In recent years, ICT services have played a larger role in international trade agreements, both at the multilateral and regional level. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessors have promoted liberalization of trade in ICT services. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the 1997 WTO Agreement on Basic Telecommunications (ABT) both include specific rules that apply to telecommunication and ICT regulation and authorization. As a result, new signatories to the ABT, as well as countries wishing to join the WTO, must bring their regulatory and authorization practices into compliance with WTO trade rules.
The trade rules most relevant to the authorization process are summarized in sections 1.4.1, 1.4.2, and 1.4.3. Links to these sections are set out below. . Other WTO rules relating to telecommunications services are dealt with in other modules of this Toolkit. See, for example, Module 2, Competition and Price Regulation and Module 4, Universal Access. Links to these modules are set out below. The central theme of these rules is the evolution towards more open competitive markets and transparent authorization processes.