Ensuring that legal frameworks are consistent with market integration is always complex, and the task is particularly problematic in the services sector. This article focuses on liberalization and regulation processes within the European Union (EU), and on their interaction with multilateral negotiations and commitments, in areas of international economic activity involving temporary mobility of natural persons. We first review legal techniques aimed at resolving tensions between regulation and economic integration, then discuss their application in the context of the European Community Single Market programme’s completion and of the European Community (EC) and its Member States’ participation in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Our analysis of the different configurations and effectiveness of the legal instruments in the two contexts suggests that interactions between internal and external negotiations may foster efficient integration of markets and policies.
Legal Issues of Economic Integration