Section 1 Overview of International Trade in Services
First, the concept of service trade.
Although the service industry, as a traditional industrial sector, has a history of thousands of years, the concept of "service trade" is not far away compared with the ancient trade in goods. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has always included service trade in the column of intangible trade when making balance of payments statistics. This situation was not adjusted until 1993, and China used to call service trade service trade. 1Before the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations started in September, 1986, service trade was only carried out in a limited range of developed countries, and it was not a common problem of international trade that attracted great attention.
According to documents, the concept of "service trade" first appeared in the Report of Senior Experts on Trade and Related Issues put forward by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in September, 1972. The United States first used "world trade in services" in article 30 1 of its trade law 1974.
At present, because the definition of service is very complicated, different countries and researchers look at the problem from different perspectives, so there is no unified, recognized and exact definition of international service trade in national statistics and various economic and trade documents. The following are several representative definitions:
1, the definition of UNCTAD
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is a permanent body of the United Nations dealing with trade and development issues. This paper expounds the international service trade from the perspective of transit. It defines international trade in services as: the processing, assembly and maintenance of goods, as well as the activities of providing services to non-nationals by factors of production such as money, personnel and information, and earning income. It is the exchange of services between one country and other countries.
The narrow sense of international trade in services is intangible, which refers to the direct export and import of services between countries that meet the strict definition of services.
Broadly speaking, international trade in services includes both the input and output of tangible labor, as well as transactions between intangible providers and users without physical contact, such as satellite transmission and dissemination, patent technology trade and so on.
What people usually call service trade is a broad concept of international service trade.
Narrow sense and broad sense
2. Definition of US-Canada Free Trade Agreement
International trade in services refers to the provision of designated services by persons representing other contracting parties in their territory or entering a contracting party.
The "designated service" mentioned here includes (1) the production, distribution, sales, marketing and delivery of the designated service and its procurement activities; (2) Entering or using the domestic distribution system; (3) Establish a commercial presence to distribute, market, deliver or promote the designated services; (4) According to the Investment Ordinance, any investment providing specified services and any related activities providing specified services. A person can be a legal person or a natural person.
3, the Uruguay Round' General Agreement on Trade in Services' definition
The Uruguay Round negotiations signed GAST 1994 in April. Paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the Agreement defines trade in services as services provided in the following four forms:
1. Cross-border supply: providing services from the territory of one member to any other member; (This kind of service does not constitute people flow, logistics or capital flow, but services realized through telecommunications, post and telecommunications and computer networks, such as audio-visual and financial information. )
This service delivery mode emphasizes the geographical boundaries between buyers and sellers, and it is only the service itself, not the service provider or receiver, that crosses the national boundaries.
2. consumption abroad: providing services to service consumers of any other member within the territory of a member; (such as receiving foreign tourists, providing tourism services, and providing medical services for foreign patients)
The main feature of this service mode is that consumers go abroad to enjoy the services provided by service providers.
3. Commercial presence: a service provider of a member provides services through a commercial presence in the territory of any other member; (refers to allowing enterprises and economic entities of one country to set up business and provide services in another country, including investing in joint ventures, cooperative enterprises and wholly-owned enterprises. For example, foreign companies come to China to set up banks, shops, accounting and law firms. )
The characteristics of this service provision model are: service providers and consumers are in the territory of the same member; Service providers set up commercial institutions or professional institutions in the country where consumers are located. Commercial presence is the most important of the four ways to provide services.
4. Existence of natural persons: services provided by a service provider of a member through the existence of natural persons in the territory of any other member (such as doctors, professors and artists from one country going to another country to engage in individual services).
The similarity between the movement of natural persons and commercial existence lies in: service providers provide services in the country where consumers are located; The difference is that the service is provided by natural persons, and the service provider has not set up commercial institutions or professional institutions in the country where the consumer is located.
Second, the classification of international trade in services
(A) classification of folk customs
1, based on "move"
2. Take the production process as the standard
3. Take the density of elements as the standard.
4. Take commodities as the standard
(2) Classification of WTO
(3) Classification of the International Monetary Fund
(A) classification of folk customs
1. Based on "moving"
_ _ _ R.M. Stern's book International Trade, 1987, classifies international service trade into four categories according to whether services flow between providers and users:
(1) separation service. It refers to the service that service providers and users can realize without moving between countries. Transportation service is a typical example of separated service. For example, civil air transport services, an American airline can provide services to China residents, but it does not need to move the American airline to China, nor does it need to require China customers to receive services in the United States where the airline is located.
The first service delivery mode defined in GAST is similar to this service.
(2) Demand-oriented services. Refers to the services generated after the transfer of service providers. Generally speaking, service providers need to be geographically adjacent and close to service users. Banking, finance and insurance services are typical examples of such services. For example, if a British GATS bank wants to occupy the market share of Japanese micro-banking, it must open a branch in Japan, which requires capital and labor to exist between countries.
(3) Services located at the provider. Refers to the services provided by service providers to foreign residents and legal persons in their own countries, and generally requires service consumers to accept services across borders. International tourism, education for studying abroad and foreign-related medical services all belong to this kind of service trade. For example, foreign tourists visit the Great Wall of China and Guilin to receive China tourism services. At this time, service providers did not export services to service consumers across national boundaries, and for service providers, there was no movement of production factors. The second "consumption abroad" defined by GATS is similar to this service.
(4) Freedom is not an unfettered and inseparable service. Also called "mobile service". It refers to the services that consumers and producers of services receive and provide when they flow with each other, and the service providers make foreign direct investment. And use branches to provide services to residents or enterprises in third countries. For example, an American travel company in Italy provides services for German tourists in Italy. Mobile services require consumers and providers of services to have different degrees of mobility of production factors such as capital and labor. Some services in the third "commercial existence" and the fourth "movement of natural persons" defined by GATS belong to this kind of services.
The essence of this classification method involves the flow of production factors such as capital and labor between different countries. Because the transnational flow of such factors of production often involves the restriction of domestic legislation or regional laws of various countries, and it also involves the problem of opening business in the country where the demand side is located, it is more appropriate to study such problems with this classification method. However, it is difficult to accurately and thoroughly divide service trade, such as tourism services provided by countries that are open to each other.
2. Take the production process as the standard
According to the internal relationship between service and production process, this classification method divides service trade into three categories:
(1) Pre-production services, mainly including market research and feasibility study. This service is completed before the start of the production process, which has an important impact on the production scale and manufacturing process.
(2) production services. Mainly refers to the services provided in the process of product production or manufacturing for the smooth progress of the production process, such as internal quality management, software development, human resource management, and various services between production processes.
(3) Post-production services. This kind of service is a service that connects producers and consumers, such as advertising, marketing services, packaging and transportation services. Enterprises can contact the market through this service, so as to study whether the products are marketable, whether the design needs to be improved and whether the packaging meets the needs of consumers.
This kind of international service trade with "production" as the core involves the application of high technology to improve productivity, which provides an important basis for producers to coordinate services before and after production. This enables producers to respond quickly to changes in the international market, thus improving production technology, making new designs or attracting new services, and finally producing products or services that consumers are satisfied with.
3. Take the density of elements as the standard.
According to the characteristics of intensive use of some production factors in commodity trade, some economists divide service trade into:
(1) Capital-intensive services. Such services include air transportation, communication and engineering construction services.
(2) Technology and knowledge-intensive service industry. These services include banking, finance, law, accounting, auditing and information services.
(3) Labor-intensive service industry. These services include tourism, construction, maintenance and consumer services.
This classification focuses on the intensity of production factors, involving the development and application of production factors in the competition of products or services, especially contemporary high technology.
4. Take commodities as the standard
During the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations on trade in services,1June 1988, the negotiating team proposed to classify trade in services according to their attributes in commodities. Accordingly, trade in services is divided into:
(1) Services in the form of commodities. This service is embodied in the form of goods or articles, such as movies, televisions, stereos, books, computers and special data processing and transmission equipment.
(2) Services complementary to physical objects. This kind of service plays a supplementary and auxiliary role in the realization of commodity value, such as commodity storage and transportation, financial management, advertising and so on.
(3) Services that can replace the physical form of goods. This kind of service is accompanied by the flow of tangible goods, but it is not a general commodity trade. Different from commodity trade, which realizes the transfer of commodity ownership, they only provide services for consumers, such as franchising, equipment leasing and equipment maintenance, which are commonly used in technology trade.
(4) Services with commodity attributes but unrelated to other commodities. These services have the nature of commodities, and their sales can only be realized without other commodities, such as communication, data processing, tourism, hotels and catering services.
This classification links services with commodities for analysis. "Service", like "commodity", has both use value and value, and can also contribute to the progress of social productive forces like commodities, which is actually a theoretical recognition. The particularity of service is that it is different from the "invisibility" of goods, but this "invisibility" can also be embodied in the form of goods under certain circumstances.
(2) Classification of WTO
On the basis of commodity-centered service trade classification, combined with the requirements of service trade statistics and service trade sector opening, and on the basis of soliciting suggestions and opinions from all negotiators, the Uruguay Round negotiating team on service trade put forward a sector-centered service trade classification method, which classified service trade into 12 categories. They are as follows:
1, commercial services. It refers to the service exchange activities involved in commercial activities, as well as the six types of such services listed by the service trade negotiating group, including personal consumption services and services provided for enterprises and governments. They are professional (including consulting) services, computer and related services, research and development services, real estate services, equipment rental services and other services.
2. Communication services. Mainly refers to all services related to information products, operations, storage devices and software functions. It mainly includes postal services, express delivery services, telecommunications services, audio-visual services and other telecommunications services.
3. Construction services. Mainly refers to the whole service process of engineering buildings from design, site selection to construction. Specifically, it includes: site selection service, which involves building site selection; Address selection of domestic engineering construction projects, such as bridges, ports, highways, etc. Building installation and assembly engineering; Construction of engineering projects; Maintenance services for fixed buildings; Other services.
4. Sales service refers to the service exchange in the process of product sales, mainly including: commercial sales, mainly referring to wholesale business; Retail services; Agency fees and commissions related to sales; Franchise service; Other sales services.
5. Educational service refers to the service exchange between countries in higher education, secondary education, primary education, preschool education, continuing education, special education and other education, such as exchanging students and visiting scholars.
6. Environmental services refer to sewage treatment services; Waste disposal services; Health and similar services, etc.
7. Financial services
Mainly refers to the banking and insurance industry and related financial services activities.
8. Health and social services
_ _ _ mainly refers to medical services and other services related to human health; Social services, etc.
9. Tourism and related services
_ _ _ refers to the accommodation, catering services, catering services and related services provided by hotels and restaurants; Travel agency and tour guide service.
10. Cultural, recreational and sports services
_ _ _ refers to all cultural, entertainment, news, library and sports services, such as cultural exchanges and cultural performances, excluding radio, movies and television.
1 1. Transportation services
_ _ _ mainly includes: cargo transportation services, such as air transportation, ocean transportation, railway transportation, pipeline transportation, inland river and coastal transportation, road transportation services, and space launch and transportation services, such as satellite launch; Passenger service; Shipping services (including crew employment); Services attached to transportation mainly refer to customs broker, cargo loading and unloading, warehousing, port services, pre-departure inspection services, etc.
12. Other services
(3) Classification of the International Monetary Fund
_ _ _ The International Monetary Fund divides service trade into:
1. Civil servants (or commercial services): refers to the freight in the Balance of Payments Manual compiled by the International Monetary Fund in 1977; Other transportation, passenger transport, port services, etc. ; Tourism; Other non-governmental services and benefits;
2. Investment income: _ refers to the income and expenditure generated by the remittance or repatriation of interest, dividends and profits generated by capital lending or investment between countries.
3. Other government services and benefits
Refers to government services and benefits not listed in the above items.
