RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/CSC/M/34 
11 November 2004 
 (04-4796) 
Committee on Specific Commitments  
  
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 28 SEPTEMBER 2004 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
1. The Committee on Specific Commit ments (CSC) held a meeting on 28 September 2004.  The 
agenda for the meeting is contained in WTO/AI R/2387.  As no points were raised under Other 
Business, and the agenda was adopted  as proposed in the airgram. 
A. C LASSIFICATION ISSUES  
2. The Chairman  stated that he would like to structure the item of Classification Issues into four 
parts:  first, the OECD representative would deliv er a presentation on legal services;  second, the 
Committee would revert to the discussion on Indonesia's proposal on the classification of energy services;  third, he would invite comments on any othe r classification issue;  and, finally, he would 
suggest that the Committee switch to informal m ode to discuss classification issues in two areas of 
Business Services, namely management cons ulting and computer and related services. 
3. He recalled that the Committee had considered to  invite the OECD for the present meeting to 
present a paper with the title " Managing Request-Offer Negotiations under the GATS:  The Case of 
Legal Services "  (JOB(04)/77), but had at the last meeting not come to a conclusion on the most 
suitable forum for such a presentation.  Further to in formal consultations, he had informed delegations 
by fax that there appeared to be a preference for the paper to be discu ssed in this Committee.  
Although the presentation was given under the item of  classification issues, it would cover the entire 
paper, and not only classification aspects.  
4. The representative of the OECD
 explained that the study on Legal Services was part of a joint 
OECD/UNCTAD project, which aimed to assist  WTO Members in conducting request/offer 
negotiations by trying to clarify some of the complex issues involved.  The project comprised five sectors, i.e. energy and construction services (UNCTAD) as well as insurance services, legal services 
and environmental services (OECD).   
5. Turning to the topic of his presentation, he stated that the legal sector had experienced 
continuous growth in the past decade as a result of the expansion of overall trade, as well as the 
development of new fields of law, particularly in  the areas of business- and trade law.  The sector had 
experienced significant consolidation that had in creased the number of multinational law firms.  
While these firms were presently located mainly in  a few Anglophone countries, there was strong 
growth of large firms also in other countries in  both Europe and Asia.  Naturally, the individual 
lawyers working for large multinational law firms were  nationals of many different countries.  A case 
in point was the example of Baker & McKenzie whic h, as the second largest law firm in the world, 
employed nationals from 60 different countries.  Comprehensive data on nationalities of lawyers, 
however, was scarce.  Trade in legal services seemed to have grown at a faster rate than the sector 
                                                     
 
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. S/CSC/M/34 
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overall.   Modes 3 and 4 were becoming increasingly important for law firms, as their clients demanded multi-jurisdictional advice and an integrat ed service covering all aspects of a transaction.  
To meet these demands, lawyers often attempted to  build their own international networks through 
commercial presence with the purpose of developing a pool of lawyers with a knowledge of the many 
countries, including the host countries, and practices that were relevant to their clients' businesses.  
Nevertheless, trade in legal services continued to be a ffected by a variety of measures, particularly in 
modes 3 and 4.   
6. There had been several proposals by Members, with different degrees of ambition, to improve 
the current GATS classification.  One suggestion was to develop a common definition for foreign 
legal consultants, meaning professional lawyers who di d not wish to practice host country law, and to 
develop a common definition of intern ational law.  Another suggestion was to include sub-sectors that 
focused on individual professions, e.g. lawyers a nd judges;  legal representation as counselling in 
business transactions;  participation in the governance of business, mediation, arbitration and public 
advocacy and lobbying.  More recently, it had been  proposed to add 12 sub-categories based on the 
area of law and type of services, distinguishing be tween advisory and representation of legal services 
on host country, home country, third country, and inte rnational law.  Similar distinctions had been 
made by several WTO Members in their Uruguay Round commitments.  Another suggestion was to 
leave the current classification unchanged and ad dress any limitations in the market access and 
national treatment columns.   
