"aim at promoting and securing the interest of all members of the WTO and for achieving anoverall rights and obligations balance.The Articles of GATS along with a set of Annexes establish a set of general rules asgovernmental measures that affect the trade in service of the UAE. Additionally, the nationalschedules of commitments set out commitments that are to be abided by each member of theWTO Member Country. As tariff schedules are part of the GATT these national schedules ofcommitments are integral part of the Agreement.The three main components of the GATS include:? Framework 29 Articles that have been segregated under VI parts, which set out rules andprinciples to the members countries of the WTO.? GAT provides a specific schedules to each member country which lists its „specificcommitments? and any MFN principle exemption.? The GATS as a principle is applicable to all service sectors except for those services thathave been supplied in the governmental authority exercise and the Annex on AirTransport Services. The exempt services exercised by the governmental authority includeservices that are neither in competition with other services nor on a commercial basis,such as central banking and security schemes. The Annex on Air Transport Servicesexempts the coverage measures affecting the air traffic lights and the services that are4142 directly associated with such rights.o As explained above the air services and telecommunications sectors are exemptedfrom the GATS, they have special rules contained in eight Annexes.41Burrows Alison, “WTO Agreements, General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)”;https://unstats.un.org/unsd/class/intercop/training/escap99/escap99-9.PDF 42“The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): objectives, coverage and disciplines,” World trade Organization;https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gatsqa_e.htmThe text of GATS is divided into six parts, as the main focus of the dissertation is based on theobligations of the GATS we would discussing Articles II to XV and Articles XVI to XVIII, thatdeal with obligations of the GATS in particular.Obligations under the GATSThe commitments of the Members of the WTO with regard to the measures that affect the tradein services may be classified into two groups broadly, the general obligations and specificcommitment under the GATS principles.Obligations under GATS are divided into two types such as the general obligations that applyautomatically and directly to all the members of the WTO, irrespective of the sector specificcommitment scope, where the scope of the member and the service is limited to a certain activityor the sector the WTO Member has made the decision to presume access to the market ornational treatment obligations. Secondly, specific commitments, include the provisions of marketaccess and national trade treatment which are commitments made by the nation?s in theirschedules and not general obligations of the nation.These obligations are basic principles to all services and all the WTO members. The generalobligations and disciplines of the WTO?s GATS include most of the principles that are the basisof most of the multilateral trading systems as a whole. These principles include most favorednation?s (MFN) treatment that is non-discrimination of members, transparency that is disclosingthe relevant measures taken by the government and domestic regulations. The GATS and itsprinciples in itself do not create any specific obligation to the open markets. They just expressthat market openings and the concept of liberalization that are expressed in the differentschedules to the Agreement. The MFN treatment, transparency and certain provisions of the domestic regulations, certainrestrictive trade practices, mutual recognition agreements and discipline of the monopolies rulesand exclusive suppliers, establishment of the administrative review and the appeals procedure,and establishment of the national inquiry point in order to respond to the Members informationrequests are examples of general obligations of GATS. As the discussion provided a brief idea ofgeneral obligations and its examples we move further in discussing general obligations?examples in detail.MFN Treatment: (Most-Favored-Nation Principle)The MFN Treatment is one of the keystones of the multi-lateral trading systems. The principleguarantees that the best access conditions that have been provided to the suppliers from onecountry are automatically extended to the other participants of the GATS. This principle preventsthe WTO members not to discriminate among their trading partners.Pursuant to Article II of the GATS the member countries are required to provide services andservice suppliers to all the WTO members? countries without any bias. In short, the countriesgiving services or service suppliers to other member country should not be partial or favorabletowards one member country in comparison to other. Thus, if a country is allowing foreigncompetition in any of its sectors it should give equal opportunities to all the service providersfrom all the other WTO members.This obligation follows the phrase; treating one’s trading partners equally, that is to say tradingwithout any discrimination among their trading partners. This principle is the important principlein the three WTO agreements. Although, the three agreements (GATS, GATT and TRIPS)handle this principle differently it is the important principle of the trading practice. However, the member country has the opportunity to take a one-time exemption at any time forany specific service once they have entered into the GATS. The member countries also opt for anexemption through the negotiation of waivers pursuant to Article IX of the WTO agreement.Any such exemption claimed through negotiation of waiver is subject to review that shouldcompulsorily not last more than ten years.Transparency:The second essential general obligation of the GATS is the principle of transparency. Everymember under the purview of the GATS is essential to disclose all measures f generalapplications and must establish national enquiry points mandated for responding to other WTOmembers and providing them with the required information.The GATS under this obligation has requested all the members of the WTO to publish promptlyand publicly all their measures of general application which have been affecting the operations ofthe agreement. Also, the members are required to notify the Council for Trade in Services WTO,about any new rule, law or regulation or any administrative guidelines they have adopted underthe specific commitment under the agreement and that would in turn affect the trade in services.The method transparency helps members in identifying new or existing opportunities as well asimposed restrictions. Transparency of the financial sector especially the banking sector helps inentailing better services to the customers and higher consumer surplus. Banks in general thrive tocustomer confidence and the business they do. This higher confidence of the customers can beachieved only through transparency.Committing itself to the international standards of Transparency, and exchange of information,43 the UAE became the global forum member in September, 2009. It can be noted that the CBUobserved effective good transparency practices such as improving transparency of the accountholders to strengthen its anti-money laundering laws, and improving transparency in screening44 and approval procedure, among other matters. However, the CBU still needs to improve some important transparency practices such as,implement measures to increase transparency and improve the disclosure standards.Additionally, the CBU should guide the board and senior management of the UAE bank tounderstand the operational structure of the banks like the bank?s jurisdiction or throughstructures that impede transparency that is “know your structure,” because transparency is a keyrequirement for the development of effective operations of the bank.Banks should maintain accurate records with transparency as it is essential for effectivegovernance. It helps the shareholders investors and customers in understanding the financialposition of the banks and also help them to participate and effectively monitor and hold the boardof directors and senior management accountable for performance of the banks.Therefore, it is essential that the banks should govern in a transparent. The public disclosure isnot required in all areas but in certain areas including the structure of board of directors,Customer service process, loan process,structure of the organization and senior management , incentive structure,ombudsman details,direct the customers on the process of how to complainand provide suggestionincentive structure of the banks.43OECD :Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax purposes - peer review report - phase 1- Legal and RegulatoryFrame work United Arab Emirates 201244“National Investment Reform Agendas, United Arab Emirates, OECD "