IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v43y2005i2p311-325.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The EU Offer of Service Trade Liberalization in the Doha Round: Evidence of a Not‐Yet‐Perfect Customs Union

Author

Listed:
  • ROLF J. LANGHAMMER

Abstract

While the EU is a customs union in merchandise trade (goods), it has not yet reached this stage of integration in service trade. Trade policies between individual Member States and non‐Member States vary in services. Given the remaining national sovereignties in regulating service trade against other EU Member States also, the EU is not yet even a free trade area. How far the EU is from a customs union in service trade is very difficult to assess because of the non‐quantitative nature of trade restrictions in this sector. This article gives a first hint of the distance from a customs union by calculating frequency indices of trade measures by refining the 1995 Hoekman index. The database is the EU's first offer in service trade in the WTO Doha round in February 2003. It emerges that the deviation from a customs union is not substantial, but still exists because of differences in national policies against non‐Member States which are particularly relevant in the mode of supply via labour flows. Inter alia, policy measures comprise economic needs tests, residence and nationality criteria. The article concludes that there is reason to assume that, in the course of the Doha round negotiations, some if not most of the national measures will be given up. Therefore, multilateral trade negotiations will be instrumental in bringing the EU to a complete customs union as happened in goods trade between 1958 and 1968 when the Dillon and Kennedy rounds helped to complete the customs union in industrial goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Rolf J. Langhammer, 2005. "The EU Offer of Service Trade Liberalization in the Doha Round: Evidence of a Not‐Yet‐Perfect Customs Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 311-325, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:43:y:2005:i:2:p:311-325
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-9886.2005.00557.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9886.2005.00557.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0021-9886.2005.00557.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julio.J. Nogués & Andrzej Olechowski & L. Alan Winters, 2015. "The Extent of Nontariff Barriers to Industrial Countries' Imports," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Non-Tariff Barriers, Regionalism and Poverty Essays in Applied International Trade Analysis, chapter 2, pages 29-47, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Drusilla K. Brown & Robert M. Stern, 2001. "Measurement and Modeling of the Economic Effects of Trade and Investment Barriers in Services," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 262-286, May.
    3. Finger, J M & Kreinin, M E, 1979. "A Measure of 'Export Similarity' and Its Possible Uses," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 89(356), pages 905-912, December.
    4. repec:bla:reviec:v:9:y:2001:i:2:p:262-86 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Martin,Will & Winters,L. Alan (ed.), 1996. "The Uruguay Round and the Developing Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521586016, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabelle Rabaud & Thierry Montalieu, 2006. "Trade in Services : how does it Work for MENA Countries?," Post-Print halshs-00204977, HAL.
    2. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    3. Eschenbach, Felix & Hoekman, Bernard, 2006. "Services policies in transition economies : on the European Union and the World Trade Organization as commitment mechanisms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3951, The World Bank.
    4. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2013:i:109 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Carolina Lennon, 2008. "Trade in services: Cross-border trade vs commercial presence. Evidence of complementarity," PSE Working Papers halshs-00586217, HAL.
    6. Rolf J. Langhammer, 2010. "Unordnung in der internationalen Handelsordnung: Befunde, Gründe, Auswirkungen und Therapien," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 11(1), pages 75-98, February.
    7. Christen, Elisabeth & Francois, Joseph & Hoekman, Bernard, 2013. "Computable General Equilibrium Modeling of Market Access in Services," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1601-1643, Elsevier.
    8. Giuseppe Bertola & Lorenza Mola, 2010. "Services Provision and Temporary Mobility: Freedoms and Regulation in the EU," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 633-653, April.
    9. Bernard Hoekman & Aaditya Mattoo & André Sapir, 2007. "The political economy of services trade liberalization: a case for international regulatory cooperation?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 367-391, Autumn.
    10. Christen, Elisabeth & Francois, Joseph & Hoekman, Bernard, 2012. "CGE modeling of market access in services," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6106, The World Bank.
    11. Eschenbach, Felix & Hoekman, Bernard, 2006. "Services policies in transition economies: on the EU and WTO as commitment mechanisms," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 415-443, November.
    12. Bernard Hoekman & Çağlar Özden, 2010. "The Euro–Mediterranean Partnership: Trade in Services as an Alternative to Migration?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 835-857, September.
