RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/WPPS/M/9
3June 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-2330)
Working Party onProfessional Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING HELD ON15MAY 1997
Note bytheSecretariat
1. TheWorking Party onProfessional Services helditsninth meeting on15May1997. The
agenda forthemeeting wascontained inairgram WTO/AIR/584.
Observers
2. Following therequest presented initslastmeeting, theWorking Party decided tograntobserver
status totheAfrican, Caribbean andPacific Group ofStates (ACP Group).
Guidelines formutual recognition agreements orarrangements intheaccountancy sector
3. AfinaldraftoftheGuidelines formutual recognition agreements orarrangements, asamended
during informal consultations heldsince thelastmeeting oftheWorking Party, waspresented in
document S/WPPS/W/12. Subject toaminor change inthelayout ofthetext,andtotwotechnical
corrections intheSpanish translations, itwasapproved fortransmission totheCouncil forTrade in
Services asS/WPPS/W/12/Rev.1.
4. Adraftoftherecommendation oftheWorking Party onProfessional Services totheCouncil
forTrade inServices waspresented indocument S/WPPS/W/14. Thisdocument wasprepared by
thechairman, following theinformal consultations heldontheGuidelines. Thecomments initssecond
paragraphwereoriginallycontainedintheintroductiontotheGuidelines.AsthemandateoftheWorking
Party onProfessional Services issimply tomake recommendations totheCouncil, paragraph 3asked
theCouncil toapprove theGuidelines. Thediscussion onthetextresulted insome improvements which
werereflected inS/WPPS/W/14/Rev.1/Corr.1. Itwasagreed thatthisdocument should betransmitted
totheCouncil forTrade inServices foritsnextmeeting withthefinaltextoftheGuidelines.
Work pursuant toparagraph 2(a)oftheDecision onprofessional services
5. Thechairman introduced document S/WPPS/W/11 which wasrequested fromtheSecretariat
inthelastmeeting. Itmade asynthesis oftheresponses received tothequestionnaire ontheaccountancy
sector aswellasother information provided totheWorking Party byUNCTAD, theOECD andIFAC.
Itwasorganised around thesixissues identified forconsideration inJanuary 1996. TheChairman
stressed thatdocument S/WPPS/W/11 didnotconstitute anauthoritative interpretation oftheGATS
andthatanyreference torelevant GATS articles wasonlyprovided toassist inthediscussion ofthe
issues involved. Thepossible linkbetween theissues discussed indocument S/WPPS/W/9 about the
relevance ofTBTandimport licensing agreements wasalsomentioned byseveral delegations. Itwas
agreed tomake useofdocument S/WPPS/W/9 when theWorking Party willstarttodevelop disciplinesS/WPPS/M/9
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ondomestic regulations toensure theyareobjective, transparent andnecessary. Inthatrespect, it
wasnoted that,apartfromethics, technical standards werehardly discussed indocument S/WPPS/W/11.
Thiswasbecause international standards hadalready beenaddressed intheministerial declaration issued
attheendoftheSingapore conference. Delegations agreed thatapractical working distinction between
measures pertaining toArticle VI.4 andtoArticles XVIorXVII wasneeded, asthecriteria of
objectivity, transparency andnecessity defined inArticle VIwould notapply inthelatter case. This
didnotmean, however, thattheWorking Party should refrain fromaddressing Article XVIandXVII
issues, butsimply thatitwould work onthem differently.
6. Onqualification requirements andprocedures, which pertain toEducation, Examination and
Experience, most delegations thought these wereArticle VIissues. Onedelegation alsoreferred to
thenational treatment standard asbeing thebesttreatment thatcould beoffered toforeigners. The
Chairman supported thatonsuchmatters asthelength ofstudies orexperience required toqualify
asanaccountant, theGroup would notbeableandwasnotcalled upon, todevelop common standards.
Onedelegation referred backtoparagraphs 79to81indocument S/WPPS/W/2 which discuss themost
significant barriers tointernational trade inaccountancy services. Thedisciplines tobedeveloped by
theWorking Party ought toremedy theseimpediments. Itwasunderlined thatfewoftherequirements
imposed byMembers interms ofqualification could beconsidered asrelevant foratestofpure
objectivity. About thelackofdetail ontherequirements andprocedures incertain responses, itwas
generally agreed thatnoexhaustive listofsuchmeasures would everbeavailable. TheWorking Party
didnothavetoconsider eachandevery measure inevery country, butrather todevelop theruleswhich
could apply inallcircumstances. Tothateffect, some solutions could bederived from document
S/WPPS/W/9, although itmayonlyhelpaddress partoftheproblem.
7. Theissue oflicensing requirements andprocedures wasconsidered easier todealwithby
delegations, inparticular asfarasdefining whatwasobjective, transparent andnecessary wasconcerned.
Onedelegation insisted onthedistinction tobemade between accountants orbookkeepers andauditors,
fortherequirements imposed onthelatter aregenerally much more onerous thanthose imposed on
theformer. There isalsoanasymmetry between theopportunities available toprofessionals according
tothelevelofregulation oftheenvironment theyarecoming from andmoving to.Onedelegation
insisted ontheimportance ofthesupporting documents required ofapplicants which could loadthe
whole process. Theunacceptability offoreign documentation orevidence inparticular could make
thecaseofforeigners difficult. Theapplicability ofallrequirements andprocedures inthecaseof
cross-border supply ofservices wasalsoconsidered. Several delegations suggested tousetherelevant
provisions oftheGuidelines formutual recognition agreements toimprove thetransparency ofthe
licensing process. Theidentification ofbestpractice among Members could alsohelpdefine disciplines.
8. Thelastfourchapters ofdocument S/WPPS/W/11 werealsoreviewed butcomments onthem
weremorelimited.Onregulationsgoverningtheestablishmentofacommercialpresence,onedelegation
challenged thatArticle VIhadaresidual scope andcovered everything notalready dealtwithunder
Articles XVIandXVII (seeparagraph 37). Particular reference wasmade tothetelecom reference
paper anditsuseunder Article XVIII. Inthesame vein, thescope ofparagraph 1ofArticle VIwas
different from thescope ofparagraph 4.Thesame delegation alsoinsisted thatfirms should notbe
dealtwithinthesame wayasindividuals. Onnationality /citizenship /residency requirements, if
nationality clearly pertained toArticle XVIorXVII, thecaseofresidency seemed more complex.
Beyond thedifferences ofdefinition according tojurisdictions, there wasaneedtobemore specific
initsanalysis. Onethics, restrictions ontheability toadvertise theinternational name ofafirmcould
beseenasadiscrimination against foreign firms.
9. Concluding thediscussion, thechairman reminded theWorking Party onProfessional Services
thatministers inSingapore requested ittoaimatfinishing work ontheaccountancy sector bytheend
of1997. Notimecould bewasted ifthegroup were tocome anywhere nearthisgoal. NoclearS/WPPS/M/9
Page 3
direction forfuture work came outoftheexchange ofviews andthechairman proposed tohold
information consultations withdelegations inorder todefine awayforward. Proposals fromdelegations
inthisrespect would bewelcome.
Dateofnextmeeting
10. Itwasagreed tobook 26and27Juneforthenextmeeting oftheWorking Party. Theway
thesedates would actually beusedwould bedecided aftertheconsultations tobeheldbythechairman.
Thepossibility ofholding another meeting inJulywasleftopen.