On the morning of September 10, 2018, Prof. Shi Jingxia from the Law School of the University of International Business and Economics taught the students mainly from ‘the China-African Association for International Law Exchange and Research Project’ Member States under the title ‘International Law on Service Trade’. In summary, the course was divided into main body and content. Before teaching, Professor Shi made Professor Shi made a distinction between the two trade targets of "goods" and "services". She pointed out that the biggest difference between the two is that the services are intangible and invisible, especially in the broad sense of service trade. Includes intellectual property transactions. For this reason, measures to control and restrict trade in services are also intangible ---they cannot be applied to restrictions in goods trade such as tariffs and quotas.
In the first part, Professor Shi first measured the importance of service from the three dimensions of service trade in world GDP, contribution to national GDP, and job creation, pointing out that modern economy is a service economy. Among them, the service trade of developed countries is relatively leading, especially the United States is the world's largest service market. Although the service industry in developing countries accounts for less than developed countries, it has doubled in the past two decades. The service trade output value accounts for 43% of China's GDP and has become an important contributor to productivity growth and economic development.
In the second part, after a brief review of the development and status quo of the WTO, Professor Shi vividly and detailedly explained the two wings of the non-discrimination principle in the WTO system - the principle of Most-favored Treatment (MFN) and the principle of national treatment (NT). Among them, the MFN in trade in services is no different from the MFN in trade in goods – it applies to all parties, and the definition of “not less than” in the definition indicates the minimum treatment enjoyed by the same service of the member states. At present, the trend of many countries in the world to evade MFN status through the conclusion of regional trade agreements has been strengthened. But unlike NT in the trade of goods, NT in service trade is limited to the service sectors listed in the member commitment table, and it is more complicated in practice.
In the third part, Professor Shi focused on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATs). She pointed out that GATs were implemented as part of the WTO package in January 1995. Until March 1st , 2018, there are164 members. GATs have a wide range of applications , for it is applicable to all levels of government-influenced services. The term ‘affecting’ means that even measures taken on goods should be applied to GATs if they have an impact on the relevant service sector. rule. In addition, GATs define four ways of providing service trade: cross-border supply, overseas consumption, natural person presence, and commercial presence. In addition to the above-mentioned non-discrimination principles, the principles set out include the principle of transparency, that is, the disclosure and acquisition of all rules, temporary exceptions such as the occurrence of a short-term economic crisis, and the Lock-in effect, that is, once the service opening commitment is made, it is difficult for the undertaking country to withdraw the commitment. Professor Shi also emphasized that the obligations and commitments under the GATs must be observed by the countries concerned.
Finally, Professor Shi pointed out that many countries are continuing to conduct further consultations and negotiations on service trade, which involves expanding the number and content of commitments, eliminating existing restrictions on existing commitments, and negotiating trade in services under the TTIP and CPTPP frameworks. Therefore, the service trade itself and the research around service trade are in a state of constant openness and renewal, and need to be paid attention in real time.