    13. Bianka Dettmer, 2012. "The European Union's service directive: Contrasting ex ante estimates with empirical evidence," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-019, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    14. Langhammer, Rolf J., 2005. "Jeder macht was er will, keiner macht was er soll: zur permissiven Haltung der Welthandelsordnung gegenüber regionalen Integrationsabkommen und deren Kosten," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 3784, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Bianka Dettmer, 2012. "Business services outsourcing and economic growth: Evidence from a dynamic panel data approach," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-049, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    16. Langhammer, Rolf J., 2008. "Why a market place must not discriminate: The case against a US-EU free trade agreement," Kiel Working Papers 1407, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:zbw:bofitp:2017_002 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Robert M. Stern, 2000. "Quantifying Barriers to Trade in Services," Working Papers 470, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    3. Joseph Francois & Miriam Manchin & Patrick Tomberger, 2015. "Services Linkages and the Value Added Content of Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 1631-1649, November.
    4. Jesper Jensen & Thomas Rutherford & David Tarr, 2014. "The Impact of Liberalizing Barriers to Foreign Direct Investment in Services: The Case of Russian Accession to the World Trade Organization," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: APPLIED TRADE POLICY MODELING IN 16 COUNTRIES Insights and Impacts from World Bank CGE Based Projects, chapter 6, pages 125-149, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Elisabeth M. Christen & Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2012. "CGE Modeling of Market Access in Services," Economics working papers 2012-08, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    6. Hiro Lee & Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, 2001. "A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Interplay between Foreign Direct Investment and Trade Adjustments," Discussion Paper Series 119, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Jul 2001.
    7. Edward J. Balistreri & Zoryana Olekseyuk & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Privatisation and the unusual case of Belarusian accession to the WTO," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2564-2591, December.
    8. Balistreri, Edward J. & Rutherford, Thomas F. & Tarr, David G., 2009. "Modeling services liberalization: The case of Kenya," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 668-679, May.
    9. Christen, Elisabeth & Francois, Joseph & Hoekman, Bernard, 2013. "Computable General Equilibrium Modeling of Market Access in Services," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1601-1643, Elsevier.
    10. Balistreri, Edward J. & Maliszewska, Maryla & Osorio-Rodarte, Israel & Tarr, David G. & Yonezawa, Hidemichi, 2016. "Poverty and Shared Prosperity Implications of Deep Integration in Eastern and Southern Africa," Conference papers 332681, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Isabelle Rabaud, 2014. "Gains à l'échange de services pour les pays africains : mythe ou réalité ?," Revue française d'économie, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(2), pages 103-142.
    12. JESPER JENSEN & Thomas F. Rutherford & David G. Tarr, 2014. "Modeling Services Liberalization: The Case of Tanzania," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: APPLIED TRADE POLICY MODELING IN 16 COUNTRIES Insights and Impacts from World Bank CGE Based Projects, chapter 9, pages 191-222, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Edward J. Balistreri & Zoryana Olekseyuk & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Privatisation and the unusual case of Belarusian accession to the WTO," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2564-2591, December.
    14. Rashmi Banga, 2005. "Trade and foreign direct investment in services: A review," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 154, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    15. Chadha, R. & Brown, D.K. & Deardorff, A.V. & Stern, R.M., 2000. "Computational Analysis of the Impact on India of the Uruguay Round and the Forthcoming WTO Trade Negotiations," Working Papers 459, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    16. Konan, Denise Eby & Maskus, Keith E., 2006. "Quantifying the impact of services liberalization in a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 142-162, October.
    17. Saoussen Ben Romdhane, 2008. "Liberalizing Trade in Services in Tunisia: General Equilibrium Effects," Working Papers 404, Economic Research Forum, revised 06 Jan 2008.
    18. Jensen, Jesper & Tarr, David, 2007. "The impact of Kazakhstan accession to the World Trade Organization : a quantitative assessment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4142, The World Bank.
    19. Bernard Hoekman, 2000. "The next round of services negotiations: identifying priorities and options," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 82(Jul), pages 31-52.
    20. Jensen, Jesper & Rutherford, Thomas & Tarr, David, 2005. "Telecommunications reform within Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3501, The World Bank.
    21. Michalopoulos, Constantine & Ng, Francis, 2013. "Developing country trade policies and market access issues : 1990-2012," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6463, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:43:y:2005:i:2:p:311-325. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.