Many service transactions are highly complex, and their quality is difficult to ascertain for
consumers. In order to have properly functioning service markets, the services thus often
require regulation. However, with the advent of the WTO, international trade in services
has become increasingly rule-bound. GATS has considerable, intricate effects on social
regulation due to the characteristics of services. The allocation of regulatory jurisdiction
between home and host country, for example, is rendered difficult by the process-based
nature of a lot of services. The WTO US – Gambling dispute settlement report is the first to
address GATS disciplines on social regulation in a detailed manner. This working paper
submits that the US - Gambling report has increased interference with domestic social
regulation and created regulatory uncertainty for WTO members. However, it is also argued
that the real impact of the GATS on social regulation can only be understood by looking
beyond the text of the GATS. GATS disciplines may become amplified through their
interaction with domestic and other international law. The GATS also contains some
“political” counterbalancing mechanisms that allow members to renegotiate their
commitments. It is argued that these political mechanisms strengthen subsidiarity in the
GATS, and make WTO dispute settlement bodies accountable to WTO members
