The Interaction between GATS Articles VI, XVI, XVII and XVIII after the US - Gambling Case
In the occasion of the US - Gambling ruling, this paper attempts to draw the dividing line between the four most important, from a liberalisation viewpoint, GATS provisions that appear to overlap in several instances, i.e. Articles VI, XVI, XVII, and XVIII. After demarcating the purview of these provisions, the paper identifies the potential areas of overlap between them and provides the framework that allows the reader to distinguish among the several GATS obligations. In this respect, the paper contends that the Appellate Body correctly interpreted the measures at issue to be quantitative restrictions and thus fall under Article XVI GATS. Consequently, it takes issue with previous studies that criticised the WTO adjudicating bodies in the aftermath of the US - Gambling ruling, because they purportedly interfered with the WTO Members' regulatory autonomy