服務貿易總協定(General Agreement on Trade in Services，GATS)將服務依其提供之方式區分為四類。其中之一，乃藉由自然人跨越國境之方式進行，因此，是類服務供給方式，除模式四、自然人呈現外，一般常以自然人移動名之。
對於資金與技術相對匱乏的開發中會員而言，自然人移動毋寧為具有比較利益的服務提供模式之一。藉由短期勞力移動至海外，不但可解決國內勞力過剩之問題，更能帶來可觀的外匯收入，改善本國經濟狀況；他方面，短期移出之勞力於海外工作時所習得之新穎技術與知識，亦將有助於國內生產及服務水準之提升。而就已開發會員來說，在出生率低、人口結構呈現高齡化等因素影響下，許多產業所面臨的工資高漲及人才難覓之窘境，使先進國家不得不正視勞動力需求之議題。
儘管不少會員國對於勞動力的引進有所需求，但由於人員移動所牽涉的層面太廣，移民政策、社會安全乃至文化認同等因素盤根錯節，使得各國在模式四的開放上相當保守，不但承諾項目僅集中於專業人士(specialist)與企業內部人員調動(intra-corporate transferee)等白領階級，更有著林林總總的管制態樣。在不願意受到GATS承諾拘束，卻又有實際需求的情況下，許多會員轉而以本國立法或雙邊、複邊的合作方式，引進外國服務提供者。
此一保守之承諾現狀令人力資源豐沛的開發中會員極為不滿，因此，於2000年WTO新回合談判時，以印度為首之開發中會員即紛紛提出具體之建言，試圖打開目前在GATS架構下人員移動之僵局。另一方面，學者間亦陸續表達其對於模式四自由化之看法，並分別從闡釋開放市場所帶來經濟誘因、區隔自然人移動與移民、長期勞動力移動間之不同等角度切入，藉此釐清各國之疑慮，以期模式四在新回合談判下能有所突破。
面對模式四自由化聲浪高漲之勢，人員移動進一步開放的問題，於新回合中已難以迴避，由於人員移動所牽涉層面甚廣，對我國而言，倘稍有不慎，不但將造成我國就業市場門戶洞開的嚴重後果，其後續效應，如本地勞工失業率上升、及對治安、文化語言等衝擊，將為我國帶來不可預測的影響。舉例而言，我國模式四承諾中之第三類自然人移動，其內涵為何？如依國貿局之中譯文—「受中華台北企業僱用之自然人」(a natural person employed by business entities in Chinese Taipei)，則對我國就業市場產生如何影響，我國又應如何因應，值得深思。
職是之故，自然人移動之基本概念、內涵上之爭議，乃至於會員各陣營間意見落差等議題之釐清，對於我國新回合談判而言，實屬刻不容緩之事。本文之研究動機，即針對模式四規範上的重要問題、我國模式四承諾中之「第三類自然人移動」及相關談判策略進行分析，希冀對我國談判當局能有所助益。
關鍵字：服務貿易總協定、自然人移動、模式四、商業據點呈現、模式三、商業訪客、跨國企業內部調動人員、獨立服務提供者、第三類自然人移動、GATS簽證、經濟需求測試、工作證。 / The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is undoubtedly a milestone of the Uruguay Round of negotiations, as it has successfully brought services into the multilateral framework of trades. Under the GATS regime, services are trade via four modes of supply, namely, cross-border supply (mode1); consumption abroad (mode 2); commercial presence (mode 3); movement of natural persons (mode 4).
Notwithstanding the GATS has taken the important step towards bringing services into the multilateral framework of trade, the liberalization commitments that have reaped during first round negotiations are so limited. They are highly asymmetric across different sectors and modes of supply, in particular, the movement of natural persons. Developing countries were disappointed by the dearth of the commitments in the aspect of their comparative advantage, and now seek to great openness. Meanwhile, lots of multinational corporations attempt to enlarge the scope of movement of personnel as well. Due to the aging populations, developed countries today are facing an increasing severe shortage of workers, including skilled and less skilled. These shared interested seem to create an optimistic negotiating environment for the current negotiations. The problem is, however, whether and how the coincidence of interests could be taken used of to further liberalizations.
Besides the introduction - Chapter 1, the study could be divided into five parts.
First, the study endeavors to clarify the meaning and scope of mode 4, inter alia, the most debated issue – if “natural persons employed by host-country companies “falls within the GATS. It has been argued that since the Annex of Movement of Natural Persons covers ”employed by a service supplier of a Member”, this could include foreigners employed by host-country companies. Owing to the fact that Art.1: 2(d) of the GATS defines mode 4 as “ the supply of service …by a service supplier of one Member, through the presence of natural persons of a Member in the territory of any other Member”, this argument is not accepted by the majority opinions.
Chapter 2 attempts to analyze how the opaqueness result from and sketches out the sensitivities involved the issue. Apart from the economic impacts of mode 4, some observers argue that the real grounds behind the reluctance of Members to expand mode 4 commitments are uncertain social and political impacts. Therefore, economic impacts, as well as social influences and debates will also be discussed in this Chapter.
In accordance with the data of WTO Secretariat and International Mutual Fund (IMF), it’s apparent that mode 4 is by far the smallest mode of service delivery in terms of both flows and volumes of schedules. Moreover, the limited commitments that have been made under the mode 4 almost exclusively refer to so-called “white-collar” personnel, especially to the intra-corporate transferees (ICT), which are linked to commercial presence. In addition, a variety of obstacles, such as burdensome visa/work permit procedures, economic needs tests (ENTs), licensing requirement, pre-employment, wage parity, and social security taxes, etc., have made the scheduled concessions more limited. All the patterns of mode 4 commitments and barriers are presented in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 first outlines the brief history of post-Uruguay Round negotiations from 1994 to 1995 that is helpful to perceive the interests of conflicts of interests between the capital-surplus and labour-surplus countries. In addition, all the proposals pertaining to liberalizing mode 4 commitments for the new round negotiations are detailed listed in this Chapter.
Mode 4 commitments of Taiwan are evaluated in Chapter, in particular, the potential impacts of the 3rd category personnel. The study seeks to submit several strategies for the purposes of tackling the envisaged menaces.
The last Chapter is the conclusions and recommendations. All the crucial issues are collected as a whole, meanwhile, negotiating strategies and proposals with respect to GATS visa, ENTs, categories of personnel, uniformity of the terms of the specific commitments, transparency, domestic regulations, the use of ISCO-88 for the scheduling etc. for the new round negotiations are submitted to the authorities concerned as well.
Key words: GATS, commercial presence, mode 3,movement of natural persons, mode 4, 3rd category personnel, business visitor, intra-corporate transferees (ICT), independent service contractor, GATS visa, ENTs, work permit, W/120, ISCO-88.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CHENGCHI/G0906510151 |
| Creators | 劉漢威, Liu Han-wei |
| Publisher | 國立政治大學 |
| Source Sets | National Chengchi University Libraries |
| Language | 中文 |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Rights | Copyright © nccu library on behalf of the copyright holders |
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