CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

CARIFORUM-UK EPA do not appear to be very onerous, as there are not very many limitations to access via the cross-border supply of services (i.e., Modes 1 and 2), while limitations on Mode 3 access mainly impact or seek to constrain large resource rich countries, which have expansive foreign direct investment agendas. Other limitations related to Mode 4 access generally seek to ensure that UK nationals either benefit from or are not disrupted by the access granted to CARIFORUM services providers, particularly in relation to their protection from surges in the supply of certain services. In relation to the cross-border supply of services (Modes 1 and 2), the UK has largely opened up the market to CARIFORUM services suppliers without limitation, except in a number of key services sectors where either there are specific carve outs and exclusive rights for nationals (e.g., publicly funded R&D services), cabotage-related activities (e.g., Internal Waterways Transport) or where Mode 1 commitments remain unbound. There are also a few “none except” provisions, which serve as forewarning of the possibility that additional obligations and requirements could be introduced in the future, notably in the case of Satellite Broadcast Transmission services. The Insurance and Insurance-related Services and Banking and Other Financial Services sub-sectors appeared to have the widest carve-outs, thus only allowing CARIFORUM services providers to operate within a very small segment of those two corresponding markets. In relation to Mode 3 Commercial Presence, while there is largely unfettered access for CARIFORUM services providers across the majority of sectors, the UK has imposed restrictions on the provision of public utilities and has designated that all economic activities that are considered as public utilities at a national or local level may be subject to public monopolies or to exclusive rights granted to private operators. It has also placed limitations on the types of establishment that can occur within the UK, indicating that the treatment to be accorded to subsidiaries of CARIFORUM companies, which are formed in accordance with UK law and having effective presence within the UK, will not be similarly extended to branches or agencies of a CARIFORUM company that is established in the UK.

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