The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) and Its Compatibility with GATS: An Assessment Based on Current Evidence

Measured by the standards of the relevant GATS provisions, in Article V, a very significant share of current regional trade agreements (RTAs) in services is deficient. This includes agreements involving the 50 odd WTO Members that are currently negotiating a Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). While these agreements might have improved significantly on many commitments contained in current GATS schedules, mostly submitted two decades ago, they also introduced new restrictions for which no GATS equivalents exist. Moreover, in a number of cases the parties fiddled with the definitional framework provisions and generally binding obligations and disciplines of the GATS. Should these attempts continue, TISA could not live up to its proclaimed objective of promoting future multilateral liberalization. Nevertheless, a closer look at some RTAs previously concluded by TISA parties also suggests that, with political will, there is a possibility to avoid aberrations: a clause providing that in the event of inconsistencies with WTO/GATS provisions, the latter shall prevail. The incorporation of such a clause might be viewed as a litmus test on participants' continued commitment to multilateralism.