During the virtual meeting on March 4, 2021 on domestic regulation in services, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) noted that several disciplines currently under negotiation in the Organization share the same objectives as those of regional trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), according to the WTO information.
Participants pointed out the equivalent disciplines, each of which aims to ensure good regulatory practices and increase certainty and predictability for service providers, with the general objectives of facilitating trade in services and improving economic efficiency. Those currently being developed relate to licensing and qualification requirements and procedures, as well as technical standards for service providers. A document was distributed on December 18, 2020. text "very advanced" negotiation process on national regulatory disciplines.
The negotiating text, the WTO press release notes, “contains flexibilities that help governments implement domestic measures while remaining free to pursue their domestic policy objectives.” For example, Australia and Thailand noted that the disciplines in the negotiating text bear strong similarities to the RCEP, signed on 15 November 2020 by 15 Asia-Pacific countries. Negotiators from the two countries also noted further similarities on domestic regulation issues in additional free trade agreements (FTAs), including those between Singapore and the European Union, China and ASEAN countries, and Indonesia and Australia.
National regulatory disciplines are becoming increasingly common as “more and more countries at different levels of development” adopt comparable regional trade agreements, the WTO statement emphasizes. Accordingly, the participants in the meeting expressed that More WTO members should be encouraged to join the ongoing talks, especially given the relevance of these disciplines to economic recovery efforts and actions required due to COVID-19.
Talks on domestic regulation of services were launched with 59 WTO members at the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC2017) in December 14 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Additional meetings, “member-driven, transparent and open to all WTO members,” will be held on 10 April, 10 May, 15 June and XNUMX July. The text currently being negotiated will be finalized at the 12th WTO Ministerial Meeting, scheduled for November 2021. in Geneva, Switzerland, and chaired by Kazakhstan.
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