Mode 1 Services

FTA / RoO

Cross-border supply of services delivered from one country to another without movement of persons — e.g., IT services remotely.

Sources

1. World Trade Organization — Modes of supply under the GATS wto.org accessed 17 September 2026

Under the GATS the four modes are distinguished by what crosses the border. Mode 1 is supply “from the territory of one Member into the territory of any other Member” — the service moves and nobody travels. The WTO’s own illustrations are consultancy, tele-medical advice and distance training delivered electronically. The reason this mode matters commercially out of proportion to its share of treaty text is that it is the mode software, business-process and professional services exports actually travel under, and the barriers to it are rarely tariffs — they are data rules, licensing and recognition of qualifications.

These words are the WTO’s own explanatory text, not the agreement itself: the treaty PDFs on wto.org are closed to automated retrieval, so nothing here is presented as a quotation from a treaty article.

Related terms

• Absorption Principle
• Bilateral Cumulation
• Certificate of Origin
• Change in Tariff Classification
• Cumulation
• Diagonal Cumulation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).