CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

services, when compared to other more regulated sectors such as Medical and Dental Services, which were nearly completely liberalized. This was also the case for architectural and engineering services, which, while well regulated, were also highly liberalized for cross border trade due to the demand for professional services within those categories. Computer and related services, Research and Development Services, Rental and Leasing Services and Other Business services were also highly liberalized, without any notable limitations pertaining to market access. However, Communications services and Insurance, Banking and Financial services were among the most highly regulated sectors, which was reflected in the high degree of performance criteria and limitations that were imposed on UK participation in those two sectors. Commitments in some of the region’s more important economic sectors, such as Tourism and Travel related services, were left mostly unbound, while supporting services such as Travel Agencies and Tour Operator services, Recreational, Cultural and Sporting services, and Maritime and Rail Passenger Transportation services were generally open. At the same time, sectors in which there remained strong CARIFORUM participation, such as Air Passenger Transportation, did not benefit from any significant liberalization, except among countries such as Belize, Guyana and Jamaica which did not have their own national or sub-regional air carriers at the time. Similar to Modes 1 and 2, CARIFORUM’s Mode 3 commitments under the CARIFORUM-UK EPA is complicated by the fact that UK investors would need to navigate around 14 sets of regulatory requirements when seeking to make investments in the region. There were also only a few areas in which there was general consistency or convergence among CARIFORUM States on certain regulatory matters for inward investment, though in many cases the approaches cross-cut more than one country. These include the imposition of limitations and reservations on exchange controls in The Bahamas and Barbados, limitations on land ownership and acquisition across most of the OECS countries, plus Belize and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as limitations on participation in certain sectors across the majority of the OECS countries. There are also instances of specific

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