7. An overview of existing commitments showed  that 45 Members (counting the European 
Communities and its Members States as one) had made commitments during the Uruguay Round, in 
addition to nineteen of the twenty Members that acceded to the WTO thereafter.  During the earlier 
stages of the current negotiations, three Members had submitted proposals on legal services, together 
with four who had made proposals on professional ser vices generally.  Three initial offers proposed 
new commitments in the sector, while 11 offers e nvisaged changes to existing commitments.  The 
proposed changes included removal of market acce ss and national treatment limitations, such as 
nationality and residence requirements, or broadening  of the scope of commitments to include more 
than the already committed legal services. 
8. The OECD study showed that the benefits of lib eralization of trade in legal services were not 
negligible.  Lawyers played a vital role in s upporting business transactions, and without their input 
trade could not take place in a secure and pred ictable manner.  Legal services were therefore 
increasingly seen as part of the overall infrastruct ure for commerce.  Trade liberalization could 
increase competition in the domestic market, leadi ng to higher quality of legal services and lower 
prices of these services for consumers.  As for the most part consumers of foreign legal services were corporate clients, the availability of a secure and pr edictable environment for legal services could help 
attract investment and provide business opportunities in the local market;  presence of foreigners through partnerships with local lawyers and hiring of local lawyers could help transfer knowledge and 
know-how which in turn contributed to the develo pment of a stronger domestic industry and could 
potentially lead to development of export capacity in this sector.  Also, non-economic benefits could 
arise from liberalization of trade in services, e.g. l earning from others in the administration of justice. 
9. The paramount consideration underlying many of the restrictions on trade in legal services 
appeared to be the protection of the public function of  lawyers.  Thus, relevant limitations were aimed 
at ensuring that legal services were rendered w ith the necessary knowledge of local rules and 
conditions, e.g. nationality and residency requiremen ts.  The refusal to recognise foreign lawyers as 
lawyers and the prohibition on nationals to form pa rtnerships with such non-recognized lawyers was 
meant to protect consumers and en sure the quality of the service.  Another regulatory consideration 
was to ensure accountability and liability of lawyers vis-à-vis  their clients, which was upheld through 
legal form- and residency requirements.  Finally, there was the consideration of ensuring proximity 
and availability of lawyers via residency requirements.  S/CSC/M/34 
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10. The importance of protecting the public interest  was apparent, given the crucial task that 
lawyers perform, i.e. their contribution to the admini stration of justice.  Reform efforts had to take 
account of the legitimate role of governments to en sure public policy objectives.   The issue, however, 
was to what extent those objectives were necessarily  pursued by the measure used, or whether they 
could be better or equall y served by less trade restrictive means.   In this light, the rationale for 
nationality requirements was not clear:  if a forei gner was willing to do what was necessary to acquire 
or demonstrate the requisite knowledge  of the country in question, it a ppeared that the same level of 
consumer protection was provided.  In the case of residency requirements,  while more reasonably 
related to consumer protection, alternative approaches might be followed.  The demand for trade in 
legal services arose mainly from businesses, who were mostly capable of protecting themselves 
effectively through private contractual arrange ments, including provisions on insurance, 
indemnification, and dispute resolution.  Permitting pa rtnerships and hiring of local lawyers seemed to 
be of little risk to consumers, as long as the local la wyers provided all advice on local law on behalf of 
the foreign firms.  In reality, su ch restrictions might well result in  lost opportunities for local lawyers 
with no transfer of knowledge and know-how to the dom estic industry.  There also appeared to be a 
need for more focused regulation.  For example, concerns about ensuring knowledge of local rules 
seemed better protected by a fair and transparent qualification process and the right to practice host country law on the basis of knowledge and ability, rather than nationality requirements.  Consumer 
protection and the need for proximity could be en sured through less trade-restrictive means than 
residency requirements, e.g. by collaboration with  locals, bonding requirements, or provisions for 
insurance.  Concerns that incorporation might imply a dilution of prof essional liability could be 
addressed through partnerships that preserved full acc ountability of lawyers towards a firm's clients.  
An additional step would be to create framewo rks that helped build domestic capacity, e.g. 
by stimulating the transfer of knowledge and k now-how and by requiring collaboration with local 
lawyers.   
