LDC Services: Geneva Practitioners Seminar...Laura Páez WTO Building, Room B 26 February 2015 LDC Services: Geneva Practitioners Seminar Series: “Making Sense of GATS and Applying

Laura Páez

WTO Building, Room B

26 February 2015

LDC Services: Geneva Practitioners Seminar

Series: “Making Sense of GATS and Applying

Good Practices in Services Negotiations”

Seminar 2: “Key Sectoral Issues and Domestic Regulation”

Geneva Practitioner's Seminar Series: Key Sectoral Negotiating Issues and Domestic Regulation, ITC, 26 February 2015

Geneva Practitioner's Seminar Series:

Key Sectoral Negotiating Issues

and Domestic Regulation

26 February 2015

Presented by Laura Páez

Africa Section, Research and Policy Analysis Branch

Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development


OUTLINE

• Introduction

• Mapping African GATS Liberalization Commitments

• Africa's Financial Services Liberalization Commitments

• The LDC Waiver and what it means for LDCs

• Conclusions & Recommendations


Mapping African GATS Liberalization Commitments

• 42 African countries have undertaken substantial

liberalization commitments under the GATS. Of these 25

are LDCs

• There is a high level of variability across these

commitments in terms of sectoral coverage, scope and

depth

• 9 African countries are not part of the WTO and are either in

the process of accession, have observer status or have yet

to define whether they want to form part of the MTS


Mapping African GATS Liberalization Commitments

An

go

la

Be

nin

Bo

tsw

an

a

Bu

rkin

a F

aso

Bu

run

di

Cam

ero

on

Cap

e V

erd

e

Cen

tra

l A

fric

an

Rep

.

Cha

d

Con

go

Côte

d’Ivo

ire

DR

C

Djib

ou

ti

Eg

yp

t

Ga

bo

n

Ga

mb

ia

Gh

an

a

Gu

ine

a

Gu

ine

a B

issa

u

Ke

nya

Le

so

tho

Ma

da

ga

sca

r

Ma

law

i

Ma

li

Ma

uri

tan

ia

Ma

uri

tiu

s

Mo

rocco

Mo

za

mb

iqu

e

Nam

ibia

Nig

er

Nig

eri

a

Rw

an

da

Se

ne

ga

l

Sie

rra

Le

on

e

So

uth

Afr

ica

Sw

azila

nd

To

go

Tu

nis

ia

Uga

nd

a

Ta

nza

nia

Za

mb

ia

Zim

ba

bw

e

Horizontal Commitments

Sectoral Commitments

Business services

Communication services

Construction and related

Distribution services

Educational services

Environmental services

Financial services

Health related and social services

Tourism & travel

Recreational, cultural & sporting

Transport services

Other services not included elsewhere

MFN exemptions

Cross Sectoral

Business services

Communication services

Construction and related

Distribution services

Educational services

Environmental services

Financial services

Health related and social services

Tourism & travel

Recreational, cultural & sporting

Transport services

Other services not included elsewhere


Africa's Financial Services Liberalization in the GATS

• Financial Services belongs among the top committed

services categories in African schedules. A total of 20

countries have made commitments for this sector

• As with other GATS commitments, there is a high level of

variability in terms of sectoral coverage, scope and depth

• Most commitments, however, focus on restrictions

pertaining to mode 3 and mode 4

• Few countries with commitments in this sector have MFN

exemptions that sufficiently reflect regional integration and

prudential regulation priorities



Angola

Benin

Bots

wana

Burk

ina F

aso

Buru

ndi

Cam

ero

on

Cape V

erd

e

Centr

al A

fric

an R

ep.

