The Curious Case of Trade Facilitation in Services: Rejected Multilaterally but Adopted Bilaterally and Plurilaterally

Abstract

The services sector is gaining importance in international trade and commerce globally. Like goods trade, services trade also requires facilitation for enhancing global trade. Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) Proposal was submitted by India in the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the consideration of the Members. However, unlike the Trade Facilitation Agreement in Goods (TFA) which was adopted by Members to be an integral part of the WTO agreement, no appetite was shown by Members to adopt the TFS proposal. An analysis of free trade agreements (FTAs) of selected WTO Members reveals that these Members included many of the TFS provisions in their new age FTAs, thereby reflecting a dichotomy in Members’ approach for TFS in WTO and their FTAs.