(03 December 2021) – A group of 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, including the EU, have today concluded negotiations on a ‘landmark agreement’ to cut red tape in services trade.
The so-called Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation will simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations and ease procedural hurdles faced by SMEs in particular.
This agreement would help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than USD 150 billion every year.
It is also the first time a WTO text includes a binding provision on non-discrimination between men and women.