Vol. 571 No. 3
73 Mr. Cuffe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the commitment which has been made under the General Agreement on Trade in Services to liberalise functions of the criminal justice system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21587/03]
The World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) comprises a schedule of commitments entered into by WTO members which indicate their level of commitment to market access and national treatment across the full range of service sector activities, including the supply by professionals of legal services. EU member state commitments under the GATS date from completion of the Uruguay Round. Currently, Ireland has no commitments in the GATS schedule in relation to professional legal services under the criminal justice system.
The launch of a new trade round in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001 resulted in the commencement of a review of current commitments by means of a request and offer process among WTO members. The European Union for its part has addressed requests for further service sector commitments to its WTO partners and submitted an initial offer to the EU's WTO partners with respect to improved commitments on entry to the European market for third country service providers. A summary of the main features of the EUs GATS offer, including the area of professional legal services, was concluded and submitted to the WTO, in April 2003, and is available is available on the EU's Directorate General for Trade website at http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/ issues/sectoral/services/index en.htmThe EU initial GATS offer contains proposed new commitments in the area of legal services. Under this conditional offer, the sectoral coverage of legal services commitments has been broadened so that foreign lawyers and law firms can establish in any ember state and provide legal services in respect of the law of any country in which those lawyers are qualified. This means that it would be necessary for a person to qualify as a solicitor and/or barrister in Ireland in order to be able to provide legal services in respect of Irish law. The practice of Irish criminal law would be subject to admission to the Bar in Ireland.
