in Services (GATS) to commit to service sector policy reforms. They compare GATS commitments with the evolution of actual … policy stances over time. While there is substantial variance across transition economies on both actual policies and GATS … commitments, the authors find an inverse relationship between the depth of GATS commitments and the "quality" of actual services …

The water in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) refers to the difference between the bound level of … trade restrictiveness permitted by the GATS and the actual trade regime. Using the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index … (STRI), this report provides estimates of the water in 15 service sectors for 40 countries. The level of water in GATS …

to participate effectively in, and maximise the benefits from GATS negotiations …