Legal Study On China's Trade In Financial Services Under GATS

It is more than six years since China's accession to the World Trade Organization. In accordance with our commitments under the"General Agreement on Trade in Services"(GATS), China has already fulfilled the specific commitments in financial services. In the banking area, foreign banks'business operational constraints and domestic restrictions of RMB currency business have been cancelled. In the insurance area, insurance companies can set up sole proprietorship except life insurance companies. Besides, Non-life insurance companies and insurance broker companies have been enjoying national treatment. In the securities areas, foreign securities institutions can do B-share transactions directly. In addition, foreign securities institutions can become special China stock exchange members, and are allowed to set joint ventures in which foreign investment can reach as much as 49%. These joint ventures can do A-share, B-share and H-share underwriting and exchange business independently. To fulfill China's commitments in financial services, China has revised several laws and regulations in according to its specific commitments, such as commercial banks law, regulation of foreign banks and its implementation rules. However, further efforts are still needed to improve the laws and regulations to meet the challenges and opportunities brought by finance opening-up policy.As globalization develops faster, the opening-up of financial services is irreversible. We may find both opportunities and challenges in this process. Should we open the financial areas fully? How to open this area without harming the state's financial security? These questions are priority issues. This paper mainly analyzes the legal framework of China's financial sevices under GATS. This paper is divided into five parts including introduction, three chapters and conclusions. First, China's financial specific commitments and cases about national treatment and market access raised by EU and USA against China were briefly introduced. This paper also introduced the framework of the GATS on trade in services and financial services as well as those articles which are helpful to the developing countries under GATS, such as the financial"prudential measures"and the developing countries"progressive liberalization"article. Meanwhile, both China's and India's specific commitments in financial areas were introduced and analyzed. By comparing those specific commitments by the two similar developing countries, we can learn useful experiences from India. Based on the analysis above, we try to find way to meet the challenges China are facing.This paper discusses how to strengthen our domestic law protection in financial areas, how to improve China's current legal system, as well as how to use the articles in GATS to protect out national financial security. Finally, this paper generally talks about the DOHA development round, pointing out the role China should play and how to participate in the world economy.