Is the WTO's Approach to International Standards on Services Outdated?

Abstract

This article reviews the role that international standards on services play in defining WTO Members' rights and obligations. It argues that the growing importance of international standards on services with material implications - both positive and negative - for trade in services, questions the appropriateness of GATS' restrained approach to these standards. It advocates for a new approach that: (i) gives international standards greater influence in disciplining WTO Members' exercise of their regulatory autonomy,(ii) creates new and more effective mechanisms for institutional cooperation with relevant international standard setting bodies, and (iii) requests Members to encourage private standard setters to observe open and inclusive standard setting practices. It argues that the GATS' embedded flexibility provides ample room for introducing the proposed changes without the need to reform the treaty and highlights the risks of continued rule-making paralysis.