WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSS/8
11 October 2001
(01-4943)
REPORT (2001) OF THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE
COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1. The Special Session of the Council for Trad e in Services held six meetings between
November 2000 and September 2001, two of which dedicated to the issue of the treatment ofautonomous liberalization.  Reports of the meet ings are contained in documents S/CSS/M/6 to
S/CSS/M/11 and should be read in conjunction with this report.  The Special Session addressed the
following matters:
I. NEGOTIATING GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES PURSUANT TO ARTICLE XIX
OF THE GATS
2. Article XIX:3 of the GATS mandates that, for each round of negotiations, negotiating
guidelines and procedures be established.  The Council had discussed the establishment of such
guidelines throughout 2000, and at the meeting held on December 2000 the Secretariat was asked to
produce a first draft text of the guidelines, consolidating proposals and drawing from all inputs, both
oral and written.  Informal meetings were held in February and March 2001 to refine the text.  TheCouncil adopted the negotiating guidelines and procedures contained in document S/L/93 at the
Special Session held on 28 March 2001.
II. STOCK-TAKING
3. Paragraph 2(g) of the "road-map" adopted by the Council on 26 May 2000 states that "the
second phase of these negotiations would begin with a stock-taking exercise by the Special Session in
March 2001, to consider progress made and how to mo ve forward".  Accordingly, at the meeting held
on 28 to 30 March 2001, Members expressed their views on how they saw progress made in thenegotiations until then and on how the Council should organize its work beyond that point.  The
stock-taking discussion was carried out expeditiously, thanks to the positive and constructive spirit of
delegations.  Beyond the negotiating proposals, many delegations referred to on-going work and to
the need to continue the rule-making work with dispatch.  The Council needed to determine the date
of the meeting of the Special Session dedicated to the issue of autonomous liberalization and of thefollowing meeting of the review of the Annex on Air Transport Services.  It was agreed that the
assessment of trade in services would remain a standing item on the agenda of the Special Session;
the regular sessions of the Council would be c oncerned with concluding the review of MFN
exemptions.
4. There was convergence on the schedule of meetings for the year ahead.  Members agreed to
hold clusters of services meetings in May, July, October, December 2001 and March 2002, when they
would review progress made in the negotiations.  Th e scheduling of an additional meeting in February
2002, proposed by two delegations, could be decided upon at a later stage.  As concerned the
organization of the discussion of negotiating proposals, it was agreed that all proposals would be
addressed at the May meeting and that the discussion would be structured according to sectors, modesof supply and the horizontal issues identified.  Subsequently, the proposals would be divided into two
groups for a more detailed discussion at the meetings in July and October.  Sectors would be taken upS/CSS/8
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in the order in which they appeared in the W/120 sectoral classification, while also allowing for the
discussion of other sectors, such as energy services.  It was pointed out that such a work programme
would require the Special Session to meet over several days and that it might have implications on the
allocation of time between the Council and the subsidiary bodies.  Several delegations called for a
predictable work programme in terms of the allocation of sectors to sessions, in order to facilitate theparticipation of capital-based experts.  It was underscored that Members remained free to introduce
new proposals at any time.  It was also agreed that the Secretariat would prepare a paper outlining the
main elements of the negotiating proposals, which would be updated regularly.  Members also
decided that the Secretariat would update the existing compilation of Members' commitments in
maritime transport services, as well as its background paper on maritime transport services, contained
in document S/C/W/62.
5. Without prejudice to the outcome of the Fourth Ministerial Conference, Members adopted
this programme as the future work programme for the Special Session of the Council for Trade in
Services.
III. TOURISM SERVICES
6. At the meeting held on 5 and 6 December 2000, Members continued their discussion of the
proposal for a GATS annex on tourism which had been tabled by the delegations of the DominicanRepublic, El Salvador and Honduras in document S/C/W/127 and Corr.1, as well as the submission by
the European Communities in document S/CSS/W/5.  A new communication was submitted by the
Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras in document S/CSS/W/9, containing replies to the
comments received on the proposed tourism annex, and a further communication, contained in
document S/CSS/W/19, was received from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras,Nicaragua and Panama with a revised classification of tourism services.  The Council also agreed that
the symposium on tourism services, which had been decided upon in February, would be held over
one and a half days, on 22 and 23 February 2001.  Some Members commented on the event at the
meeting held in March.  Thereafter, tourism services were discussed under the agenda item on
"Proposals relating to the negotiations under Article XIX of the GATS".
IV. PROPOSALS RELATING TO THE NEGOTIATIONS UNDER ARTICLE XIX OF
THE GATS
7. Under this agenda item, Members discussed the various negotiating proposals submitted to
the Special Session.
8. At its meeting on 5 and 6 December 2000, the Council addressed a joint communication from
the delegations of the European Communities; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea;
Norway and Singapore;  a communication from th e delegation of India;  a communication from the
European Communities;  a communication from Australia;  and a note by the Secretariat, in Job
No. 7436, on the incorporation into the GATT of successive schedules of concessions on goods.
9. At the meeting held in March, new negotiating proposals were submitted by the delegations
of the United States; the European Communities; Japan; Canada; Norway; Australia; Hong Kong,
China; and Venezuela, on a number of services sectors, modes of supply and other horizontal issues.In May, new submissions were tabled by the delega tions of Switzerland; the Mercosur members; the
Republic of Korea; Japan; Chile; and the members of the Andean Community.
