China's trade in services: The perspective on legal issues

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to identify and analyse whether there are legal problems in China’s trade in services legal system. Although China’s accession to World Trade Organisation (WTO) induced regulatory, institutional and normative changes that have transformed the landscape of trade and investment, legal problems may continue to exist. As China’s trade in services legal system encompassed its FTAs commitments, GATS obligations and relevant domestic legislation, the principal research question can be answered by three sub-questions:, whether relevant domestic legislation is coherent with China’s General Agreements on Trade in Services (GATS) obligations, whether there are any deficiencies existing in domestic legislation and in the implementation, and whether China’s commitments to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are consistent with its GATS commitments. To address these questions, this thesis expounds trade in services, China’s trade in services agreements and legal system; examines the consistency of China’s GATS obligations and its relevant domestic legislation; analyses problems within domestic legislation and in the implementation of China’s trade in services obligations compares China’s commitments to GATS and FTAs focusing on the WTO-consistency of China’s FTAs. The thesis concludes that: (1) a comparative study of China’s GATS commitments and relevant domestic legislation has revealed inconsistencies and other legal issues; (2) the process of comparison has identified some problems with legislation and with implementation of China’s trade obligations; (3) despite several ambiguities, China’s FTAs on trade in services are generally WTO-consistent and have some achievements. Thus, the research question of this thesis could be answered by the existence of legal issues within China’s trade in services legal system. On the basis of these conclusions, possible solutions are provided to these legal issues. They are intended to improve the prospects of China’s legislation on trade in services.