Services play a crucial role in global economic growth, driving innovation, job creation, and advancements. Over the past decade, the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) has provided comprehensive, objective data on services trade policies across OECD countries and beyond. The STRI highlights that services trade barriers remain high and asymmetric globally, indicating persistent challenges in fostering open markets.
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High and Asymmetric Barriers: Services trade barriers are substantial, with significant implications for global economic activity. These barriers are not uniformly distributed across countries, suggesting varied levels of openness and restrictions.
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Market Access and National Treatment: About two-thirds of identified services trade barriers affect market access and national treatment of foreign service suppliers, hindering progress in opening new markets.
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Expansion of Domestic Regulation Disciplines: New disciplines on services domestic regulations adopted at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2024 aim to facilitate easier and more transparent licensing processes. However, their effectiveness depends on timely implementation, with an estimated potential to reduce trade costs by up to $150 billion annually.
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Digital Services Barriers: Barriers to digitally-enabled services have significantly increased by 25% between 2014 and 2023, primarily due to rising regulatory hurdles impacting communication infrastructures and data connectivity. There's a growing divergence in regulatory approaches among countries, emphasizing the need for stronger international cooperation on digital trade rules.
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Services and Resilient Supply Chains: Lowering services trade barriers enhances supply chain resilience and environmental sustainability. By facilitating access to foreign inputs, improving market interoperability, and encouraging supplier diversification, services can support more robust and environmentally conscious global trade networks.
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Enabling Greater Cross-Border Trade in Financial Services: The Berne Financial Services Agreement offers a model for facilitating cross-border trade in financial services, highlighting the importance of regulatory harmonization in enabling services trade.