11. Some countries perceived liberalization of legal services as a threat to their domestic industry.  
While liberalization both in goods and services was ra rely without distributio nal consequences, it was 
important to keep in mind that the benefits ju st outlined would offset the costs.  A peculiar 
characteristic of the sector was that the impact of foreign presence on local suppliers was likely to be 
less significant than in other sectors:  first, local  lawyers retained a competitive advantage in the 
practice of host country law, and secondly, foreign firm s tended to hire locals to expand into this field 
of law.  While there were significant benefits potentially flowing from the liberalization of legal 
services, such liberalization needed to be pursued in a progressive, orderly and transparent manner so 
as to allow both governments to put in place an appr opriate regulatory framework and the incumbents 
to prepare for greater competition.  The GATS was well suited to support these objectives by granting Members broad freedom to choose the terms of liberalization.  In the current negotiations Members could exclude parts of the sector, e.g. host country law, or a sub-sector, e.g. representation.  Along 
these lines some Members had pursued the idea of limited licensing for foreign legal consultants, 
which meant that these did not have to re-qualif y to practice host country law but could obtain a 
limited license to practice the law for which they were qualified.  This could be coupled with the 
possibility to associate with/and employ locals.  Law firms could hence meet the demands of the 
clients to provide an integrated service covering all aspects of a transaction.   
12. Others had proposed making commitments on all le gal services with the assumption that host 
country law would be reserved to locally qualified la wyers.  Members could also limit access for or 
discriminate against foreign suppliers, but care sh ould be taken to put in place an appropriate 
regulatory framework that continued to achieve pub lic policy objectives in an efficient manner.  
Developing countries could also specify limitations  to strengthen domestic capacity, e.g. through the 
transfer of knowledge and know- how.  This additional flexibility was granted through Articles IV 
and XIX.  In these cases, care should be taken not to put in place overly burdensome policies, which 
might result in deterring trade and investment and s ubsequently the development of a strong domestic 
industry.  Countries could also pre-commit to further liberalization to give the local industry time to adjust.  Finally, they could maintain any non-discr iminatory measure to specify the requirements to S/CSC/M/34 
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practice host country law with no need to schedule them, even though such measures might usefully 
be scheduled under Article XVIII. 
13. A key issue for many developing countries which determined the nature and pace of 
liberalization, was the lack of regulatory capacity.  Technical assistance and capacity building were 
therefore an important dimension of the GATS nego tiations.  In conclusion, he stated that the 
questions in Annex I of the paper might be usef ul when Members framed requests and offers with 
trading partners.  The questions were divided in to GATS-related and non GATS-related questions.   
14. The representative of Canada
 noted that legal services were a priority sector for Canada in the 
context of on-going negotiations in the WTO.  Law firms had taken on  a more international 
orientation in recent years in order to keep pace with of the growing global needs of their clients.  The 
OCED paper was useful for GATS ne gotiators, particularly the questions in Annex I, which Members 
might wish to consider in the context of the requ est/offer process.  He sought more information on 
these questions. 
15. The representative of the Republic of Korea  thought that the OECD paper could be very 
helpful to many Members.  Benefits and direction of liberalization in the legal sector reflected the 
characteristics of international legal services tran sactions.  However, he noted several points of 
concern for Members for which his delegation would ca ll for an additional examination.  In particular, 
these included the statement in the OECD paper that the residency and nationality requirements 
scheduled by various Members could be considered  more trade restrictive than necessary to achieve 
the intended objective.   
16. To certain extent, nationality requirements might be regarded as trade restrictive as they could 
not easily be considered as essential for ensuring a substantial level of capacity or knowledge.  
