How to use My Trade Assistant for Services and Investment

What does it cover?

Information is currently available for legal services and maritime transport services in Canada and in the UK. The services and countries covered will be expanded gradually.

The information available on my Trade Assistant for Services and Investment is not legally binding.

How does it work?

Find the information you are looking for in few easy steps.

Step 1: Define the search criteria

Define the search criteria in two steps.

i. Launching the search

• "Service": this field is editable, and you can:
  • type a text - one or multiple words – and the system will help you find the right services sector you are looking for, or
  • leave the field empty and confirm your search criteria in a second step (see (ii) below “confirming the step criteria”)
• "Country": this field is mandatory and editable, and you can:
  • type the first letters of the country you want and select it, or
  • click on the ˅ arrow to navigate through the drop-down list and then click on a country name to select it
• “Jurisdiction”: this field is editable and applies only when a country has more than one jurisdictions. You can:
  • type the first letters of the jurisdiction you want and select it, or
  • Click on the ˅ arrow to navigate through the drop-down list and then click on a jurisdiction to select it, or
  • leave the field empty and see information for all country’s jurisdictions

Next, click on the blue button “search”.

ii. Confirming the search criteria

After launching the search, the list of services sectors and subsectors will be displayed. Browse the "list of services". Click the + symbol until you find the service you are looking for. If you have searched by typing in one or more words, any results matching your searched words will be highlighted.

Step 2: Browse the results

Based on your search criteria (sector, country and jurisdiction), you will see results on the available market access conditions and their corresponding requirements.

The results are organised in three modes of supply: cross-border supply of services; commercial presence; and movement of professionals. You can read the definition of each one right under its title. You can navigate between them by clicking on the tab you are interested in.

For each mode of supply, the list of corresponding market access conditions is displayed in alphabetical order at the left side. You can read the definition of each market access condition under its title. A market access condition appears only when it has at least one requirement.

To browse the results, you can:

• Click on the down arrow (˅) to see all the information pertaining to one requirement of the market access condition.
• Click on “expand all” to see all the information pertaining to all requirements of the market access condition.

Alternatively, you can select to view “all market access conditions” of the selected mode of supply (see option at the end of the list of market access conditions at the left side). To browse the results, you can:

• Select to view the results in “list”. Here, you see all requirements pertaining to all market access conditions in the form of a list. The condition the requirement refers to is underlined in a blue tag. Click on the down arrow (˅) to see all the information pertaining to one requirement of the market access condition. Click on “expand all” to see all the information pertaining to all requirements of the market access condition.
• Select to view the results in “overview”. Here, you can see all requirements pertaining to all market access conditions organised by market access condition. The number of requirements available is indicated between brackets next to the title. Click on the down arrow (˅) to see all the information pertaining to one requirement of the market access condition. Click on “expand all” to see all the information pertaining to all requirements of the market access condition.

Step 3: Read the requirements and all its details

Information on each requirement is specific to the

• service sector or subsector
• country and, when applicable, its jurisdictions
• mode of supply
• market access condition.

In most cases, the information on each requirement includes

• when relevant, title
• when relevant, the legal basis
• the source of the information (link to a website and/or reference to laws and regulations) and its copyrights information
• the contact details of the competent regulatory authority.

How can the information be used?

The use of My Trade Assistant for Services and Investment is free of charge. However, certain information is protected by copyright. The information available on my Trade Assistant for Services and Investment may not be used for resale or for the provision of consultancy services, redistribution, building of databases, storage, or for any purpose other than reference use in support of the user's own international business processes. All other use is prohibited unless explicitly approved in writing by the owner of the data. 

Please check the copyrights policy or contact us via the contact form.

Which languages are available?

My Trade Assistant for Services and Investment is currently available in English. Machine translation into all EU languages will be added soon.

Where can I find more information?

Please read the FAQs.