new GATS Schedule of Specific Commitments of the negotiating partners will be binding not only on both parties but also to all other WTO Members because of the "Most Favoured Nation" (MFN) obligation in the GATS.

5.

What is Mode 1 Request, Offer or Commitment?

A Mode 1 request, offer, or commitment referes to the liberalization of regulatory restrictions governing the supply of services from the territory of a WTO Member into the territory of another Member.

6.

What is a Mode 2 Request, Offer, or Commitment?

A Mode 2 request, offer, or commitment refer to the liberlization of regulations or restrictions which involve the consumer traveling to the supplying country and availing of services there, such as for tourism or to attend an educational establishment.

7.

What is a Mode 3 Request, Offer, or Commitment?

A Mode 3 request, offer, or commitment refer to the liberalization of regulations or restrictions on the establishment of "commercial presence" by a foreign service provider in another country. The phrase "establishment of a commercial presence" refers to the setting up a business or professional establishment, such as a subsidiary corporation or a branch or representative office, in the territory of one Member by a service supplier of another Member. Hence, a Mode 3 request, offer, or commitment is essentially about liberalizing the conditions under which the service providers of one WTO Members can invest and set up branch offices, joint ventures, or subsidiaries in the territory of another WTO Member.

A Mode 3 request, offer, or commitment, like those for the other modes be for a specific sector or sub-sector, or be horizontal

8.

What is a Mode 4 Request, Offer, or Commitment?

A Mode 4 request, offer, or commitment effectively refer to the liberalization of regulatory restrictions on the entry of foreigners into a country's job market so that foreigners can provide personal or professional services in the host country. This can include easing up working visa requirements, or eliminating legal provisions that reserve local jobs to the citizens or permanent alien residents of that country. In practice, Mode 4 commitments are often made as horizontal commitments.