frenar el gats!

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) opposes the continuation of the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) negotiations, arguing that the agreement undermines social and environmental sustainability. FoEI calls for an immediate halt to negotiations, a comprehensive public impact assessment, and the exclusion of essential public services and natural resource extraction from GATS disciplines.

• Friends of the Earth International opposes the continuation of GATS negotiations, asserting that the agreement will cause adverse environmental and social impacts across multiple sectors, including water, energy production, transport, tourism, construction, and waste disposal.
• The GATS is described as the world's first multilateral investment agreement, which can limit a government's ability to regulate transnational service companies. It may restrict the use of quantitative restrictions to protect the environment, such as limiting the number of oil pipelines or tourist centers, and could force countries to prove that their environmental laws are the 'least trade-restrictive' options available.
• The agreement lacks strong environmental exceptions and explicit protections for human rights or social sustainability. This creates a risk where governments may be forced to pay compensation if they implement new environmental policies that affect a liberalized sector, potentially leading to a 'freeze' in the development of environmental protections.
• GATS puts pressure on the provision of essential public services, promoting large-scale privatization of water, electricity, and healthcare. FoEI argues that the agreement's vague definition of services provided 'in the exercise of governmental authority' allows it to apply to almost all public service sectors, particularly in developing countries.
• In the energy sector, GATS could restrict governments from imposing quantitative limits on fossil fuel exploration, drilling, and the size or number of oil pipelines and refineries. It may also force the opening of energy distribution markets to cross-border services regardless of the environmental damage caused by the electricity production method.
• The inclusion of water services under GATS, proposed by the European Union, threatens the human right to water by promoting privatization. FoEI cites the case of Cochabamba, Bolivia, where World Bank-mandated privatization led to price hikes and social unrest, suggesting that GATS rules would have further restricted Bolivia's ability to reverse such privatization.
• The 'environmental services' category in GATS is criticized as a misnomer, as it primarily covers 'end-of-pipe' activities like waste disposal and sewage treatment rather than pollution prevention. This could lead to the expansion of environmentally harmful activities, such as waste incineration, and be used to challenge recycling policies.
• Tourism expansion under GATS may prohibit countries from implementing environmental protections in sensitive areas, such as limiting the number of tourist excursions or ships in a specific zone, or restricting the size and number of hotel constructions.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2003). frenar el gats! https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/gats-esp-final.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. frenar el gats! 2003. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/gats-esp-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=frenar el gats! |date=August 2003 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/gats-esp-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{friendsoftheearthinternational2003frenar, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{frenar el gats!}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2003}, month = aug, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/gats-esp-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }