TILTING TOWARDS A TRADE REGIME - THE ITU AND THE URUGUAY ROUND SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS

Telecommunications services have emerged as a crucial issue within the Urguay Round services trade negotiations and will be subject to treatment under both the general framework and sectoral annex to any eventual multilateral agreement. In the past, international telecommunications and international trade have operated as two distinct and quite different international regimes but the former is now tilting towards the evolving services trade regime. This article reviews the evolution of telecommunications as a trade in services issue up to the December 1990 Brussels meeting and focuses specifically on the changing role and stance of the ITU on this matter.