GATS: The Case for Open Services Markets

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) ranks amongst the chief accomplishments of multilateral trade diplomacy at the end of the 20th century, but lies at the centre of the controversies surrounding trade policy at the start of the 21st. WTO negotiations in the services field resumed on 1 January 2000, as foreseen under the Uruguay Round's "built-in" agenda. As negotiations have progressed, the GATS has become the critical focus of civil society groups representing a wide range of int