domicile requirements, and ownership restrictions.  The majority of WTO Members have made

no commitments in environmental services in their national schedules.

To improve the provision of environmental services, negotiators should seek full commitments

in all the environmental service categories and remove limitations imposed on providers.  The

nature of the environmental services industry requires that negotiators address not only

environmental services commitments in traditional subsectors, but that they expand and remove

limitations on their commitments in architectural, engineering, and construction services.

National commitments to cross border trade of architectural, engineering and construction

services tend to limit market access and discriminate against foreign service providers.

Furthermore, negotiators should seek commitments that allow the provision of engineering

operations and maintenance as a component of environmental services.  Negotiators should also

seek to reduce tariffs on equipment used in the design, building, and implementation of

environmental services.

Trade Barriers

US environmental services firms face significant barriers abroad.  Domestic laws and regulations

that govern components of the environmental services market create barriers to market entry and

thus limit competition.  To minimize such barriers, governments should subject laws and

regulations to public comment procedures to ensure they are as least burdensome as possible and

do not create unnecessary obstacles to the provision of environmental services.  Governments

should commit to transparency in the process of developing domestic regulations.

Regulations that constrain a firm to particular forms of commercial presence can raise costs for

environmental service suppliers. Requirements for "majority share" ventures can constrain the

flexibility of a non national firm, and hinder their ability to put together the most effective

technical team when bidding for projects.  Ownership, incorporation, and geographic regulations

raise market entry barriers, and foreign remittance constraints create obstacles to operating

locally.  Subsidies provided to national environmental services firms, sometimes in the form of

linkages with foreign aid, distort the playing field for firms bidding on environmental services

projects.  Governments should rationalize domestic regulations to reduce market barriers and

minimize the use of subsidies.

Municipal governments are often the purchasers of environmental services; therefore, the

government procurement regulations and the transparency of these regulations have a direct

effect on US firms  ability to compete with other international or national firms.  Procurement

restrictions sometimes prohibit or limit non national firms  participation in bidding for

environmental services projects.  Competitive calls to bid many times lack transparency in

procedure and announcement.  These issues need to be addressed through the formulation of

government procurement rules for services.

Professional service providers including architects, engineers and operating technicians represent

a key link in the provision of integrated environmental services.  Restrictions on professionals 

entry into a market, the duration of their stay, and nationality impede US firms.  Quantitative

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