Reduce the cost of cross-border trade and benefit the development of service trade

On December 16, the WTO held the ambassadorial meeting for the negotiation of the joint statement initiative on domestic regulation of trade in services. 55 participants, including China, the United States and the European Union, announced the completion of the domestic approval procedure of the Reference Document on Domestic Regulation of Trade in Services (hereinafter referred to as the Reference Document). On December 20, China, the United States, the European Union and other major WTO negotiating participants officially launched the entry into force procedure of the Reference Document in the WTO. What does this document include? What changes will it bring? The person in charge of the World Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce interpreted it.
The areas promised to open include most service industries
"The rules of the Reference Document are applicable to all service sectors that the participants have promised to open under the WTO." The person in charge said that at present, the fields that the participants have promised to open include most service industries, involving many aspects of people's production and life.
It is reported that the Reference Document includes three parts and 53 articles in total.
The first part is the general rules. This part specifies the scope of application of the rules and makes it clear that they are applicable to the service sectors where all parties have made opening commitments under the WTO. Reflect the development orientation and make it clear that developing members will enjoy a transition period of up to 7 years for the implementation of the rules. Ensure regulatory policy space, and clarify that each party has the right to manage its domestic service provision and formulate new regulations.
The second part is specific requirements. First, specify the applicable regulatory measures, and stipulate that the rules are applicable to three types of measures for service trade, namely licensing (such as business license), qualification (such as employment qualification certificate) and technical standards (such as industry operation specifications); The second is to standardize the formulation procedure of regulatory measures, specify the standards to be followed by the proposed regulatory measures, and put forward detailed requirements for the formulation procedure of regulatory measures; The third is to specify the implementation requirements of regulatory measures, standardize the acceptance time, handling procedures, charging fees and qualification examination arrangements of administrative approval applications of regulatory authorities.
The third part is the special rules of financial services. The rules in this part are basically the same as those in the second part. The difference is that this part does not include provisions on "single window" approval, technical standard formulation, and mutual recognition of industry qualifications. Due to the particularity of supervision in the financial field, the parties decided to deal with the differences during the negotiation process, which was not included in the above provisions.
Specifically, the rules of the Reference Documents help to regulate the licensing, qualification and technical standards of these service industries, such as the business license of financial, telecommunications, transportation, medical, education, culture and other industry markets, the qualification of lawyers, doctors, teachers, accountants, designers, engineers and other practitioners, the specific design and construction requirements of roads, bridges, housing and other fields, and the technical standards of communication, express delivery, environmental protection and other service industries.
Respond to the industry's expectation of reducing cross-border trade policy barriers
For a long time, cross-border service trade has faced a large number of policy and regulatory barriers, and its trade cost is twice that of goods trade. According to WTO statistics, the cost of regulatory barriers (such as opaque regulatory policies, cumbersome licensing procedures, etc.) accounts for about 40% of the total cost of service trade.
In response to the industry's expectation of reducing cross-border trade policy barriers, the rules formulated in the Reference Document will help WTO members improve the transparency of regulatory policies and simplify the licensing and approval procedures, thereby reducing the cost of cross-border trade for enterprises and benefiting the development of international trade in services.
In addition, Article 6 of the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services clearly stipulates that members should formulate rules around licensing, qualification and technical standards in the field of services to ensure that their regulatory policy formulation is based on objective and transparent standards, that the regulatory burden is controlled within a reasonable limit, and that licensing procedures do not constitute market access restrictions. The rules formulated in the Reference Document are conducive to achieving the liberalization and facilitation objectives of the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services.
In order to maintain the position of the WTO as the main channel for formulating multilateral trade rules, in 2017, China, the European Union, Australia and other 59 WTO members signed the Joint Statement of Ministers of Domestic Regulation of Trade in Services, officially launching the negotiations on the Reference Document. In December 2021, the parties announced the end of negotiations and started their own internal ratification procedures. Up to now, the participants in the Reference Document have expanded to 70 members, reflecting the beneficial attempts and efforts of the participating members to solve the difficult challenges facing the multilateral trading system.
Enterprises can protect their legitimate rights and interests accordingly
The official entry into force of the Reference Document will become an international treaty obligation of the participants under the WTO framework.
In terms of policy transparency, the Reference Document puts forward four clear requirements for member regulatory authorities: first, publish the proposed laws, regulations, administrative rules and other regulatory measures in advance; Second, give enterprises the opportunity to fully participate in policy formulation; Third, timely disclosure of administrative examination and approval information; The fourth is to establish an enterprise consultation feedback mechanism.
In terms of licensing and approval matters, the Reference Document has made specific provisions on six aspects, including accepting the application schedule, determining the completeness of application materials, providing approval progress status, informing the final decision of the application, providing reasons for refusing the application, and ensuring the effectiveness of the approved application. At the same time, it is required that member regulatory authorities should comply with the requirements of independent supervision, carry out examination and approval based on objective and transparent standards, and ensure that the examination and approval process is fair and the examination and approval fees are reasonable, so as to improve work efficiency and reduce the enterprise's operating costs.
At present, the Chinese and English versions of the Reference Documents can be queried on the World Trade Department website of the Ministry of Commerce. The English version is the authentic version and the Chinese version is the reference translation. The person in charge of the World Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce said that if domestic enterprises found that overseas regulators failed to fulfill their treaty obligations, they could ask them for advice and remind them to fulfill relevant international treaty obligations. Enterprises can also report relevant information to the Ministry of Commerce of China, which will raise concerns to relevant members under the WTO Council for Trade in Services and other mechanisms as appropriate, urge relevant members to implement the rules and regulations, or start dispute settlement procedures as appropriate, to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.