Research On The Rules Of Origin For Services

Rules of origin exist in not only the field of trade in goods but also trade in services. Therefore, the concept of rules of origin ought to include the trade in services. According to the law system of WTO, rules of origin for services can be classified into two types, that is, non-preferential rules of origin for services and preferential rules of origin for services, which are different in way of policy-making, range of application, main function, amount of establishment, origin criterion and other aspects.The function and effect of rules of origin for services should attract people’s attention, because it plays a fundamental role in trade in services statistics and monitoring, rights’enjoyment, implement and protection, trade restrictive measures and etc. The significant role it plays in economic integration should be paid close attention in particular.Non-preferential rules of origin for services refer to the rules of origin for services in GATS. GATS defines trade in services as four modes to offer services, that is, Cross-border Supply, Consumption Abroad, Commercial Presence, and Presence of Natural Person. What’s more, GATS contributes the origin for services of the first two types to their geographic origins and the last two the origins of service suppliers. To enjoy the treatment of GATS, services and service suppliers must satisfy the rules of origin for services. Meanwhile, GATS makes full use of the Denial of Benefits clause to eliminate services and service suppliers that shouldn’t enjoy the interests of GATS. To extend the range of services liberalization, GATS also intervenes in the rules of origin for services of economic integration.There are many defects in the practice of bypassing service itself to define service in GATS’rules of origin for services, what’s worse, difficulty becoming increasingly clear with time going by. For example, owned or controlled criterion almost paralyzed in practice. Besides, services outsourcing has a big impact on the rules of origin for services. Learning from the substantial transformation criterion in the field of rules of origin for goods to establish substantial input test may help to overcome the difficulty.The enjoyment of preferential treatment in regional economic integration agreements is in accordance with its special preferential rules of origin for services. Countries have much freedom to make out preferential rules of origin for services which confirm to their goals of regional economic development. Because of high levels of economic integration, rules of origin for services of European Community are relatively liberal. While the rules of origin for services in NAFTA pay special attention to the actual controllers. However, in addition to refer to the rules of origin for services of GATS, ASEAEN has made out specific and practical Denial of Benefits clauses. The simple and abstract rules of origin for services in Mercosur easily cause the benefit spillover effect. Among the many regional trade agreements in the Asian-Pacific region, there are many differences in restrictive degree in the rules of origin for services, especially reflected in the recognition of the origin of juridical person. What’s more, there ere completely different rules of origin for services in the trade agreements signed by a country and its partner countries. In addition, the rules of origin for services among some developed economies bring protection of human rights, labor standards, sustainable development and other problems into it. It is worthwhile to pay attention to whether such kind of practice causes other regional trade agreements to imitate or not.Our country’s rules of origin for services are embodied in numerous bilateral, multilateral agreements of trade and investment, among which the CEPA creatively regulates the standard of substantive business operations. The rules of origin for services of CEPA are very detailed and have high operability, which are worth learning. Trade liberalization is low in Mainland China and Taiwan of China, so the rules of origin for services are relatively strict, but similar to that of CEPA in system. Other FTAs in our country are mostly similar to that of GATS, several comparatively strict. Our country hasn’t fully realized the importance of rules of origin for services, nor do we develop highly targeted rules of origin for services. Our country should make positive use of the special regulations of GATS to economic integration in developing countries in order to promote the development of trade in services and domestic service industry.