10. At the meeting held in July, the Council discussed proposals relating to the movement of
natural persons, other horizontal issues, business services, communication services, construction
services and distribution services.  New proposals were submitted by the delegations of New Zealand;Japan;  Australia;  the Mercosur members;  Colombia;  Brazil;  Mexico; and the United States.  In theS/CSS/8
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discussion on mode 4, Members agreed that the Secretariat would produce a note on the application of
economic needs tests to all modes of supply, drawing upon Members' schedules and work undertaken
by the UNCTAD and OCED Secretariats.  It was also decided that, in order to move the debate
forward, an informal event on mode 4, possibly in th e form of a symposium, would be held after the
Fourth Ministerial Conference, possibly in early 2002.  Following the discussion of the otherhorizontal issues, it was decided that these would remain on the agenda of the October meeting, and
that their discussion would be organized on an issu e-by-issue basis.  The following horizontal issues
would be addressed:  Article VII;  Article IV;  small and medium-sized suppliers;  MFN exemptions;
classification;  transparency and other aspects of domestic regulation.  The meeting in October would
also address, as agreed, proposals relating to education, energy, environmental, financial, tourism,
recreational and transport services.  Members would still be able to submit new proposals on any
service sector.
11. As had been agreed under the "stock-taking" discussion held in March, the Secretariat
produced a paper identifying the main elements of the negotiating proposals, as an aid to the
discussion.  It is contained in documents JOB(01 )/63, Addendum 1 and Corrigendum 1.  It was agreed
that the note would in no way substitute for the proposals themselves, which delegations needed to
continue to refer to;  the paper was factual and non-exhaustive, and it would be regularly updated.Delegations were also encouraged to submit their questions and answers relating to the proposals in
writing;  the Secretariat compiled them in documents JOB(01)/96 and Addenda 1 to 6.
V. ASSESSMENT OF TRADE IN SERVICES
12. Article XIX:3 of the GATS mandates the Services Council to carry out an assessment of trade
in services in overall terms and on a sectoral basis, with reference to the objectives of the Agreement,including those set out in Article IV:1.  The assessme nt of trade in services figures as a standing item
on the agenda of the Special Session.
13. At the meeting held in December, Members held preliminary discussions of three new
contributions tabled on the assessment.  The delegation of the United States had provided information
on sectoral services statistics from non-Balance-of -Payments sources that were available for various
US services industries;  the delegations of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Slovak Republic
and Slovenia had made a submission on the assessment of trade in services in certain transition
economies;  and the Secretariat had updated its 1997 note, contained in document S/C/W/27,
reviewing statistics and developments in international services trade.  A new communication,
assessing the participation of developing countries in  services trade, was tabled by Argentina at the
meeting held in March.  At that meeting, Members also tasked the Secretariat with producing a note
on the work of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services.
14. At the meeting in May, Members held a preliminary discussion of the note prepared by the
Secretariat on the work of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Statistics, reporting on the adoption of the
Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services, as well as a paper presented by the delegation
of Norway titled "Diffusion of Information Techno logy, SADC and International Production".  The
Council reverted to these documents at its meeting in July, when it was also decided that, in order tohelp structure the discussion under this agenda item, the Secretariat would produce a compilation of
all the statements made and submissions tabled on the assessment of trade in services.
VI. MODALITIES FOR THE TREATMENT OF AUTONOMOUS LIBERALIZATION
15. Article XIX:3 of the GATS mandates that negotiating guidelines establish modalities for the
treatment of liberalization undertaken autonomously by Members since previous negotiations.S/CSS/8
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16. On 1 December 2000, the Council held a Special Session dedicated to the issue.  Two
informal documents were received from the delega tions of Hong Kong, China, in Job No. 7580, and
the Republic of Korea, in Job No. 7634 and Addendum 1.
17. The issue was next discussed in the course of the Special Session meeting held on 28 to
30 March, when Members tasked the Secretariat with producing a note with a checklist of issues andany relevant material on the Uruguay Round experience with efforts to address the treatment of
autonomous liberalization.  At the meeting held in May, Members discussed the note prepared by the
Secretariat, which is contained in JOB(01)/65.  They agreed that a further meeting dedicated to
autonomous liberalization would be held in July;  the Secretariat note in document JOB(01)/65 would
be used as an annotated checklist to structure the discussion at that meeting, without prejudice to any
Member bringing any other issue forward.
18. The second Special Session meeting dedicated to the treatment of autonomous liberalization
was held on 12 July.  At that meeting Members agreed that, in order to move to a more operational
phase, the Secretariat would prepare a brief note pointing out the broad views expressed under each
relevant issue.
VII. OUTLINE OF THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
19. At the meeting held in May, it was agreed that a standing item on the outline of the
Chairman's report to the General Council would be added to the agenda of the Special Session.
Accordingly, at the meeting held in July, the Ch airman outlined the content of the report of that
meeting that he would be giving to the General Council.
VIII.  WORK OF SUBSIDIARY BODIES – REPORTS BY CHAIRPERSONS
20. Pursuant to the decision taken at the meeting on 25 February 2000, the subsidiary bodies
reported regularly to the Special Session in the form of oral reports from the Chairpersons.
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