Barriers to Trade in Services in the
CEFTA Region

This paper describes the economic
importance of the service sector in Central European Free
Trade Agreement (CEFTA) countries and current barriers to
trade in services between CEFTA countries. It looks at four
sectors: construction, land transport, legal services, and
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services. The
intent is to stimulate dialogue on trade in services between
decision-makers in CEFTA countries. In CEFTA economies,
export of services accounts for about 10 percent of GDP in
non coastal countries and much more in coastal countries,
where foreign currency earnings from tourism are the
dominant form of service = exports. Though CEFTA countries
have opened their markets considerably, mostly because they
are pursuing accession to the European Union (EU) and the
World Trade Organization (WTO), there are still obstacles to
trade in services. Some, such as the movement of
professional workers, are general; others are
sector-specific. In what follows, the next section
illustrates the importance of the services sectors in CEFTA
economies and analyzes trends in services trade and in
intraregional trade for countries that have such data
available. The third section describes general barriers to
trade in services, and specific barriers for the four
sectors specified. The analysis reviews the legal and
institutional framework for trade in services and features
assessments by regional companies that export such services.
The final section summarizes the findings.