New Database on Measures affecting Services Trade Current work by World Bank and WTO Workshop on Trade Policy, Inclusiveness and the Rise of the Service Economy Geneva, 26 April 2018

Background Growing demand for information on trade in services, in particular on actual regulations and policies (advance national policy reform, inform international negotiations, transparency on applied services policies) Prior initiatives at WTO and WB WTO: GATS commitments database, services statistics, RTAs database 2012: WB Services Trade Restrictions Database (STRD) 2013: WB-WTO join forces (MoU) Services Integrated Trade Information Portal (I-TIP services) 2014: OECD releases STRI and regulatory database 2016: Enhanced cooperation with OECD

Classification of Applied Services Regulations and Policies OECD policy areas WB-WTO taxonomy Restrictions on foreign entry Restrictions on the movement of people Other discriminatory measures Barriers to competition Regulatory transparency Conditions on market entry Conditions on operations Barriers to competition Administrative procedures, regulatory transparency Miscellaneous

WTO-WB Classification of Measures (1/2) Consistent with previous WB classification and current OECD classification A. Conditions on market entry A.1 Forms of entry (including foreign equity limits) A.2 Quantitative measures (for firms and natural persons) A.3 Conditions on licensing/screening/qualifications relating to market entry (firms /natural persons) A.4 Other conditions on market entry B. Conditions on operations B.1 Conditions on supply of services B.2 Conditions on services supplier B.3 Conditions on government procurement B.4 Other conditions on operations

WTO-WB Classification of Measures (2/2) C. Measures affecting competition C.1 Conditions on conduct by firms C.2 Governmental rights/prerogatives (including public ownership) C.3 Other measures affecting competition D. Admin. procedures, regulatory transparency D.1 Administrative procedures D.2 Regulatory transparency (including licensing) D.3 Nature of regulatory authority (related to nature of regulator) D.4 International standards D.5 Other regulatory environment and admin. procedures E. Miscellaneous (E.1 Measures and E.2 Other)

Sample of classification

Characteristics Measures: Horizontal, common and sector specific (sectors and subsectors) Modes of supply Discriminatory/non-discriminatory Preferential/non-preferential Licensing / Cross-border data flows

Construction of the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI):  

Restrictiveness of services trade policy in 68 economies

Average STRI by region

STRI by regions and sectors

http://i-tip.wto.org/services/

Current and Future work Focus on applied regulations and policies Release of new Module on Applied Services Trade Policy Better respond to user needs (governments, researchers, industry) Searchable by Member, sector, measure, categories of measures (e.g. licensing, restrictions on cross-border data flows), etc. 70 countries More countries, more sectors Enhanced collaboration between WB-WTO and OECD Find more synergies with other specialised organizations & associations (e.g. ITU, IBA, others) More quantification work Complement RTAs Module in I-TIP Remaining agreements (100 already included) Add information on main provisions Comparison with applied policies