Regulatory Autonomy and International Trade in Services - The EU Under GATS and RTAs (Hardcover)

Reviews

"A HIGHLY IMPORTANT STATEMENT FOR PRACTITIONERS AND SCHOLARS ON REGULATORY AUTONOMY AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SERVICES" by Phillip T. - 16 March 2017

A HIGHLY IMPORTANT STATEMENT FOR PRACTITIONERS AND SCHOLARS ON REGULATORY AUTONOMY AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SERVICES An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers The author of “Regulatory Autonomy and International Trade in Services” is Bregt Natens who writes that “despite its growing significance, the legal scrutiny of RTAs remains an underdeveloped academic field”. How right he is! Until now, that is, with this first-class review of the European Union under GATS and RTAs whilst we undergone a massive upheaval within the EU itself on Britain’s decision to withdraw. This new title is rightly described as a most useful statement which “considers how the interplay between multilateral and preferential liberalization of trade in services increasingly raises concerns, both from the perspective of the beneficiaries of such liberalization and that of regulators”. We cannot thank the independent publishers Edward Elgar enough for the excellent service they give us in their role as providers of top-of-the -range academic legal books. With the application of a thorough article-by-article analysis, Natens shows how these concerns lead to what is described as ‘vast “under-utilization” of, and often prejudice against, the benefits of services liberalization’. It will be fascinating to watch what happens in post-Brexit Europe. What the author does with this book is to offer a meticulously analysis of the European Union's obligations under the GATS which extremely useful comparisons by illustration of the services chapters of several RTAs to assess the merits of the various concerns scholastically for the benefit of legal researchers. “Regulatory Autonomy and International Trade in Services” is a book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of law and related subjects as we look forward to a period of reflection and change in the next decade. We feel that it will also be of great interest and value to government officials looking for a detailed analysis of the topic, and to practitioners looking for a framework for analyzing RTA provisions. Books such as these from Elgar remain quite rare publications and we are most fortunate that they appear on the current legal market. The publication date is stated as 2016 and available in a print edition and as an ebook.