PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/335
10 March 2003
(03-1365)
SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS
Negotiators agree on modalities for treatment of autonomous
liberalization
The Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services took a key step on Thursday 6 March 2003
towards fulfilling the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) by adopting modalities for the treatment of
liberalization measures taken unilaterally by WTO Members since the previous multilateralnegotiations.
“A significant part of the negotiating mandat e has been achieved today,” said Dr Supachai
Panitchpakdi, Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee which supervises the DDA. “This
agreement should inject new dynamism not only in the services negotiations but also in other
areas of the Doha Agenda.”
Ambassador Alejandro Jara of Chile, Chairman of the Special Session, congratulated the
negotiators for successfully concluding an important part of their negotiating mandate. “Theirtimely display of flexibility and political will gives further momentum in the current process of
request-and-offer talks. By establishing agreed criteria for granting credit for autonomous
liberalization, negotiators can engage more confidently in their bilateral bargaining for specificcommitments on market access.”
The text of the modalities is attached.PRESS/335
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MODALITIES FOR THE TREATMENT OF AUTONOMOUS LIBERALIZATION
Adopted by the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services on 6 March 2003
I. INTRODUCTION
1. These modalities for the treatment of autonomous liberalization measures undertaken by a
Member since previous negotiations are established pursuant to Article XIX:3 of the GATS,paragraph 15 of the Doha Minist erial Declaration (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1), and paragraph 13 of the
Guidelines and Procedures for the Negotiations on Trade in Services (S/L/93).
1
2. For the purposes of these modalities, a “liberalizing Member” is a Member seeking credit for an
autonomous liberalization measure; and a “trading partner” is a Member from whom credit is
being sought.
3. An “autonomous liberalization measure” is a measure
(a) subject to scheduling under Part III of the GATS,  and/or leading to the  termination
of an MFN exemption,
(b) compatible with the MFN principle,
(c) undertaken by the liberalizing Member unilaterally,2 since previous negotiations, in
accordance with Article XIX of the GATS,  and
(d) applicable to any or all service sectors.
II. CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE VALUE OF AUTONOMOUS LIBERALIZATION
MEASURES
4. In assessing the value of an autonomous liberalization measure, a Member may use the
following illustrative criteria:
(a) sectoral coverage,
(b) liberalizing nature of the measure concerned (e.g. elimination of measures
restricting market access; elimination of existing measures which are inconsistentwith national treatment and/or MFN),
(c) the date of entry into force and the duration of the measure,
(d) share of the sector in the total trade of the trading partner,
(e) share of the trading partner in the total trade in the sector autonomously
liberalized by the liberalizing Member,
(f) importance and impact of the autonomous liberalization measures on the
liberalizing Member’s economy,
(g) market potential in the liberalizing Member for the trading partner,
                                               
1 These modalities are without prejudice to the rights and obligations of Members under the GATS.
2 It is understood that liberalization measures undertaken as part of economic reform programmes,
including those under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, should be
considered as "autonomous liberalization measures" for the purposes of these modalities, in so far as theymeet the criteria set out in this paragraph.PRESS/335
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(h) opportunities for the expansion of foreign participation in the sector after the
introduction of the measure,
(i) whether the measure in question has already been scheduled and, if not, whether
the liberalizing Member is willing to do so.3
5. To facilitate the assessment of the value of an autonomous liberalization measure, the
liberalizing Member and its trading partner may agree to use either a qualitative or a quantitative
approach (for example, formulae, improvement indices, ranking methods), or a combination ofboth approaches.
6. In assessing the value of credits, a Member may use the criteria an d approaches set out in
paragraphs 4 and 5 above, as appropriate.
7. In applying the above approaches and criteria, a Member shall take into account the level of
development and the size of economies of indivi dual Members, both overall and in individual
sectors.
III. PROCEDURES
8. The application of these modalities may be advanced bilaterally, plurilaterally, or multilaterally.
The granting of credit for autonomous liberalization measures shall be advanced through bilateralnegotiations.
9. A liberalizing Member shall make the autonomous liberalization measure for which credit is
being sought known to its trading partner. The liberalizing Member may, if it deems it appropriate,
also notify such a measure to the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services. It isunderstood that such a notification neither guarantees any right for credit, nor implies anyobligation on the part of the liberalizin g Member to bind the notified measure.
10. An autonomous liberalization measure notified or made known to a trading partner should
contain information based on the relevant criteria set out in Part II of these modalities, and specifythe credit being sought. The credit to be sought may take the form of,
(a) a liberalization measure to be undertaken by a trading partner in sectors of
interest to the liberalizing Member under the GATS,
(b) refraining from pursuing a request a ddressed to the liberalizing Member, or
(c) any other form which the liberalizing Member and its trading partner may agree
upon.
11. A liberalizing Member claiming credit for an autonomous liberalization measure shall be given
adequate opportunity to discuss its request with its trading partner. If the trading partner
considers that an autonomous liberalization measure is of little or no trading value, it shouldprovide information on the evaluation as early as possible to allow time for the liberalizing Memberto request further consultations.
12. Any Member may bring to the attention of th e Special Session of the Council for Trade in
Services any matter that relates to the application of these modalities.
                                               
3 A measure's legal certainty and predictability would be greatly enhanced with a liberalizing Member's
readiness to bind it at the conclusion of the current negotiations.  This aspect should be duly taken intoaccount when assessing both the value of specific autonomous liberalization measures and the corresponding
credit.PRESS/335
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IV. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
13. Pursuant to the objectives of the GATS, as stipulated in the Preamble, Article IV, and
Article XIX:2, and in line with paragraph 2 of th e Doha Ministerial Declaration, these modalities
shall be used inter alia  as a means of promoting the economic growth and development of
developing countries and their increasing participation in trade in services.
14. In the application of these modalities, and in re cognizing and granting credit pursuant to these
modalities, Members shall take fully into account the flexibility provided for individual developingcountry Members under the provisions referred to in paragraph 13 above, as well as the level ofdevelopment of developing country Members in relation to other Members. Special considerationshall be given to the least-developed country Members.
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