However, his delegation believed that it was abso lutely necessary to require certain periods of 
residency to ensure public policy objectives, such as the protection of consumers, even in light of 
recent developments in information technology.  This  was particularly true in countries whose legal 
markets were opening for the first time, and the re putation and credibility of foreign lawyers or law 
firms had not been well established.  The particip ation of foreign lawyers without residency could 
hence be detrimental to consumer protection.  On public interest grounds, Korea applied similar 
measures to domestic lawyers as well, prohibiting the provision of legal services in the lawyer's absence by banning establishments of multiple branch offices in different regions, except those by law 
firms.  The alternatives to residency requirements mentioned in the OECD paper, i.e. insurance, 
dispute resolution and indemnification were all ex post  measures, and were therefore insufficient to 
replace this pre-requisite for public policy objectives. 
17. The OECD paper emphasized that open markets fo r legal services would bring about benefits 
such as enhancing the quality of legal services avai lable, reducing legal service fees, and encouraging 
foreign investment.  These were the usual arguments raised by countries calling for market opening.  
Concrete evidence of the impact of liberaliza tion was required, however.  The paper quoted a 
quantitative study by Nguyen-Hong on the costs of re strictions (Box 1) which he found unconvincing, 
as there was no proven parallel between the restricti ons' impact on costs in engineering services and 
those in legal services.  Further, it was not clear from the content of Box 1 which econometric method the study had adopted.  He doubted whether it pr ovided sufficient grounds  to conclude that 
restrictions were substantially increasing the cost and price of providing legal services.  Many of the 
benefits deriving from broader market access would ma terialize only over time, as stated in paragraph 
50 of the paper.  This was a significant factor that  could not be ignored.  There were still no answers 
to some critical questions, including on the initial co st of liberalizing the legal service market, and he 
wondered how long it would take until the benefits outweighed th e costs of market opening.  
Objective analysis based on actua l cases was essential.  Some count ries had seen that the adverse 
effects of market opening, such as the increase of consumer prices to cover the cost incurred while 
establishing an association, actually exceeded the e xpected gains associated, for example, with the  S/CSC/M/34 
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expansion of foreign direct investment.  Consequent ly, his delegation believed that a transition period 
was imperative for countries to adjust to the changes caused by liberalization.  In addition, 
liberalization had to be carried out in a progressive manner in order to maximise beneficial outcomes.  
Despite considerable difficulties in convincing domestic stake-holders of the necessities of 
liberalization, Korea had submitted an initial offer on opening its legal service market for the first 
time, and was making a strenuous effort to open its market gradually on the basis of the proposal. 
18. In conclusion, he stated that the OECD repor t certainly provided useful material for most 
Members, including Korea, in respect of the negotiations in legal services.  However, as the report seemed to focus only on the positive side of opening markets, he suggested that further efforts be 
made to identify and minimize the adverse effects based on rigorous empirical analysis. 
19. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 agreed with many elements of the OECD presentations, 
such as the growth-enhancing effects of trade in  legal services and the increasing importance of 
modes 3 and 4.  As for nationality requirements,  Chinese Taipei did not prohibit foreigners from 
participating in examinations that qualified candidates to practice as an a attorney of law.  He agreed 
that there was no compelling relationship between th e nationality of a lawyer and the quality of the 
service provided.  The quality of legal services wa s related to the practitioner's legal training, as 
evidenced by examinations, and experience, but was not  to the length of residence in the host country.  
Consequently, Chinese Taipei was requesting Memb ers to abolish residency requirements in the 
ongoing negotiations.  Turning to qu estions related to domestic regula tion, he considered that the 
disciplines on domestic regulation in the accounting sector were not a suitable model for legal 
services.  Unlike legal services, accounting services ha d been long internationalized as a result of the 
effort of the International Federation of Acc ountants (IFAC) and its In ternational Accounting 
Standards Committee (IASC).  In comparison, legal ser vices were part of a national judicial system 
which, in turn, reflected legal, economic and cultural traditions. 
20. He noted that Members had employed differe nt scheduling methods for making commitments 
on foreign legal consultants.  Chinese Taipei belie ved that the method of sub-dividing legal services 
and inscribing commitments for consultants in the se ctoral column was most appropriate.  Responding 
to the OECD's call for transparency, he stated that Chinese Taipei had put on the Ministry of Justice's 
website the provisions of the Attorney Act.  The website also permitted foreign attorneys to make 
enquiries.   
