Implementing corporate trade governance in the context of private security services

Building on project 1.3.1 and the underlying conceptual framework, this project analyses private military and security services from a GATS perspective. In particular, numerous public, private and multi-stakeholder initiatives, both inter-state and domestic in nature, continue to produce a variety of regulatory and standard-setting instruments governing the provision of transnational private security services. While substantial research has already been done on the compatibility of private military and security services with general public international law in the context of the Montreux Process, an analysis of such services under GATS has not yet been conducted. The results of this examination are expected to provide conclusions which will be valuable beyond the private security sector, which is just a particularly prominent example of an industry largely regulated through innovative non-traditional means and processes involving both states and non-state actors such as private corporations and civil society organizations.