General Agreement on Trade in Services

The General Agreement on Trade in Services GATS is a treaty of a World Trade Organization WTO which entered into force in January 1995 as a sum of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to move the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs together with Trade GATT lets such a system for merchandise trade.

All members of the WTO are parties to the GATS. The basic WTO principle of most favoured nation MFN applies to GATS as well. However, upon accession, members may introduce temporary exemptions to this rule.

Sectors addressed

Services Sector Classifications addressed in the GATS are defined in the required "W/120 list", which allowed a list of any sectors which can be negotiated under the GATS. The title intended to the make-up of the official WTO document, MTN.GNS/W/120. There are twelve usefulness sectors Business; Communication; Construction as well as Engineering; Distribution; Education; Environment; Financial; Health; Tourism and Travel; Recreation, Cultural, and Sporting; Transport; and "Other" divided up into sub-sectors.