21. Turning to classification, he supported the Australian proposal which he considered 
instrumental in the systemization of topics related to the classification of legal services.  The detailed 
classification suggested by Australia reflected the ac tual form of legal service transactions and also 
the regulation in each Member.  In this regard, the classification would make the negotiations more 
efficient and lent more flexibility to individual Members. 
22. In reply to the comments made, the representative of the OECD  stated that the measures 
addressed in Annex 1 had been divided by modes of  supply and the fact whether they were sector-
specific or related to horizontal measures.  Also in cluded were measures that had a closer bearing on 
the negotiations on domestic regulati on.  Several of the latter measures could be an obstacle to trade, 
particularly in a profession such as legal services.  Questions outside the scope of the GATS had also 
been included.  With respect to the comments made  by Korea on residency requirements, he stated 
that the paper was without prejudice to countries' rights to put in place measures that suited their 
particular situations.  The paper proposed several less trade restrictive options that could be used 
instead, or at a later stage.  On the comment that more rigorous evidence of benefits of liberalization 
was needed, he noted that current research was of a preliminary nature in general.  The study quoted 
in the paper used a restrictiven ess index that ranked different measures in different countries for the 
legal, accountancy, engineering, and architecture pr ofessions.  On this index, an econometric price-
cost margin technique was applied.  This was done  only with the engineering profession.  However, 
since in the restrictiveness index for the legal profession was one of the highest, it was plausible to S/CSC/M/34 
Page 6  
 
assume that similar effects would occur in the lega l profession, where price hikes of up to 15% had 
been observed in certain cases.  He recalled that  the paper also mentioned possible downsides of 
liberalization, and suggested a gradual approach in certain cases, stressing that the GATS architecture 
was suited to allow for progressive liberalization.   
23. The representative of Australia
 reiterated his delegation's view that the limited licensing 
concept was an effective way to advance the liberal ization of legal services.  He hoped that a shared 
understanding of the classification issues could be developed among Members of the informal friends 
group.  The contribution of the OECD would be of great assistance in that context. 
24. The representative of Singapore  stated that any classification u sed in the current round should 
be a tool to facilitate the scheduling of commitments, but not become a disincentive or barrier in itself.  
He supported the classification proposal by Australia , which structured legal services according to 
jurisdiction (home country law, host country, third c ountry law, international law) and the type of 
service, namely representation and advisory services.   During the Uruguay Round, a large number of 
Members had undertaken commitments according to dis tinctions based on jurisdiction and the type of 
law.   
25. The representative of Switzerland underscored the infrastructural function that legal services 
provided in that they contributed to overall econom ic efficiency.  He concurred that there was an 
increasing demand for multi-jurisdictional advice and inte grated legal services.  He was interested in 
the OECD representative's views on the relationship between increasing demand in multi-jurisdictional advice and integrated services on the one hand, and a larger number of sub-categories in 
the sector column on the other hand.  To him, ch anges to classification and the creation of new sub-
categories were not necessarily helpful in this regard.  The GATS provided sufficient flexibility for 
meaningful offers.   
26. The representative of New Zealand
 stated that her delegation had found that Annex 1 
contained helpful questions, even with a wider app lication than only to legal services.  New Zealand 
had drawn similar conclusions as the OECD paper about the benefits of liberalization in legal 
services.  Noting the large number of lawyers from diffe rent jurisdictions that were employed by big 
law firms, she wondered whether these lawyers woul d retain certificates for practising their own home 
jurisdiction so that they could provide representa tion services or whether their focus was solely on 
advisory services. 
27. The representative of the United States  stated that the OECD paper provided helpful 
information on the nature of impediments on trade in legal services as well as the potential benefits to 
liberalization.  The paper could be a useful reference document for negotiating proposals and 
classification issues throughout the course of the ne gotiations.  Her delega tion had found Annex 4 
particularly interesting, where the Uruguay Round commitments on legal services were listed 
according to home country, host country and intern ational law .  While it was difficult to draw 
conclusions from an analysis that looked only at th e scope, but not the substance of the commitments, 
the table pointed to one way of considering their overall balance.  In addition, the table could be 
helpful in assessing the relative merits of the te rminology proposed by Australia and the IBA 
Resolution. 
28. The representative of Brazil  welcomed the OECD paper as a useful input for the negotiations, 
as it contained a very good summary of what had happened in the past, and identified certain differences between "demandeurs" in respect of lega l services.  With reference to paragraph 69, he 
was pleased that the paper noted that a significant number of Members were not in favour of prior 
consultation requirements.  The li st of questions contained in A nnex 1 contained very interesting 
elements for developing countries, in particular  as to whether commitments on legal services should 
be taken.  He requested more info rmation on Annex 2, in particular on the column relating to "lawyers  S/CSC/M/34 
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outside home country."  What proportion of these la wyers were citizens of the country where the law 
firm had established an office, and how many were based in developing and developed countries?   
29. In response to the question by Swit zerland, the representative of the OECD  stated that firms 
sought to meet the demand for multi-jurisdictional advice by employing, or associating with, lawyers 
qualified in different jurisdictions.  Restrictions on partnerships and hiring of locals were therefore 
often key problems.  On the question by New Zeal and, although not closely familiar to the actual 
practices of companies, he thought that lawyers who were permitted to supply representation services 
would normally be disadvantaged by the fact that th ey worked for a foreign law firm.  Turning to the 
question by Brazil, he regretted that no sufficiently  disaggregated data was available to respond.  
30. The representative of the United States  stated that her delegation had submitted a proposal for 
disciplines in order to move forward in the ne gotiations in the Working Party on Domestic 
Regulation.  The proposal build upon the notion, already in the accounting disciplines, of prior 
consultation and prior comment.  The proposal w as still being considered and she hoped that the 
Working Party would be able to discuss how to make  a commitment to prior comment without a best-
endeavours clause, and how to address concerns re lating to administrative burden and solve capacity 
and technical constraints. 
31. The Chairman  thanked the representative of the OECD for the presentation.  He recalled the 
discussion at the June meeting on the IBA Resolution in support of a system of terminology for legal 
services (JOB(04)/17).  The Secretariat had received since a letter by the IBA, which commented on the purpose of the Resolution, an issue which the Committee had debated at the last meeting.  He 
proposed that the letter be made availabl e as a room document for information.  
32. It was so agreed
. 
33. The representative of Australia  recalled that replies to several questions concerning the 
Resolution by the International Bar Association (IBA)  were still outstanding.  He suggested that the 
IBA be invited to the next CSC meeting in order to  provide clarifications.  The delegations of Japan  
and Switzerland  supported the suggestion.  
34. The Chairman  proposed that the Committee invite th e IBA to reply to questions by Members 
concerning its Resolution. 
35. It was so agreed . 
36. Turning to other classification issues, the Chairman  recalled that the Committee had discussed 
Indonesia's proposal concerning the classification of energy services (S/CSC/W/42) at the last three meetings.  At these meetings, delegations had commented in substance on the proposal, and posed 
questions to the delegation of Indonesia.  
37. The representative of Indonesia
 informed delegations that his delegation was revising its 
proposal, taking into account the comments and s uggestions made during the CSC meetings of 
December 2003, March and June 2004.  The revised proposal would be circulated ahead of the next 
meeting.  Turning to a question raised by Kuwait at the last meeting, he state that the revised proposal 
had disaggregated energy services based on the sequen ce of energy activities.  Gravity survey had 
now been included as a new 1A.1.4.2, magnetic survey  as 1A.1.4.3, and seismic data interpretation as 
1A.1.4.1.3.  He also thanked the delegation of China for having provided a list of questions.  
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, his dele gation was not in a position to reply to China's 
questions at the present meeting. 
