GATS, Water and the Environment

The document argues that the GATS creates a 'lock-in' effect that conflicts with the flexibility required for adaptive water management. It identifies twelve areas of potential conflict, including market access restrictions on water extraction, the use of technical standards for pollution control, and the requirement for sustainability impact assessments. The authors recommend that WTO members refrain from new commitments in water-sensitive sectors and amend the GATS to include a specific environmental exception for natural resources.

• The GATS creates a systemic conflict with water management because it prioritizes 'legal security and predictability' and seeks to "“lock in” policy choices", whereas water regulators require 'flexibility to implement adaptive management plans' to respond to environmental changes.
• GATS Article XVI (Market Access) may prohibit domestic policies that establish quantitative limitations to avoid over-exploitation, such as caps on the number of service providers, the total value of transactions, or the total quantity of service output.
• There is legal uncertainty regarding whether quantitative caps on water use as an input for services (e.g., for power plants or tourism) constitute prohibited limitations on service output or transactions under GATS Art. XVI, as safeguards only explicitly exist for some sub-paragraphs.
• Proposed future disciplines on domestic regulation (Art. VI.4) may introduce 'necessity' or 'proportionality' tests that allow WTO tribunals to second-guess the legitimacy of national environmental goals, potentially creating a 'chilling' effect on policy making.
• Future GATS disciplines on licensing fees may restrict a country's ability to internalize negative environmental externalities if fees are required to be 'commensurate with the administrative cost of processing an application'.
• Requirements for Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs) and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for large-scale projects could be challenged as 'unreasonable requirements' or not 'strictly necessary' under proposed GATS domestic regulation disciplines.
• The GATS national treatment obligation (Art. XVII) may constrain policies that grant preferential water access to indigenous peoples or restrict land ownership with springs to nationals, as it prohibits both de jure and de facto discrimination.
• The GATS environmental exception (Art. XIV) is inadequate because it lacks a specific provision for the 'conservation of exhaustible natural resources' similar to that found in the GATT, making it harder for water-related measures to be justified.
• The GATS has a broad reach, covering not only national governments but also regional authorities, municipalities, and non-governmental bodies exercising delegated authority, many of whom may be unaware of these international obligations.

APA

Ostrovksy, A., Speed, R., & Tuerk, E. (2003). GATS, Water and the Environment. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GATS_WaterEnv_Nov03.pdf

Chicago

Ostrovksy, Aaron, Robert Speed, and Elisabeth Tuerk. GATS, Water and the Environment. Center for International Environmental Law, 2003. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GATS_WaterEnv_Nov03.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ostrovksy |first1=Aaron |last2=Speed |first2=Robert |last3=Tuerk |first3=Elisabeth |title=GATS, Water and the Environment |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=October 2003 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GATS_WaterEnv_Nov03.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ostrovksy2003gats, author = {Ostrovksy, Aaron and Speed, Robert and Tuerk, Elisabeth}, title = {{GATS, Water and the Environment}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2003}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GATS_WaterEnv_Nov03.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }