The World Trade Forum series was established to help spread the conviction that a multidisciplinary approach to international trade is warranted. The 10th World Trade Forum was held from 20–22 September 2006 at the World Trade Institute of the University of Berne on the theme of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The participants were in broad agreement that, in its present shape and form, GATS insufficiently promotes further liberalisation of services. But, during the conference, it became apparent that scholars, practitioners and government officials were committed to improving the way services trade is conducted. Valuable proposals for progress were tabled and researched and have led to this collection of essays viewing trade in services from a variety of perspectives, domestic and international, economic and legal, past and future. Thus, the 10th World Trade Forum could not have successfully taken place without the active involvement of the participants, many of whom contributed to the articles collected in this volume now entitled ‘GATS and the Regulation of International Trade in Services’.

Thus, we wish to thank the authors of the chapters in this collection who have worked beyond the call of duty to accommodate the guidelines and suggestions of the editors. We are also grateful for the support of the Ecoscientia Foundation, which helped to make the conference a truly engaging event for everyone involved and facilitated the in-house editing process at the World Trade Institute.