38. The representative of Japan  recalled that his delegation, together with Chile and the United 
States, had proposed a "Guide for Scheduling Commitments on Energy Services in the WTO" S/CSC/M/34 
Page 8  
 
(JOB(03)/89), which addressed certain issues differe ntly from the Indonesian paper.  Referring to 
page 8 of the Indonesian paper, (section 2.7.1) , he noted that CPC 7131 was limited in W/120 to 
transportation via pipeline and that the entry under se ction 2.7.1 probably should be confined to that 
sector.  Transportation of coal, under section 2.7.3, would better be included in  other distribution or 
transportation entries.  As for section 2.7.4, the Indonesian paper stated that transmission and 
distribution of electricity was included in services inci dental to energy distribution.  His delegation's 
understanding was that this was not part of CPC 887, but that a separate entry would be needed.  His 
delegation also considered that separate entries could be necessary for sections 3.1.2 (wholesale trade 
services of electricity, town gas, steam and hot wa ter) and 3.2.2 (retailing services of electricity on 
town gas, steam and hot water).  With regard to section 2.2.2 (liquification and regasification), he felt 
that it covered manufacturing activities. 
39. The Chairman
 concluded that the Committee awaited the revision of Indonesia's proposal for 
discussion at the next meeting.  He recalled that there had been broad agreement that switching to 
informal mode for a discussion of classification issues would facilitate a more open exchange of 
views.  Based on inputs from interested delegations , he suggested to discuss in informal mode:  
Consulting Services, and Computer- and Related Serv ices.  He intended to prepare a concise, non-
attributable summary of the discussion, which woul d be circulated under his own responsibility as a 
working document without any document reference.    
40. It was so agreed . 
B. SCHEDULING ISSUES  
41. The Chairman  noted that two new papers were available:  one had been received recently 
from the delegation of Hong Kong, China and cont ained further observations on scheduling issues 
(JOB(04)/133);  the other had been prepared by the Secretariat upon request by the Committee, and 
contained a list of documents that had been i ssued during the discussions on the revision of the 
scheduling guidelines (JOB(04)/97).  The list included, in chronological order, formal as well as informal documents that had been submitted durin g the revision process by Members, the Chairman, 
or the Secretariat.  Last week, the delegation of Hong Kong, China had made a submission.  He then 
recalled that several other papers were still in front of the Committee, notably two communications by 
Brazil (JOB(03)/189) and JOB(04)/12) containing pr eliminary questions on a number of initial offers, 
as well as a communication by Hong Kong, Chin a on scheduling questions (JOB(04)/81), and 
comments on these questions by Chinese Taipei (JOB(04)/82). 
42. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 stated that his delegation's new communication 
sought to advance the discussion and draw atten tion to possible ambiguities and pitfalls, which 
Members could avoid when inscribing new commitm ents.  He had no intention of re-opening the 
Scheduling Guidelines, but rather wanted to ensure  that these remained the foundation for scheduling 
commitments and promoting a common understandi ng among Members as to how they should be 
applied.  Important scheduling issues had been discu ssed the day before in the Special Session, where 
delegations considered a paper from Switzerland c oncerning the need for transparency and legal 
certainty of schedules.  Many elements in th e paper were linked to the ongoing work in this 
Committee.  Hong Kong, China's new communication took into account comments from other delegations.  He hoped that the discussion on schedu ling issues would evolve on two tracks, the first 
being the continued examination of issues which his and other delegations had raised, i.e. general and 
horizontal scheduling questions.  He considered it u seful to structure this discussion according to the 
sections of the Scheduling Guidelines.  Secondly, ec onomic needs tests were a specific issue in their 
own right as some ENT-related questions, albeit still within the mandate of the Committee, might go 
beyond scheduling.  He noted that a background note by the Secretariat (S/CSS/W/118) provided a list of ENTs in schedules and contained some in teresting and thought-provoking observations.  The 
note would assist Members in conducting a substa ntive discussion on ENTs.  His delegation would 
put forward more specific ideas and thoughts in future meetings.    S/CSC/M/34 
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43. The representative of Chinese Taipei  concurred that many scheduling issues called for a 
common understanding on the application of the Sc heduling Guidelines.  Commenting preliminarily 
on Hong Kong, China's latest paper, she stated with  reference to question 1, that there should be a 
different interpretation of the "none " and "unbound" in the sector-specific section.  The views held by 
the Panel in Mexico- Telecom might provide clues to address problems such as those raised in 
question 2.  A further discussion might be useful on question 4, additional co mmitments, or question 5 
on ENTs.    
