Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 5 • Number 33 • 2nd October 2001
GATS: Negotiations To Continue During WTO Services Week
GATS: Negotiations To Continue During WTO Services Week
With new negotiating proposals continuing to feed into the process, WTO Members this week meet in Geneva for the continuation of market access negotiations under the General Agreement for Trade in Services (GATS). During this so-called ‘Services Week’, which lasts from 2 to 12 October, Members will also address the completion of the GATS regulatory framework through meetings in subsidiary bodies to the Council for Trade in Services (CTS).
CTS Special Session
During three days (5, 8 and 12 September), the Council for Trade in Services will be holding negotiation sessions on the further liberalisation of trade in services (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 July 2001). Issues to be discussed include general subjects such as the assessment of trade in services and credit for autonomous liberalisation, as well as talks on individual negotiating proposals.
Regarding specific Member proposals, discussions will focus on, inter alia, a recent submission from Mexico (24 September 2001, S/CSS/W/103), urging the reduction of exemptions from the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle, along with issues such as transparency and a related US proposal (13 July 2001, S/CSS/W/102). Furthermore, negotiations will address specific services sectors, such as education, energy, transport and environmental services. According to trade sources, a considerable amount of time will also be devoted to discussions on a revised Draft Annex on Tourism, submitted by the Dominican Republic and others last Monday (see BRIDGES Weekly, 25 September 2001).
Among recent submissions designed to feed into the negotiating process, Kenya has circulated a proposal highlighting its expectations on several issues (26 September 2001, S/CSS/W. 109). The Kenyan submission in particular urges for an assessment of trade in services to take place in order to enable developing countries to identify sectors of export interest to them. In addition, the proposal calls for "economically meaningful commitments from its trading partners in mode 4" (movement of natural persons), the development of uniform criteria for the application of ‘Economic needs test’, and continued discussions on the proposed Annex on Tourism.
Mercosur and Bolivia have also submitted a joint proposal on postal services (26 September 2001, S/CSS/W/108). BRIDGES Weekly will report on the outcome of the negotiating sessions in forthcoming issues.
GATS Regulatory Framework
During Services Week, several subsidiary bodies within which Members are striving to complete the regulatory framework of the GATS will also hold meetings. As BRIDGES Weekly went to press, the Working Party on Domestic Regulation (WPDR) was meeting to discuss concepts relating to the development of regulatory disciplines and a request for observer status from the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. The WPDR is currently trying to build consensus around multilateral disciplines aimed at ensuring that certain domestic regulations affecting trade in services are based on objective and transparent criteria and are "not more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of the service" (see BRIDGES Weekly reference of 17 July in this article).
On 3 October, the Working Party on GATS Rules (WPGR) will continue formal negotiations on the question of the establishment of Emergency Safeguard Measures (see BRIDGES Monthly, September 2001), as well as on the issues of subsidies and government procurement. Regarding Safeguards, the deadline for negotiations expires on 15 March 2002, which makes it likely that the 3 October meeting will focus more on that issue than on the two others. BRIDGES Weekly will report on the outcome of these meetings in its next issue.
In related developments, the draft Ministerial Declaration submitted by the Chairperson of the General Council Stuart Harbinson on 26 September 2001 (see http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/doha/ministerial26.09.01.pdf, page 4) contains language on the ongoing negotiations in services trade, stressing that these negotiations are "an important means of promoting economic growth and the development of developing countries." The relevant paragraph also contains a reference to developing country- related provisions of the GATS in relation to the negotiations (Arts. IV and XIX).
NGO statement on services trade
The Centre of International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International have issued a joint statement calling for an assessment of the effects of the liberalisation in services trade to be conducted before proceeding to further negotiations (available at: http://www.panda.org/resources/programmes/trade/).
ICTSD Internal Files.