__4. No repayment transfer
_ _ _ refers to the unilateral (or one-sided) non-existence of equivalent income and expenditure, that is to say, after the funds flow internationally, there will be no problem of return or repayment. So it is also called unilateral transfer.
Third, the characteristics of service trade.
Due to some unique characteristics of service itself, international service trade also presents different characteristics from international trade in goods. Compared with trade in goods, trade in services has the following obvious characteristics:
1, the subject matter of service trade is intangible, intangible, non-storable and difficult to transport, which leads to the diversification of service export methods;
2. The production and consumption of services often occur at the same time, and it is usually impossible to reproduce and arbitrage services, so the process of service production and export is to some extent the process of service import and consumption;
3. Trade in services depends more on the international flow of production factors and the transnational establishment of service institutions. No matter what form of service trade, it is closely related to the transnational flow of production factors such as capital, labor and information.
4. Statistics of trade in services, like trade in goods, are reflected in the balance of payments of countries. However, the statistics of service trade cannot be displayed in the import and export statistics of customs in various countries like the trade in goods.
5. The monitoring of service trade can only be achieved through national legislation and the formulation of administrative regulations, so the form and intensity of the regulations involved far exceed the trade in goods.
Section 2 Development of International Service Trade
First, the development stage of international service trade after World War II.
1, the stage of service trade as a subsidiary position of goods trade (before 1970s).
During this period, all countries in the world did not realize the existence of service trade as an independent entity. In actual economic and trade activities, service trade is basically carried out in the form of goods trade, such as warehousing, transportation, insurance and other services. Therefore, although service trade actually existed at that time, it was independent of people's consciousness, so there was a lack of specific quantitative statistics on service trade.
2. Rapid growth stage of service trade (1970- 1994)
During this period, service trade gradually became independent from the subordinate position of goods trade and developed rapidly. According to the statistics of the International Monetary Fund, from 1970- 1980, the average annual growth rate of international service trade is 17.8%, which is roughly equivalent to the growth rate of goods trade in the same period. After 1980s, trade in services began to exceed the growth rate of trade in goods. During the period of 1980- 1990, the average annual growth rate of international service trade was 5.02%, while the average annual growth rate of goods trade was only 3.69% in the same period, and this trend continued until 1993.
3. Service trade is in the stage from standardization to liberalization (1994 till now)
1April, 1994, after the signing of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the development of trade in services entered a new historical period. However, there were some ups and downs in service trade, with the growth rates of 8.03% and 1995 respectively.
Second, the main characteristics of the development of international service trade after World War II
1, international trade in services developed rapidly.
Since 1970s, international service trade has developed rapidly and its scale has been expanding, and this rapid development trend has continued to this day. According to the statistics of the World Trade Organization, the world trade in services was $64 billion in 1970 and $383 billion in 1980, an increase of five times. 654.38+849 billion US dollars, more than double that of 1990; 1992 broke through one trillion dollars for the first time; In 2000, it reached $6,543.8+$043.54 billion; In 2004, it reached $ 2. 1 trillion. The proportion of service trade in the whole international trade was about one-fifth in the 1970s and 1980s, and increased to one-fourth in the 1990s. In the next 20-30 years, the proportion of service trade in the whole international trade will increase by about one percentage point every year, and it is predicted that by the 265438+30s, the proportion of service trade will be roughly equal to that of goods trade.
2. The regional development of service trade is unbalanced.
With the development of economy and science and technology, the pattern of international service trade is constantly changing. The imbalance of world economy determines the imbalance of service trade. The United States is the largest service trading country in the world today. From the point of view of a single country, since 198 1, the export volume of American service trade has replaced France to become the first in the world, and it has remained so far. In 2002, US service trade exports reached US$ 272.6 billion. It accounts for 17.4% of the world's total export of service trade, and the import of service trade is $205.6 billion, accounting for 13.3% of the world's total import of service trade.
From the perspective of country types, the major countries of service trade are all developed countries, and almost all the major exporting countries are developed countries (in 2004, China's service trade volume was128.6 billion US dollars, ranking ninth in the world).