General Agreement on Trade in Services
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides such a system for merchandise trade.
Adopted by the WTO in 1994, GATS establishes amultialitral framework for services liberalisation. As bilateral and multilateral donors condition access to aid and loans
on liberalisation of health, education, water andelectricity sectors, the GATS stands to severelyconstrain and undermine the extent to whichdeveloping countries will be able to regulate theseservice markets as they are liberalised
All members of the WTO are signatories to the GATS. The basic WTO principle of most favour nation (MFN) applies to GATS as well
Before the WTO's Uruguay Round negotiations began in 1986, public services such as healthcare, postal services, education, etc. were not included in international trade agreements. Most such services have traditionally been classed as domestic activities, difficult to trade across borders Nevertheless, foreign participation has existed in many countries prior to the GATS.
While the overall goal of the GATS is to remove barriers to trade, members are free to choose which sectors are to be progressively "liberalised", i.e. marketised and privatised, under which mode of supply a particular sector would be covered under, and to what extent to which liberalisation will occur over a given period of time
Discussion:->

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): objectives, coverage and disciplines

1. What is the main purpose of the GATS?
The creation of the GATS was one of the landmark achievements of the Uruguay Round, whose results entered into force in January 1995. The GATS was inspired by essentially the same objectives trade as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): creating a credible and reliable system of international trade rules; ensuring fair and equitable treatment of all participants stimulating economic activity through guaranteed policy bindings; and promoting trade and development through progressive liberalization.
2. Which countries participate?
All WTO Members, some 140 economies at present, are at the same time Members of the GATS and, to varying degrees, have assumed commitments in individual service sectors
3. What services are covered?
The GATS applies in principle to all service sectors, with two exceptions. These are services that are supplied neither on a commercial basis nor in competition with other suppliers. Cases in point are social security schemes and any other public service, such as health or education that is provided at non-market conditions.
Further, the Annex on Air Transport Services exempts from coverage measures affecting air traffic rights and services directly related to the exercise of such rights.
4. When did Members' specific commitments enter into force?
The majority of current commitments entered into force on 1 January 1995, i.e. the date of entry into force of the WTO. New commitments have since been scheduled by participants in extended negotiations and by new Members that have joined the WTO.
Current negotiations
Ongoing GATS negotiations include a particularly
intensive ‘request-offer’ process.
. Examples from a long list
include:
• Barbados – requiring foreign investors purchasing
or selling land or shares to pay a specific tax
• Indonesia – requiring foreign investors to form joint
ventures
• Mexico – restricting foreign ownership of
coastlines
• Taiwan – restricting foreign companies purchasing
land in agriculture
GATS and food rights
Given its work with poor rural communities in more
than thirty-five countries worldwide, the potential
impact of GATS on food rights and food security is of
particular interest to ActionAid.
Agriculture and fishing
The GATS covers the international trade in “services
incidental to agriculture” and “services incidental to
fishing” as two sub-sectors tucked away in its
sectoral classification list.
Retail services and wholesale services
Retail and wholesale services are covered under the
GATS ‘Distribution Sector’ classification. These two
sub-sectors are extensive in their coverage and
include the wholesale or retail of the extensive range
of products
MODES
The agreement covers four different modes (modes 1-4 trade in services) all of which affect health:
Mode 1 Cross-border supply. Health services provided from the territory of one Member State in the territory of another Member State. This is usually via interactive audio, visual and data communication.

Mode 2 Consumption abroad. This usually covers incidents when patients seek treatment abroad or are abroad when they need treatment

Mode 3 Foreign commercial presence. Health services supplied in one Member State, through commercial presence in the territory of another Member State. This covers the opening up of the health sector to foreign companies, allowing them to invest in health operations, health management and health insurance

4 Movement of natural persons (individuals rather than companies). The temporary movement of Mode a commercial provider of services (for example, a doctor) from their own country to another country to provide his or her service under contract or as a member of staff transferred to a different.

Conclusion

I would like to say that the extent to which GATS will have an impact on public services such as health and education is controversial. GAT comes into the equation when countries decide to allow foreign private supplies. The GATS is supposed to be a development-friendly Agreement because it should bring much needed foreign to developing country service sectors to provide services.

Opponents of GATS are not only to protect human health, and ensure provision of good quality, affordable health services. But also, they fear that progressive liberalization of services under GATS will force WTO Members to privatize health care currently provided by governments and that these changes will be irreversible.

The counter-argument stresses that GATS allows WTO Members to decide for themselves which sectors will be liberalized and to define country-specific conditions on the form that liberalization will take. Some WTO Members have already indicated they will not be requesting or offering commitments on health services in the current negotiations effects of liberalization in specific countries. Finally, trade in services is increasing in any case , thus making attribution to GATS very difficult.

Finally,the overall aim of GATS is to liberalize trade in services.