Chad

Congo

Côte

d’Ivoire

DR

C

Djib

outi

Egyp

t

Gabon

Gam

bia

Ghana

Guin

ea

Guin

ea

Bis

sau

Kenya

Lesoth

o

Madagascar

Mala

wi

Mali

Maurita

nia

Mauritius

Moro

cco

Mozam

biq

ue

Nam

ibia

Nig

er

Nig

eria

Rw

anda

Senegal

Sie

rra L

eone

South

Afr

ica

Sw

azila

nd

Togo

Tunis

ia

Uganda

Tanzania

Zam

bia

Zim

babw

e

Horizontal Commitments

affecting Financial Services

Sectoral Commitments

on Financial Services

Banking & other Financial

Services Excluding Insurance

Insurance Services

MFN exemptions

Affecting Financial Services

All sectors covered

Exclusive to Financial Services



Country Admission/

authorization/

licensing or

notification

requirements

Limitations

on form/

amount or

control of FDI

Limitations to

participating

in M&As/

Privatization

Limitations

on the lease/

purchase of

real estate

Limitations

on subsidies/

tax write-offs/

transfers/

preferential

treatment

Establishmen

t approval/

registration

or residency

requirements

Qualification/

skills or

employment

requirements

Limitations

on the

category/

function of

employees

Limitations

on the

duration of

stay¹

Economic

needs/ social

benefit or

labour

market tests

Angola MA 3) MA 3)

Benin MA 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4)

Cabo Verde MA 3) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4)

Cote d'Ivoire MA 3) MA 3) MA 4)

Egypt MA 3), NT 3) MA 3) MA 4) MA 3), NT 3)

Gabon MA 3) MA* 4) MA* 4)

Gambia MA 3) MA 4) MA 3), *4) MA* 4) MA* 4)

Ghana MA 3) NT 3) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4)

Kenya MA 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA 4) MA 4)

Lesotho MA 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4)

Malawi MA * 4) MA* 4) MA* 4)

Mauritius MA 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA* 4) MA* 4)

Morocco MA 4) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4) MA 4)

Mozambique MA 4)

Nigeria MA 3) MA* 4) MA* 4) MA* 4)

Senegal MA 3) MA 3)

Sierra Leone NT 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA* 4) MA* 4) MA 4)

South Africa MA 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA 3), NT 3) MA * 4) MA* 4) MA* 4)

Tunisia MA 3), NT 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA 4), NT 3) MA 4), NT 3)

Zimbabwe MA 3) MA 3) MA 3) MA* 4) MA* 4) MA* 4)


Africa's Financial Services Liberalization in the GATS Africa: financial services trade restrictions index (STRI) scores, 2012

Source: UNCTAD calculations based on Borchert et al. (2012) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90

Lesotho

EU-20

Zambia

Mauritius

Morocco

Cote d'Ivoire

Senegal

Mali

Mozambique

Rwanda

South Africa

Cameroon

Tanzania

Kenya

Ghana

Nigeria

Africa

Namibia

Uganda

Botswana

Madagascar

Tunisia

Malawi

Algeria

Burundi

Congo, D. R.

Egypt

Zimbabwe

Ethiopia


The LDC Waiver and What it means for African LDCs

• The LDC Waiver represents an opportunity for the LDC

group, including 34 African countries to have market access

for mode 4 service suppliers.

• If operationalized properly and in a timely manner, it would

represent an "early harvest".

• An important number of countries have already made offers

that are being discussed

• Critical to the operationalization are what standards will be

used for accreditation and recognition of certificates and

degrees, as well licensing requirements


Conclusions and Recommendations

• African countries have made substantial commitments

under the GATS. This not only binds the status quo and

locks in future liberalization, it also constrains policy space

• In addition to negotiating more aggressively in GATS

negotiations, African countries must also be more vocal

about their position, table proposals for greater flexibility in

the application and interpretation of rules

• The waiver represents an unparalleled opportunity for

LDCs. Moving forward LDCs will need to push for clear

criteria and ensure that the opportunities are widely

disseminated and made accessible to mode 4 service

suppliers


Thank you!

E-mail : [email protected]

http://unctad.org

LDC Services: Geneva Practitioners Seminar...Laura Páez WTO Building, Room B 26 February 2015 LDC Services: Geneva Practitioners Seminar Series: “Making Sense of GATS and Applying

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