Process in trade in services

Negotiations to liberalize market conditions for trade in services are conducted mainly through a Тrequest-offerУ process similar to the process used in the GATT negotiations. Members send requests directly to each other indicating what improvements they are seeking for their services and service suppliers; other members then react to the request by submitting an offer. In their initial offers, members specify how and to what extent they are willing to make binding commitments in response to these requests (plurilateral requests).

This may set in motion a series of bilateral or plurilateral bargaining sessions. Regardless of which member submits a request, the offer, in the form of an improved ТscheduleУ of commitments, would apply to all members. Unlike requests, which are not provided to the WTO Secretariat, offers are circulated to all members as a WTO document. At the conclusion of the negotiations, final offers become legally binding commitments specifying the conditions under which trade in services will take place.

An example of a schedule of commitments of Tanzania on tourism services[48] Modes of supply: 1) Cross‑border supply 2) Consumption abroad 3) Commercial presence 4) Presence of natural persons
Sector or subsector	Limitations on market access	Limitations on national treatment
9.TOURISM AND TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES   Hotels of four stars and above (as defined by the Tanzanian legislation) (CPC 641-643)	1) None   2) None   3) Acquisitions of domestic firms and mergers by foreigners are subject to approval. The acquisition of land by foreigners or domestic companies which are deemed foreign because of foreign equity ownership is subject to approval.   4) Unbound except for measures concerning senior managers that possess skills not available in Tanzania.	1) None   2) None   3) Unbound   4) Unbound

Note: The supply of services is divided into four modes listed above, and the commitments are taken along these four modes. The commitments are also divided in two categories, those which would be defined as Тlimitations to market accessУ and those that would be Тlimitations on national treatmentУ.

The commitments are finally describing the state of the legislation: ТnoneУ means that there is no limitation imposed, ТunboundУ that there is no, at this stage, limitation imposed but the country reserves itself the right to impose one at a later stage. Finally, when a limitation exists, it is described and drafted in the schedule (i.e. see limitations under market access for mode 3 and mode 4 in the above example).

The GATS negotiations use another important technique: the positive list approach. Under this approach, members' commitments cover only those areas actually listed, with all others considered excluded. While most commonly encountered in the context of GATS schedules, the positive/negative list technique can be broadly applied in other areas of the WTO negotiations.

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