The Interplay of Offshoring of Professional Services, Law, Intellectual Property, and International Organizations

2. Outsourcing Under International Trading Rules

Virtually any nation that accedes to the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements is required to take a number of specific steps toward facilitating freer trade. Most of these involve the reduction or elimination of trade barriers and opening of domestic markets and trading opportunities to foreign-owned firms. Acceding members in recent accessions have made such commitments for almost all product sectors and many service sectors as well. For most nations, agreeing to take these steps through an international treaty necessarily requires a variety of modifications to domestic law and the domestic legal system.