General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)

GATS deal with agreement on trade in services means services relating to banking, insurance, information technology, telecom, health, education etc

Features of GATS

• There are 12 sectors and 161 sub-sectors of services covered under GATS.
• Provide four different modes of services across the borders from one country to another amongst member countries under Article 1 of GATS Agreement.

1. Mode-1 Cross Border supply of services:
   • popularly known as e-commerce or business process outsourcing (BPO)
2. Mode-2 Consumption abroad:
   • These types of services generally include tourism, health, education etc.
3. Mode-3 Commercial presence:
   • The examples under this category are Citi bank operating in India through its various branch offices.
4. Mode-4 Movement of natural persons:
   • free movement of natural persons on fulfillment of educational and other technical qualifications.