Study On The Rules Of Origin Of International Trade In Services

In the system of the GATS, "the origin of trade in services" is a basic concept. Due to the ambiguity of the GATS and the absence of the WTO judicature, the issue becomes extremely difficult. This thesis is mainly based on the Article 1 and Article 28 of the GATS and some related dispute settlement reports of the WTO, brings forward the preliminary legal study of the origin of trade in services.Besides the Preface and Conclusion, this thesis divides into four chapters.Chapter 1 brings forward the necessity of the introduction of the rules of origin to the trade in services area, based on the brief analysis of the origin of trade in goods, and concludes that the rules of the origin of trade in goods can't be applied to the trade in services.Chapter 2 analyzes the rules of the origin of "service" in the GATS. Firstly, in the modes of "Cross-border Supply" and "Consumption Abroad", which are defined in the second item of Article 1 of the GATS, the origin of service is identified by the territory of the service itself, and the location of the service supplier is the key element. While in the modes of "Commercial Presence" and "Movement of Natural Persons", the origin of service is wholly equal to the "origin" of the service supplier. Then, the author analyzes the reason and the negotiation history of this kind of definition of trade in services in GATS. Lastly, this chapter concludes that the "substantial input" which follows the "last substantial transformation" that is applied to the trade in goods is unpractical to the trade in services.Chapter 3 is the study of the rules of origin of "service supplier" in the GATS. As far as the origin of the natural persons service supplier, the GATS adopts the "nationality" and "permanent residence" criteria, meanwhile uses the "residence" as the basic connecting point. To the origin of the legal persons service supplier, the GATS distinguishes the ordinary legal persons from the "Commercial Presence", adopts "applicable law & substantial business operations" criteria and "capital control" criteria. There are obvious shortages in the above criteria, according to the related disputes of WTO.Chapter 4 analyzes the rules of origin of the trade in services in the regional economic integration agreements. It focuses on related provisions of EC Treaty, NAFTA and CEPA, especially the definition of "Hong Kong legal person" in the CEPA.