Trevor Sargent
Question:166 Mr. Sargent asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the implications of the Government's policy to implement the General Agreement on Trade in Services. [24927/01]
Written Answers. - General Agreement on Trade in Services.
The World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services, GATS, was adopted at the conclusion of the Uruguay round of trade negotiations in 1994. The GATS agreement, which came into force in 1995, sets out a framework of legally binding rules governing the conduct of world trade in services. It is supported by a number of schedules of specific commitments undertaken by individual WTO members which determine the level of access to their domestic market by foreign suppliers. Each member is free to choose the particular services which it wishes to liberalise.
Ireland is already meeting its obligations under GATS. There is no obligation in the GATS which requires Governments to privatise public services or to sell off entities such as those mentioned in the Deputy's question.