About

This project focuses on planned services trade liberalisation negotiations between Australia, New Zealand and the European Union (EU). It will investigate trade barriers in different service industries using the quantitative analyses of services trade restrictions prepared by the OECD and cross-matching this with actual services trade.

The outcome of this analysis will provide practical insights for trade negotiators. The project will disseminate the evidence through local and European networks to academic researchers, policymakers and trade negotiators. This will build a network of experts in services trade.

The services sector contributes more to economic growth and employment than any other sector in the EU, Australian and New Zealand economies. Services trade is often cited as a potential source of large gains in trade treaties.

The services sector covers diverse industries, and for many of these, domestic regulations are designed to achieve a range of important social, economic and political outcomes (e.g. health and education).

Preparation for services trade negotiations needs careful analysis of regulatory issues, how these constitute impediments to trade in services, and how these play out in domestic regulatory debates.

The project will consider how services outcomes in EU treaties with Canada and Japan align with Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) information on regulatory barriers.

There will be a particular focus on education services and financial services.

Download our Trade in Services information flyer (PDF)

Project objectives

The EU–Australia Trade in Services project (EUOzTiS) will result in a deeper understanding of the nature and process of services trade liberalisation. It will clarify and highlight the types of regulatory structures that impact on services trade liberalisation in different service industries and different countries. It will also assess the source of potential regulatory impediments to trade.

This will provide policymakers with a better understanding of the kinds of regulatory reform that will genuinely enhance services trade. It will also create a broader common understanding of the nature and types of restrictions to services trade, forming a basis for domestic discussion of the need for regulatory reform.

By building on the OECD’s work in developing the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), the project will promote use of the STRI tools and may also feed back into improving how the STRI is used.

Intended project outcomes

Building on the OECD’s work on quantifying restrictions to services trade, the EU–Australia Trade in Services project will:

update previous compilations of knowledge about trade in services and the types of regulations that can impede or promote such trade;
identify key researchers working on services trade liberalisation and regulatory cooperation;
create accessible information for policymakers and trade negotiators;
increase understanding of trade negotiators regarding the nature of regulatory cooperation and regulatory friction; and
expand the range of academic effort on liberalisation of services trade.