Liberalizing versus Facilitating Mode 4 Trade in Services

Abstract

The growing importance of services trade for countries across the world is well-documented in the services and trade literatures. At the same time, regulatory and administrative barriers to the movement of service suppliers to deliver services internationally have resulted in very low shares of "Mode 4" trade in total services trade. Against this background, this paper conceptualizes an agenda for trade facilitation in services as it would apply to the movement of natural persons. It also provides descriptive statistical evidence from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Services Trade Restrictiveness Index database. The paper differentiates between regulatory measures that may improve transparency or facilitate access for service providers and those measures that impede Mode 4 trade as well as the administrative, financial, and economic costs of compliance with such measures.