Regulatory Principles in Environmental Services: Implications for GATS Negotiations on Domestic Regulation and Market Access
25th November 2008 • Co-organised with Quaker United Nations Office
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This Informal Roundtable organised by ICTSD and the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) seeks to address the following objectives:
· Addressing important and persistent knowledge gaps relevant to domestic regulation and market access discussions within the GATS negotiations.
· Assessing the positive and negative impacts of developing potential WTO disciplines on domestic regulation particularly in environmental services.
As a contribution to addressing the implications for WTO Members that intend to make concrete commitments in GATS negotiations particularly in the area of environmental services, ICTSD will present the findings from a paper on the regulatory principles in environmental services prepared by Dr. Massimo Geloso Grosso. The paper seeks to contribute knowledge and stimulate further dialogue on the part of policymakers and trade negotiators by examining the principles of regulatory and institutional practice in the environmental services sector, both infrastructure and non-infrastructure categories, and the main issues relating to the regulation of these services within the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The paper makes clear that GATS can affect governments’ regulatory behaviour, particularly when specific commitments are made. It also argues that given that the GATS allows WTO Members considerable flexibility to accommodate domestic policies, it is critical that negotiators and government officials carefully examine provisions of the GATS and to adjust specific commitments to fit domestic policy objectives. At the same time, specific commitments should only be made once appropriate regulatory systems have been implemented.
Participation is by invitation only. If you would like to receive an invitation please contact:
Mahesh Sugathan at: smahesh@ictsd.ch (Tel: 022-9178351)
Or
Sheila Sabune at: ssabune@ictsd.ch (Tel: 022-9178775)
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