/ / International trade in services

International trade in services

The balance of payments of any state includesitself along with other articles of trade in goods and services. The world market of goods and services is an integral part of international economic relations.

International trade in services has a fundamental difference from trade in goods, and it is as follows:

- goods have a material form and are tangible, services are intangible;

- Any goods are visible, and the service is invisible;

- the goods have the ability to be stored, the services can not be stored;

- Trade in goods does not always have a connection with production, trade in services is associated with production almost always;

- the export of any goods involves the export of goodsabroad from the customs territory without guarantees of return import, the export of services is the provision of services to a non-resident, even if it is located in the customs territory of the country.

International trade in services is by virtue ofThe invisibility and intangibility of the latter is called otherwise invisible imports or exports. The production of most services is combined, unlike the goods, with their export, and requires the meeting of the buyer and the seller who signed the contract for the provision of this type of services.

But in this sphere of relations there are exceptions.For example, the world trade in the services of a consultant can have a very material and tangible appearance: a printout of the consultant's report, a program on a disk or a flash drive, etc. As an example of a service that can be stored, you can give an example of an answering service, and a service that does not require direct interaction between the seller and the buyer can be cashing in automatic mode on a debit card.

International trade in services has, in comparison with other types of trade, some features:

- is regulated internally by relevant articles of domestic law;

- services are produced and simultaneously subject to consumption;

- the state protects the production and sale of services to a much greater extent than goods of material production;

- international trade in services is closely interlinked with and affected by commodity trade;

- unlike goods, not every kind of service can become a subject of trade.

In international trade in services, compulsory andthe key point is that at some stage there is a physical contact between the seller and the buyer of services. Only with this condition can the transaction of international purchase and sale of a certain type of service take place.

At present, there are several types of transaction mechanisms in the sphere of trade in services:

- the buyer of the service, representing one country and being its resident, comes to the seller of the service. This mechanism is called the mobility of the service buyer.

- the seller of the service comes to the buyer who is a resident of another country. This kind of characterizes the buyer's mobility.

- simultaneous mobility of both sides ormobility services. In this case, both parties either use the service at the same time, or meet in a third country, or the seller to the buyer renders the service through representatives of a third country.

Trade in services is currentlyone of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy, and the reasons for the growth are the following phenomena. The degree of mobility of both producers and consumers of services is increased by reducing transportation costs; the emergence of new forms and means of satellite communication make it possible in general to abandon the direct personal contact of the buying and selling parties; increased demand for services that previously had a commodity form: it concerns financial services, banking services and insurance companies.