The World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services and Its Implications for Developing and Transition Economies

The World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services and Its Implications for Developing and Transition Economies PDF Author: Peter F. Cowhey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Business Guide to the General Agreement on Trade in Services

Business Guide to the General Agreement on Trade in Services PDF Author: Commonwealth Secretariat
Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat
ISBN: 9780850925418
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a historical agreement covering a wide range of international service transactions. In support of further trade negotiations, the Guide also highlights issues in which the business community may wish to provide input as preparations for trade negotiations move forward.

The WTO Agreement and Telecommunications Policy Reform

The WTO Agreement and Telecommunications Policy Reform PDF Author: Eddy van Doorslaer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 69

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Book Description
Every country serious about introducing competition finds that the transition from monopoly to competition is both economically rewarding and laden with policy dilemmas. As a new century begins, we have an essentially new market for telecommunications. Digital technology forced a re-examination of the opportunity costs of protecting traditional telecommunications equipment and service suppliers. An inefficient market for telecommunications threatened competitiveness in the computer, software, and information industry markets. Meanwhile, after dislocations created by global stagflation through the early 1980s, developing countries became interested in privatization of state enterprises as a tool of economic reform--and state telephone companies were especially promising targets for privatization. Those countries began exploring options for allowing selective competition, as phone companies in major industrial countries began looking to foreign markets for new business opportunities. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services created a new regime for the world market. Now we must pay close attention to regulatory fundamentals: 1) Low barriers to entry in the market for communications services. 2) Effective re-balancing of rates for services during the market transition. 3) Effective Strong interconnection policies. 4) The creation of independent regulatory authorities with the resources and power necessary to foster competition and safeguard consumer welfare. The authors assess how developing and transition economies have fared in profiting from changes in the telecommunications market. They also examine the policy challenges that remain, paying special attention to the global market and regulatory milieu fostered by the 1997 WTO Agreement. They ask what this latest transformation has taught us about wise management of this vital part of the world economy`s infrastructure. They focus on the economics of managing the transition to competition, the design of proper regulatory policies and processes, and the embedding of domestic telecommunications in the world market.

The WTO Agreements on Telecommunications

The WTO Agreements on Telecommunications PDF Author: Bobjoseph Mathew
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing
ISBN:
Category : General Agreement on Trade in Services
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., New York, Oxford, Wien. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Telecommunications Services, 72 member states have made commitments with regard to the increasing international competition in the telecommunications sector. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the regulatory framework at a multilateral level. It deals with the growing importance and the technological evolution of the telecommunications sector. Furthermore, it describes the negotiations on telecommunications at WTO level. The book gives insights into the provisions of the Annex on Telecommunications and describes their impact on the services industry. Moreover, the commitments relating to basic telecommunications are analyzed. The author specifically examines the reference paper which sets out rules for competition in the telecommunications sector and interprets these provisions in the light of the existing multilateral rules. Contents: WTO/ITU - Annex on Telecommunications - Schedule of Commitments on Basic Telecommunications - Reference Paper - Competition Law - Telecommunications Law.

The WTO Agreement and Telecommunication Policy Reforms

The WTO Agreement and Telecommunication Policy Reforms PDF Author: Peter F. Cowhey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Telecommunication
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
Happily, the revolution going on in the telecommunications industry is benign. Technological change and competition are making possible changes considered improbable even 15 years ago. The WTO Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services created a new regime for the world market. Now we must pay close attention to regulatory fundamentals.

Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business PDF Author: Gary Clyde Hufbauer
Publisher: Peterson Institute
ISBN: 9780881322576
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
In February 1997, 69 countries accounting for 95 percent of world telecommunications traffic agreed to open their basic telecommunications service markets. In April 1997, 28 countries accounting for 80 percent of world trade in information technology (IT) goods agreed to eliminate tariffs on IT goods by January 2000. These two agreements represent significant steps toward global telecommunication liberalization. The agreements also mark the beginning of new battles that will determine the extent of competition and reform in the telecommunications industry in the 21st century. Although implementation of the two pacts will be phased in over several years, some signatory countries are already facing a backlash from local telecommunications companies and equipment suppliers. Hence the issue remains highly contentious around the world. In this volume, leading scholars from different countries offer their assessments of the two new agreements. They also predict the evolution of the telecommunications industry in the years ahead. The volume provides essential background on future developments in this dynamic and crucial sector, and suggests ways in which it can be shaped to provide maximum benefits for the world economy.

Implications of the WTO Agreement on Basic Telecommunications

Implications of the WTO Agreement on Basic Telecommunications PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agreement on Basic Telecommunications
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Telecommunications and the World Trade Organization

Telecommunications and the World Trade Organization PDF Author: Bjorn Wellenius
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Telecommunication
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
The U.S.-Mexico case (2002-04) was the first (and so far only) case of World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution on telecommunications services and the first on services only. The findings of the Panel charged with settling the dispute contain interpretations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), especially its Annex on Telecommunications and the Reference Paper that sets regulatory principles. Although these interpretations strictly apply only to the case examined, they have implications for other countries and sectors and beyond trade law. The following are some of the findings. Telecommunications services originated in one country and terminated in another country are cross-border services under the GATS irrespective of whether the same service provider is present in both countries. The accounting rate regime, whereby operators share revenue from international services provided jointly, is subject to the discipline of cost-based interconnection for countries that have adopted the Reference Paper. Uniform settlement rates and proportional return are anticompetitive practices under the Reference Paper even when they are mandated by law. The lack of implementing regulations does not excuse the country from meeting its commitments under the GATS. Mexico and the United States, although not in full agreement with the Panel, did not appeal. An agreed plan to address the underlying legal and regulatory issues was successfully implemented in July 2005

Most-favoured-nation Treatment

Most-favoured-nation Treatment PDF Author: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
The publication contains an explanation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment and some of the key issues that arise in its negotiation, particularly the scope and application of MFN treatment to the liberalization and protection of foreign investors in recent treaty practice. The paper provides policy options as regards the traditional application of MFN treatment and identifies reactions by States to the unexpected broad use of MFN treatment, and provides several drafting options, such as specifying or narrowing down the scope of application of MFN treatment to certain types of activities, clarifying the nature of "treatment" under the IIA, clarifying the comparison that an arbitral tribunal needs to undertake as well as a qualification of the comparison "in like circumstances" or excluding its use in investor-State cases.

The WTO Telecom Agreement

The WTO Telecom Agreement PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Commerce. Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description