Services Trade: Past Liberalization and Future Challenges

Services trade has truly become an engine of world growth. Overthe past two decades, international trade in services has grownfaster than world merchandize trade, which in turn has grownfaster than world output. A combination of policy liberalizationand technological progress has facilitated trade in many previouslyuntradable services. However, very little progress has beenmade towards new policy liberalization in the ongoing Doha DevelopmentRound. This article discusses trade in services in five sections.Following a short introduction, Section I presents data on thepast growth of services trade flows and makes rough projectionsof future expansion. The second and third sections summarizethe achievements of the WTO in the service field, both as anegotiating forum and a dispute settlement system. The thirdsection also emphasizes how FTAs are now playing the leadingrole in services liberalization. The fourth section critiquesthe absence of progress in the Doha Round and the fifth sectionexamines the hot issue of services outsourcing. The concludingsection offers policy recommendations for containing a possibleprotectionist backlash and promoting new liberalization.     

国际法律服务自由化与戋国法律服务业的对外开放

国际间的法律服务作为服务贸易的一种重要形式已经被纳入到世界经济贸易组织的体系之中。虽然目前国际间的法律服务在整个服务贸易总量中所占份额相对较小,但由于法律服务本身与一个国家的政治、法律等密切相关,是服务贸易中直接触及上层建筑的部分,所以法律服务自由化问题有其     

建立法治新闻宣传的制度性框架

新闻与法律的结缘是历史的必然,其中包含了新闻对法律的介入和法律对新闻的介入这样两个层面,如果只专注于其中一个层面,法制新闻将是不完善的,或者说是胆怯的。两者之中比较容易进入的一个层面是新闻介入法制。例如法制新闻这样一个独特的领域,在这个领域也涌现出很多人才。但     

论文化安全与WTO框架下的文化产品贸易自由化问题

对进口出版物进行＂渠道限制＂的合法化必须符合关贸总协定第20条（a）项的公共道德例外,而要证明符合此项规定又得证明有关措施是＂必须＂的,WTO专家组通过涉诉措施对公共道德保护的＂贡献度＂来确定是否为＂必须＂的措施,此点在中方未能成功。在文化产品的贸易上,国际社会也在进行相关的多边立法,以肯定各国制定并实施文化政策和措施的主权权利。中国应充分利用相关的国际规则,通过规则允许的审查措施及例外规定,保护我国的＂文化安全＂。     

从国际法角度论多边贸易自由化与国内公共健康政策的冲突和协调

WTO成员以公共健康为口号发起的贸易限制措施与各国在WTO下的贸易自由化的义务存在着冲突。GATT/WTO的有关规则和实践显示出多边贸易体制对国内公共健康政策的态度从“忽视”到“有条件肯定”的演变过程。具体来说,GATT时期的规则和争端解决实践不利于国内公共健康政策的实施,而WTO时期出现了有利于国内公共健康政策实施的变化。在WTO现行体制下,各国在实施为公共健康目标的贸易措施时,应符合特定目标的合法性、目标与手段的一致性、目标与手段的相称性等一般要求和相关的具体要求。     

The Swedish Legal Services Policy Remix: The Shift from Public Legal Aid to Private Legal Expense Insurance

A number of governments in the 1960s and 1970s pursued the goal of equal access to legal services by establishing publicly funded legal aid schemes. Some societies also promoted Legal Expense Insurance (LEI) to fill some of the gaps in legal aid. The recent trend to small government means many societies are keen to experiment further with legal services policy. This article examines one such experiment in Sweden where reforms included major cuts to public legal aid and requiring most people to rely on private LEI. But how well does this policy mix promote equal access to legal services? And are there lessons for other societies? In this article I describe and assess the policy remix. I argue that the reforms are a bold policy experiment but that they had mixed and some undesirable consequences, and that there are few lessons for other societies.     

建立亚太地区自由贸易区构想和法律框架初探

本文从组建亚太自由贸易区缘由出发,较客观地对亚太自由贸易区组建及其法律框架予以初步探讨.笔者认为亚太自由贸易区模式应是阶段性、循序渐进的,同时提出了亚太自由贸易区组建的法律依据和初步框架.     

