Preferential services liberalization : the case of the European Union and federal states

Abstract

Preferential Services Liberalization offers the first, comprehensive analysis of the conditions that the World Trade Organization sets for preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the area of services. Johanna Jacobsson provides an in-depth analysis of the relevant GATS rules, puts forward a practical method to analyze services PTAs, and applies the method to services agreements concluded by the EU. The result is a detailed examination of the legal criteria for services PTAs and methods to study them, combined with a better understanding of the level of liberalization reached by the EU and its member states. This book does go beyond the EU in analyzing the implications that multi-level governance has for international services liberalization. It proposes a new approach to study services commitments of any federal state and argues that lower levels of government should receive more attention in international negotiations over services trade.