./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSC/8
3 July 2003
(03-3553)
Committee on Specific Commitments
UPDATE TO THE ANNUAL REPORT OF 2002 OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPECIFIC
COMMITMENTS TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES (2003)
1. Since its last annual report1 to the Council for Trade in Services, the Committee on Specific
Commitments held three formal meetings.  Minutes of these meetings are contained in WTO
documents S/CSC/M/26-28.2  The Committee in this period addressed three items: classification
issues; matters relating to the scheduling of commitments; and state of play and possible future work.
At the meeting of 27 February 2003, the Chairperson made a statement on procedures for thesubmission and circulation of initial offers.
I. CLASSIFICATION ISSUES
2. During the reporting period, the Committee discussed new communications concerning
classification on Computer and related Services, and (S/CSC/W/37 – Separate Customs Territory of
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu) and Legal Services (S/CSC/W/39 – European Communities).At the meeting of 5 December 2002, the Secretariat was requested to revise the compendium of
classification proposals to take account of new proposals, add footnote references to helpful
documents, and rectify any omissions.  The revised compendium was issued on 24 February as
JOB(02)/143/Rev.1.
II. MATTERS RELATING TO THE SCHEDULING OF COMMITMENTS
3. At the meeting of 5 December 2002, the Chairperson reported on the Scheduling Workshop,
held in November 2002, which had been conducted by the Secretariat upon a request by Members,and in which some one-hundred capital based, as well as eighty Geneva-based services officials had
participated.
4. At the meetings of 5 December 2002 and 27 February 2003, the Committee continued its
discussion of approaches to the scheduling of additional commitments under Article XVIII of the
GATS.
5. At the meeting of 27 February 2003, a representative of the Secretariat reported that, upon
request by Members, the Trade in Services Division had prepared 67 draft consolidated schedules and
had converted another 62 schedules into Word format.  Three Members had carried out the
consolidation of their schedules themselves.  The draft consolidated and converted schedules had been
circulated in a one-off document series as S/DCS/W documents.  He recalled the agreement of
                                                     
1 S/CSC/7, 6 December 2002.
2 Meetings of 5 December 2002 (S/CSC/M26); 27 February 2003 (S/CSC/M/27), and 12 May 2003
(S/CSC/M/28).S/CSC/8
Page 2
Members that these draft schedules were not legal documents and were intended to serve as templates
to facilitate the presentation of initial offers in the negotiations.3
III. PROCEDURES FOR THE SUBMISSION AND CIRCULATION OF INITIAL
OFFERS – STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRPERSON
6. At the meeting of 27 February 2003, the Chairperson made a statement recalling certain
points from earlier discussions regarding the technical side of the submission and circulation of initial
offers.  The Chairman's statement was circulated in JOB(03)/38.
IV. STATE OF PLAY AND POSSIBLE FUTURE WORK
7. At the meeting of 12 May 2003, Members had a first exchange of views on possible topics
for, and the organization of future work.  The discussion was facilitated by an informal note from the
incoming and outgoing Chairpersons, contained in JOB(03)/74.
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3 For further explanation, see Note by the Secretar iat - Circulation of Draft Consolidated Schedules,
S/CSC/W/38, 23 January 2003