In addition, several provisions covered by PTAs on the same policy might be divided into different policy areas. This is the case for investment and intellectual property as two policy areas where commitments have been undertaken in the WTO with regard to some obligations, but not others. Consequently, the policy is divided between WTO+ and WTO‐X, which – in the mapping of such areas – requires exact knowledge on the extent of regulation in the WTO. Specifically, the category of TRIMS measures is included in WTO+ and covers anything that reconfirms commitments undertaken in the WTO Agreement on Trade‐Related Investment Measures. This includes provisions on requirements for local content and export performance on foreign direct investment, and applies only to measures that affect trade in goods. On the other hand, investment policies are covered by WTO‐X if a PTA contains a chapter or provisions on the more general topic of investment such as on the promotion, protection and liberalization of investment measures or common investment policies. Similarly, the policy area of TRIPS in WTO+ covers anything that reconfirms commitments undertaken in the WTO. This includes, inter alia, harmonization of standards, enforcement of intellectual property rights, national treatment or most‐favored nation treatment in areas of intellectual property covered by the Agreement. The policy area of IPRs included in the WTO‐X category covers anything that goes beyond commitments undertaken in TRIPS (e.g. reconfirmation of adherence to Intellectual Property treaties not cited in TRIPS).

Moreover, in some policy areas, the distinction between WTO+ and WTO‐X imposes some limitations to the analysis. This is most clearly the case for services trade. The area of services is considered as a whole and covered under GATS in WTO+, although it could have further been divided into different services sectors each one allocated to either WTO+ or WTO‐X. In order to broadly follow HMS’ approach, we consider services as a single policy area included which may or may not be included in a PTA. Nonetheless, several of the PTAs in our database contain provisions on services that go beyond GATS, breaking new ground such as transport services, e‐commerce, air services, telecommunication services, or financial services, just to name a few. For instance, e‐commerce provisions in PTAs have largely increased after 2000, most likely in response to the growing importance of digital trade. The current categorization does not provide the level of granularity that would allow to highlight these developments.

Another important issue to consider is that there are significant differences in the drafting and structuring of PTAs depending on whether these are Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between two or more countries, customs unions, or enlargement and accession agreements. We analyze all these agreements with the same parameters, even though this approach presents difficulties as each individual type of PTA has its own particularities. An example is the coding of accession agreements. These agreements usually confirm, amend or modify what has been agreed upon in the original PTA by adding a few specifics for the acceding country. However, sometimes the accession agreement as such does not repeat explicitly all areas covered in the original PTA and is drafted and structured in a different way. Hence, an area covered by the agreement that a country is acceding to might not specifically appear in the text of the accession documents of the acceding country. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the content of these agreements in conjunction with the original text of the PTA the country is acceding to.

# c. **Considerations on the notion of legal enforceability**

In a second step, we analyze and define the legal content of an obligation. An area that is covered might still not be legally enforceable due to unclear or loosely formulated legal language. In general terms, an area is considered as legally enforceable if the language used is sufficiently precise and committing and if it has not been excluded from dispute settlement procedures under the PTA. Our database allows distinguishing between the different scenarios.

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