by Ellen Gould , April 2002

The General Agreement on Trade in Services is an existing WTO agreement currently being renegotiated to expand its reach. WTO members are making requests of each other to expand their GATS commitments. The leaked draft of the European Commission's request confirms that critics were right to be concerned about the direction the negotiations are taking. A broad range of Canadian policies at every level of government would have to be eliminated or changed to accommodate the Commission, including federal reviews of foreign takeovers of Canadian companies (1), provincial restrictions on who can own land(2), and municipal regulations of activities like outdoor advertizing(3). The Commission is challenging the ability of Canadians to determine how professionals are licensed and accredited, with potentially negative consequences for the reliability of the full range of professional services.

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