Example: The GATS Schedule of Arcadia

The following is a brief extract from the GATS schedule of Arcadia.

Modes of supply:

(1) Cross-border supply (2) Consumption abroad (3) Commercial presence (4) Presence of natural persons

The services schedule of "Arcadia" is divided into two parts with four columns each.

Part I lists "horizontal commitments": in other words, provisions that apply to foreign suppliers of any service that has been scheduled. In Arcadia"s case, any foreign service supplier wishing to establish a commercial presence in Arcadia for delivery of any scheduled service will have to meet notification and examination requirements, and will need authorization to buy land. Arcadia accepts no commitments, except as specified, to allow entry of foreigners to its national territory to deliver services.

Part II sets out the commitments undertaken for each listed sector or sub-sector.  No specific commitments have been undertaken for any sector or sub-sector that is not listed in the schedule.

The first column Members are free, subject to the results of their negotiations with other participants, to identify which sectors, sub sectors or activities they will list in their schedules, and it is only to these that the commitments apply. It will be seen that committed sectors are sometimes very broad, as in "banking and other financial services" and sometimes very narrow, as in "noise abatement services".

In the great majority of schedules, the order in which the sectors are listed corresponds to the WTO Secretariat classification of the twelve broad sectors (see above).

Furthermore, in most cases, the sectoral entries are accompanied by numerical references to the Central Product Classification system of the United Nations which gives a detailed explanation of the services activities covered by each listed sector or subsector, and on which the secretariat list is based. Where this was not possible, listings are to provide a sufficiently detailed definition to avoid any ambiguity as to the scope of the commitment..

The second columnsets out any limitations to market access for the sector or sub-sector concerned, when the service is provided by a particular mode of delivery, that fall within the six types of restriction mentioned in Article XVI. The need for a separate column endlessly listing the four individual modes is avoided by simply placing a number from (1) to (4) in front of each entry. A note at the top of the schedule reminds us that, for instance, (1) refers to cross-border supply of the service.

Article XVI:2 of the GATS lists six categories of restriction which may not be adopted or maintained unless they are specified in the schedule. All limitations in schedules therefore fall into one of these categories. They comprise four types of quantitative restriction plus limitations on types of legal entity and on foreign equity participation.

The third column specifies in the same way limitations that are placed, in accordance with the rules in Article XVII, on national treatment for foreign suppliers of the service.

The fourth column is provided to enter any further binding commitments that have been offered, as envisaged in Article XVIII. Arcadia"s final column is empty, like that of most non-fictitious WTO members.

Arcadia"s schedule includes examples of the three kinds of annotation to be found in all schedules.

1. The entry "none" means that the scheduling member has undertaken to place no limitation on market access or on national treatment for foreign supply of that service by the mode concerned.
2. The entry "unbound" means that the member has undertaken no commitment, and therefore retains full freedom to act as it may desire.

Where access is partly liberalized - the most common case - the schedule sets out in detail the nature of a market access or national treatment limitation.

Where the schedule records the barriers as "none" or provides detail of the barriers to be applied, the member has undertaken a bound commitment that, when the designated service is supplied by the specified mode, it will receive treatment not less favourable than is stated in the schedule. This is the GATS equivalent of the GATT binding.

Arcadia"s sectoral commitments provide that foreign suppliers of retailing services are completely free to offer such services to Arcadians who go to the foreign countries concerned, or to supply them by mail order, but for other modes of supply they face the limitations indicated.