Sino-Indian Liberalization: The Role of Trade and Foreign Investment

Two major factors account for a country’s growing integration with the global economy: trade and foreign investment; expansion of exports, and foreign direct investment (FDI). Growth of exports became a dominant source of industrial growth during the 1980s in most developing countries (see Helleiner, 1995). Most of these countries including China and India, have replaced the old import-substitution policy by an export promotion strategy. Both domestic and international factors played an important role in the shift of national policies to repay debts. The process of globalization already underway necessitated export orientation for improving technology, management practices, marketing and international competitiveness. This paper aims at exploring the contributions of exports and FDI to growth and economic liberalization in China and lndia. The first section briefly reviews similarities and differences in the two economies. The second section deals with growth, composition and direction of foreign trade. The third section examines the role of FDI, and its sources and composition by sector, industry, and by overseas ethnic Chinese and Indians. Trade and FDI linkages are examined in the fourth section which also contains a brief case study of Guangdong (China).     

面向政府公共服务的政务微博框架研究

政务微博融合了网络社交媒体和公共管理官方媒体的双重特性,使用便捷、管理简单、影响广泛、信息权威,能弥补传统电子政务的不足,是政府提高公共服务效能的新利器。本文从政务微博的公共服务职能出发,针对当前我国政务微博应用存在的“服务功能破碎”和“服务流程混乱”等问题,对政府公共服务流程重构、政务微博理论模型和政务微博模型的实践路径进行了分析和阐释。在此基础上设计出面向政府公共服务的政务微博框架。     

关于北京市民间公益性法制宣传与法律服务机构的调研报告

法制宣传和法律服务是依法治国的重要组成部分，在维护社会稳定和构建和谐社会中发挥着重要作用。随着市场经济的不断发展，我国社会结构发生了深刻变化，各种民间组织大量涌现，民间公益性法制宣传与法律服务机构应运而生并呈现出较快的发展势头。为进一步掌握我市民间公益性法制宣传与法律服务机构现状和发展前景，近期我们委托零点调查公司通过走访、电话访问及二手资料检索等形式，对全市民间公益性法制宣传与法律服务机构的现状及运转情况进行了初步调研。现将情况报告如下：     

贸易自由化与所得税壁垒的消除

特定的所得税措施会对自由贸易产生壁垒作用.在国际层面上,所得税的国际协调和贸易自由化是分别通过国际税收协定和WTO多边体制来实现的.不过,税收协定和WTO体制对于所得税壁垒的消除是不彻底的.为了促进贸易自由化,WTO体制和税收协定需要做进一步的完善和协调.     

Trade Liberalization and Regulatory Diversity: Reconciling Competitive Markets with Competitive Politics

This paper questions the more extreme or indiscriminate claims for international harmonization or policy convergence with respect to many areas of within-the-border domestic policy diversity. The welfare implications, both domestic and global, of policy harmonization or convergence are highly ambiguous in many contexts. Proponents of more extreme forms of international harmonization of domestic policies also severely discount the importance of competitive governments and politics as a form of demand revelation. A third premise is the distinction between unilateralism and contractarianism, which argues for the adoption of ground-rules in international trade treaties that minimize the extent to which harmonization can be induced by judicial fiat on the one hand, or threats of unilateral sanctions on the other. A final premise is that despite the achievements of the European Union in promoting positive integration, the supranational institutional structures of the EU do not exist now or in the foreseeable future in other international trade and investment contexts, which severely limits the transferability of the EU experience, and argues instead for an elaboration of the negative integration approach that has historically characterized the position of the GATT on NTB's.In the light of these premises, the paper then goes on to examine objections by countries of destination to domestic policies of countries of origin, including (a) anti-dumping duties; (b) competition/anti-trust: export cartels; (c) subsidies and countervailing duties; (d) environmental policies; (e) labour standards.The paper then reverses the perspective and examines objections by countries of origin to domestic policies of countries of destination, including (a) domestic subsidies; (b) competition/anti-trust policies; (c) intellectual property; (d) health, safety, environmental, and conservation measures.The paper concludes by arguing for a refined principle of National Treatment, with appropriately defined exceptions thereto as the framework for evaluating allegations of non-tariff barriers with respect to domestic policy measures beyond or within a particular country's borders. While this conclusion would not, of course, preclude negotiations among countries for mutually beneficial forms of harmonization of domestic policies, it would seek to minimize the threat points that each country brings to these negotiations so as to reduce the risk of coerced forms of harmonization reflecting asymmetric bargaining power, or worse, coerced forms of discriminatory managed trade arrangements.     