44. The representative of Korea  agreed with Hong Kong, China that it would not be desirable to 
seek to revise the Scheduling Guidelines.  Delegatio ns should rather concentrate on how to apply the 
Guidelines properly to current schedules.  In view of the preparation of revised offers, it might be 
useful to discuss the inclusion of transparency el ements in schedules which strictly speaking were not 
subject to scheduling.  She also supported a further discussion to clarify the content of ENTs and the types of criteria used for them.   
45. The representative of Switzerland
 stated that the clarification of technical aspects was very 
important for the preparation of the improved offers by May 2005.  With regard to the questions put 
forward by Hong Kong, China, his delegation agr eed broadly with the comments by Chinese Taipei 
on questions 13 and 7 to 10.  Switzerland would wish  to see further discussions on questions 5 and 6.  
To advance discussions, he suggested to focus on solutions rather than problems and supported the 
idea by Hong Kong, China to follow the structure of the Scheduling Guidelines. 
46. The representative of Thailand  supported a discussion on ENTs, preferably as a separate 
agenda item. 
47. The representative of the Philippines  saw great benefit in examining Hong Kong, China's 
questions, and agreed that there was no point in re -opening the Scheduling Guidelines.  However, if 
certain paragraphs of the Guidelines were not su fficiently clear, these should be addressed with an 
open mind.  He also endorsed a more focused discussion of ENTs.  
48. The representative of Hong Kong, China  agreed with Switzerland on the need for a solution-
oriented focus.  His delegation had made availa ble a room document containing scheduling questions 
concerning the initial offer of Brazil.  The purpo se was to put these questions in a more specific 
context.  He was not trying to single out Brazil, and the delegate of Brazil had indeed approved this 
approach.  Many of the questions raised applied to other initial offers as well and Members would 
benefit from the discussion of horizontal and general issues.  With regard to the comment by the representative of the Philippines, he said that probl ems had not arisen because of the content of the 
Scheduling Guidelines, but because of their actual use by Members.  
49. The representative of Brazil
 stated that some of the questions his delegation had put to other 
delegations had been addressed in bilaterals.  He st ressed the need for more discussion with a view to 
promote clarity, comparability and certainty in sch edules.  Hong Kong, China's questions to his 
delegation had come too late for th is meeting.  However, concerning question 9, he could confirm that 
the missing words had been omitted by mistake.   His delegation was preparing a new round of 
questions for the United States, Canada, EC, Japan and Hong Kong, China for discussion in 
November.  The aim was to sufficiently clarif y scheduling and classification issues in these 
negotiations, and he hoped that the closer the May deadline for revised offers  approached, the more 
progress would be made.  If some Members had con cerns and difficulties in engaging in a formal 
debate, he hoped that the discussion could take place in informal mode, or at least on a bilateral basis.   
50. The representative of Guatemala  suggested that Members who had replied bilaterally to 
Brazil's questions share these replies with others. S/CSC/M/34 
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51. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 welcomed Brazil's readiness to discuss scheduling 
issues, as this would contribute to the clarity of offe rs and provide useful inputs for the preparation of 
revised offers. He was looking forward to further work in the CSC. 
52. The representative of the United States  noted that her delegation had responded directly to 
Brazil, and would continue to proceed in that ma nner with respect to any additional questions that 
might be raised.  While it was appropriate to di scuss broader scheduling issues in the CSC, the 
Committee was not the forum to rai se specific questions with regard to individual Member's initial 
offers.   
53. The Chairman  suggested that Members take note of the statements made and the Committee 
revert to the discussion at the next meeting.  He  would further reflect on the comments as to how 
progress under this agenda item could be made 
54. It was so agreed . 
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
55. As no issues had been raised under Other Business, the Chairman  suggested that, in 
accordance with the practice of grouping meetings of  subsidiary bodies close to meetings of the 
Council, the next formal meeting be held in conjunction with the next services cluster.   
56. It was so agreed . 
 
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