The
agreement by sixty-nine WTO Members on a set of disciplines on the
transparency, predictability, and efficiency of services regulation - otherwise
known as the ‘Reference Paper on Services Domestic
Regulation’ - marks the first negotiated outcome
in the field of services trade since the extended negotiations on basic
telecommunications and financial services in 1997. The outcome illustrates, on
the one hand, the challenge of arriving at multilaterally agreed results in the
WTO even for substantively non-controversial issues. On the other hand, it is
testament to the ability of large groups of like-minded WTO Members to
cooperate and deliver without political linkages with other negotiating issues.
This contribution aims to provide an overview of the evolution of negotiations
on domestic regulation at the WTO, and elaborates on how the main features of
the new Reference Paper complement and build upon regulatory disciplines
contained in the GATS. While not yet legally into force, recent evidence
suggests that the new Reference Paper will become a standard building block for
future economic cooperation agreements and its implementation is expected to
generate broad economic benefits.