The basic reference document that WTO Members and governments under accession use to draft their commitments is the “Guidelines for the Scheduling of Specific Commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)”. Certain other documents that serve as reference material for the drafting of commitments are attached to these Guidelines. In addition, governments should consult the United Nations Provisional Central Product Classification, 1991 Version (UN CPC 1991). This section presents a brief summary of the scheduling guidelines.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services consists of the framework agreement – the Articles of the Agreement, its Annexes, and the attached Schedules of specific commitments and the lists of exemptions from MFN. The Schedules and the exemption lists are integral parts of the Agreement.

It is only by reference to a Member's Schedule, and (where relevant) its MFN exemption list, that it can be seen to which services sectors and under what conditions the basic principles of the GATS -market access, national treatment and MFN treatment – apply within that Member's jurisdiction. In its Schedule, each Member identifies the service sectors to which it will apply the market access and national treatment obligations under the GATS, and specifies any exceptions from those obligations it wishes to maintain. The commitments and limitations are in every case entered with respect to each of the four modes of supply which constitute the definition of trade in services in Article I of the GATS:

1. Cross-border supply – the possibility for non-resident service suppliers to supply services cross-border into the Member's territory.

2. …