Administración tributaria

The 1982 GATT Ministerial Meeting decided upon a programme of work which provided

^GATT. " Trade in Financial Services ", MTN.GNSAV/68, 4 September 1989, at 7.

^Griffiths, Brian. Invisible Barriers to Invisible Trade (1975), at 70-79.

®Price Waterhouse. The " Cost of Non-Europe " in Financial Services. Research on the " Cost of Non-Europe " Basic Finding. (1988), at 100-135.

^Feketekuty, Geza. International Trade in Services: An Overview and Blueprint for Negotiations. (1988), at 141.

'^Nusbaumer, Jacques. The Services Economy: Lever to Growth (1987), at 1 1 ,1 2 and 22. See also GATT. BISD, 32S/78.

Rivers Richard R., Valerie A. Slator and Angela J. Paolini. * Putting Services on the Tables: The New GATT Round ’, 22 Stanford J. Int’l Law (1986), pp.13-30, at 27.

for exchange of information on national examinations of issues in the services sector, and for a review of the results of such examination, so as to determine whether any multilateral action was appropriate and desirable.The 1982 Ministerial Declaration was further elaborated by the ‘ Agreed Conclusions ’ of the November 1984 Session of Contracting P a r t i e s . I n line with that 1984 decision, a series of meetings were held during 1986 to facilitate the exchange of information on issues in the services sector. The discussion during these meetings was concentrated on four main areas: (a) general characteristics of services; (b) conceptual framework, statistical problems and methodologies; (c) national and international regulations governing individual services sectors, and problems identified in relation to international transactions in services; and (d) issues raised in connection with possible multilateral action over services.

The Uruguay Round was the first time for the GATT to establish a multilateral framework of principles and rules for trade in services, including elaboration of possible disciplines for individual s e c t o r s . T h e General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)^^ was adopted by the GATT in the Final Act of the Uruguay R o u n d . T h e GATS is based on three pillars. The first is a Framework Agreement containing basic obligations which apply to all member countries. The second concerns national schedules of commitments containing specific further national commitments which will be the subject of a continuing process of liberalization. The third is a number of annexes addressing the special situations of individual services sectors.

The GATS (Art.I) applies to measures by Members of the WTO affecting trade

*^GATT. BISD, 298/21.

^^GATT. BISD, 31S/15.

GATT. BISD, 32S/72, and 33S/49. Seven meetings were held on the following dates: 6-7 February, 24-26 March, 17-18 April, 12-13 May, 2-4 June, 27 and 30 June, and 29 August 1986.

^^GATT. BISD, 32S/75.

^^See the 1986 Ministerial Declaration on the Uruguay Round (GATT. BISD, 33S/28); the 1988 Montreal Mid Term Review (GATT. Focus, No.61 o f May 1989); the 1991 Dunkel Draft Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (GATT. MTN. TNC/W/FA.); and the 1993 GATS of the Final Act of the Uruguay Round (GATT. MTN/FA.).

‘^GATT. MTN/FA H-AIB.

in services. Trade in services is defined as the supply of a service: (a) from the territory of one Member into the territory of any other Member; (b) in the territory of one Member to the service consumer of any other Member; (c) by a service supplier of one Member, through commercial presence in the territory of any other Member; and (d) by a service supplier of one Member, through presence of natural persons of a Member in the territory of any other Member. Accordingly, the scope of trade in services will extend to the international movement of service products, person and capital. In particular, the international movement of natural persons or commercial presence goes far beyond the traditional concept of trade in goods. Specially, trade in services will involve national policy objectives relating to immigration, monetary and financial a r e a s . T h e GATS, therefore, will have profound impacts for national economy and development process.^®

" Measures by members " means measures taken by: (a) central, regional or local governments and authorities; and (b) non-governmental bodies in the exercise of powers delegated by central, regional or local governments or authorities. Bank services form an oligopolic market, which is dominated by a limited number of suppliers. It is possible for banks to practise concerted actions and intra-firm transactions. This kind of unfair competition may affect trade between WTO members. Article DC: 1 of the GATS only provides consultations for members to eliminate this kind of business practices. Private business practice is often lacking in transparency. In addition, the disclosure of confidential information is not often available under domestic law. Therefore, private business practice will be a problem in the operation of the GATS.^^ The unfair competition in banking operations was considered in the EC case 172/80^^, which involved a concerted practice with regard to the charges made for the transfer of funds from one EC Member to another. GATT should further extend rules for banking services

^^Usher, John A. ‘ 1992 and the Implication for Banking and Finance: An Overview ’, in Cranston, Ross. (ed.). 1992: The Legal Implications for Banking. (1989), pp.1-41, at 1.

Nayyar, Deepak. ' The Political economy of international trade in services ’, 12 Cambridge Journal of Economics (1988), pp.279-298, at 297.

Nayyar, Deepak. ‘ Some Reflections on the Uruguay Round and Trade in Services ’, 22 JWT (1988), pp.35 47, at 44.

in areas of competition to protect consumers interest and fair competition 23