Classification according to status of employment 16. A number of WTO members have included
“independent service providers” in their GATS-specific
commitments. To identify foreign nationals as
“independent service providers,” reference may be made
to the criteria used in the 1993 SNA or the International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE-93).
ICSE-93 describes five substantive groups
j
and outlines
a number of subcategories, some of which may be
relevant in the context of trade in services. The main
criteria used to define the groups of this classification
are the type of economic risk and authority between the
person and the job and the type of authority over the
establishment. In principle, the criteria correspond to
those used in the 1993 SNA for the corresponding
variable used to classify the household sector units
according to main source of income (see para. 4.151 of
the 1993 SNA).
Movement of persons and FATS statistics 17. A resident employer could be either a host country-
owned or a foreign-owned establishment. The majority
of GATS-specific commitments cover the movement of
persons for intra-corporate transfers, especially in the
senior management/executive positions. In some cases,
this also involves specialists, the categories of which
may be expanded in the future. The framework of
FATS
k
is best positioned to provide information that is
