CROSS BORDER TRADE IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
By Ir. Rocky H.T.Wong
This article is based on points in a paper presented by the author at the 2nd ASEAN-Korea
Engineering Forum & Roundtable Meeting on June 16-17 2014, ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta,
Indonesia. As there is extensive use of acronyms, a list of terms is provided at the end of the article.
T
his paper highlights the three accords, viz.
Washington Accord (WA), Sydney Accord (SA)
and Dublin Accord (DA), under the ambit
of the International Engineering Agreements/
Alliance (IEA) and how they contribute to the
overall Quality Assurance/Quality COntrol (QA/QC )
delivery system involving Trade in Services (TiS). In
particular this refers to Trade in regulated Science,
Engineering, Technology (SET) Professional/
Business Services identified in WTO/GATS context
defined as Engineering Services (CPC 8672),
Integrated Engineering Services (CPC 8673),
and Construction & Engineering Services (CPC
511 to CPC 518). Cross Border Trade in Services
(CBTS) flourishes/thrives within bi-lateral/plurallateral/multi-lateral rules centric environment
determined by participating nations/economies in
a democratic manner. In turn, the accreditation
process prescribed by the three accords [each
with its ‘knowledge profile’] encourages universal
human rights ~ democracy in education ~
with measurable outcomes based education
operating in a Quality System Framework with
companion CQI/OFI agenda. The win-win and
free, or freer market should embrace/promote
“inclusiveness”. Therefore, any follow-up Mutual
Recognition Arrangement (MRA) (after a Free
Trade Agreement or FTA has been inked in) should
deal with ‘Engineering Services Professionals”
(ESP) whereby prescribed accreditation of all three
accords – WA, SA & DA should be encapsulated
in the benchmarking (equivalence) of engineering
team of the three grades of ESP ~ with room for
progression; more so if the TVET system was
adopted to run in parallel with academic (via IHL)
programmes. Its all a question of self-directed
and life long learning with the goal of remaining
competitive and being relevant which is key to be
successful in TiS.
Trade in Services:
Trade in services as per GATS/WTO; comprises
four modes of delivery:
1. Cross border delivery;
2. Cross border consummation;
3. Cross border mobility of capital/investment;
and
4. Cross border mobility of natural persons.
●●
Free Trade Agreement:
Free Trade Agreement vis-à-vis Trade in
Services deals broadly with:
Market Access;
Commercial Presence ; and
National Treatment .
●●
Modes 1 and 2 equate to Market Access ~
hardly regulated and no point regulating.
●●
Mode 3 equates to Commercial Presence
~ regulations apply; including investment
policies.
●●
Mode 4 equates to National Treatment ~
regulations on registration/certification/license
apply.
●●
Domestic Regulations:
Most ‘public interest’ professional/business
services are regulated by domestic regulations;
e.g. SET &/or Engineering and Construction
services.
●●
Domestic regulations subject to Good
Regulatory Practices tests.
●●
Various ‘degrees of limitation’ applied to
Market Access, Commercial Presence and
National Treatment; depending how free the
FTA is; or ‘negative list’ stated for those three
dimensions of market opening.
●●
Regulated professional services ~ start with
duly accredited qualification by respective
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Professional Services