Application of GATS General Obligations to Basic Telecommunications Sample Clauses

Application of GATS General Obligations to Basic Telecommunications. The deal is significant not only because of the breadth and depth of the liberalization commitments listed in the national schedules, but also because the general obligations of the GATS framework agreement apply to these Specific Commitments. As such, much of the telecommunications industry has been brought fully under the trade mechanisms of the WTO; indeed, telecommunications is clearly one of the most well covered service sector in the GATS. This is fitting, since from the beginning of the movement to bring services under the GATT, telecommunications was regarded as a key to any multilateral deal. The mechanisms for application of GATS rules to telecommunications are a bit complex. While some of the framework agreement's General Obligations apply across the board to all measures affecting trade in services regardless of whether specific commitments have been made, others apply only where such commitments have been listed in the national schedules. Probably the key success here concerns Article II MFN treatment. This applies across the board to all measures, which is a big shift toward nondiscrimination and away from the reciprocity requirements that have caused friction between, in particular, the United States and its trade partners. For many companies seeking entry into markets like the United States, the fact that an opening to some is an opening to all (save where specific exemptions are scheduled) represents a substantial change from the status quo ante. While Article III's transparency requirements concerning the publication of measures of general application and the need for prompt replies to requests for information on such measures apply across the board to all measures affecting trade in services, its notification requirements concerning new measures and changes to existing measures applies only to scheduled sectors. Similarly, Article VI's language on domestic regulation that requires members to maintain or establish tribunals or procedures for prompt and impartial reviews of complaints always applies. In contrast, the article=s language requiring members to ensure that all measures are administered in an impartial manner, that any decisions on authorization must be notified to service suppliers in a reasonable time frame, and that members must not institute new practices that are inconsistent with the work program apply only to scheduled sectors.