Public Services and the GATS

The status of public services is one of the most hotly debatedissues surrounding the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS). In principle, there are two approaches to define suchservices: an institutional approach focusing on the conditionsgoverning supply (e.g. ownership status and market organization)and a functional approach based on the policy objectives thatmay be involved (e.g. quality-related objectives and conceptsof universal access). Given the diversity of existing arrangementsamong WTO Members, with significant variations over time, theformer approach does not appear appropriate. The services providedby government-owned facilities, whose costs are covered directlyby the State, may well be indistinguishable, for all practicalpurposes, from the services provided by private commercial operatorsunder appropriate regulations or incentive mechanisms. Thisarticle discusses the relevance of the GATS for different arrangementsthat governments may use to meet typical public service objectives.All conceivable arrangements, whether based on public monopolies,or regulated or subsidized private supplies, or combinationsthereof, are compatible per se with the Agreement. Recent regulatoryand technical developments have broadened the scope for –possibly more efficient – market-based solutions, whosecredibility may be enhanced by the assumption of commitmentsunder the GATS. There is no common template, however. It isat the end for each WTO Member to decide, sector-by-sector,on the appropriate policy approach and the pros and cons ofbinding access conditions under the Agreement.     

公证如何为非公有制经济提供法律服务

一、公证介入非公有制经济活动是增强公证服务经济社会发展的能力体现2006年3月1日,《中华人民共和国公证法》(以下称《公证法》)已正式施行。《公证法》的颁布实施,确立了中国特色社会主义公证制度的基本框架。在这样的历史背景下,研究和思考新一轮公证服务、改革、建设和发展     

论法治建设与法律服务业的发展

民主法治,作为社会主义和谐社会的基本内涵之一,被明确写进了党的十六届六中全会决定。加强法治建设,既是构建社会主义和谐社会的题中之义,又是构建社会主义和谐社会的重要保障。而法治建设本身涵盖了立法、司法、执法、守法等方方面面,是一个庞大的系统工程,其中法律服务业的存在和发展,既是加强法治建设的内在需要,又是推进法治建设的重要力量。本文结合浙江实际,试就法治建设与法律服务业的发展作一粗浅的论述。一、浙江法律服务业取得的成就法律服务,既是一个属于商业服务①的范畴,又是一个包括法律咨询和出庭以及有关行使司法权力的行…     

Advertising and the Price and Quality of Legal Services: The Case for Legal Clinics

Because the holding in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona is narrow and because some lawyers remain opposed to advertising, the dispute over lawyer advertising continues. Many who favor restricting advertising contend that it will not benefit consumers. They argue that prices must either rise to cover the cost of advertising or, if prices do fall, that quality must also drop.
This article addresses itself to both charges. The first section is theoretical, demonstrating how advertising could lower the costs of producing legal services. Advertising increases the volume of services a lawyer can expect to sell. Greater volume, in turn, allows greater specialization in production, more effective use of systems management, and the substitution of paralegals and capital for lawyer inputs. The authors argue that each of these changes will lower costs, thereby lowering prices without necessarily reducing quality. The second section is empirical, comparing the prices and particularly the quality of services produced by a heavy advertiser, the Legal Clinic of Jacoby & Meyers, and the traditional firms in the Los Angeles market with which the clinic competes. Quality is defined both subjectively and objectively, and original data are presented indicating that the quality of service that the clinic supplies is at least equivalent, and on some measures better, than the quality of service that traditional firms provide.