RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/WPPS/M/23
30 November 1998
(98-4800)
Working Party on Professional Services
NOTE ON THE MEETI NG HELD ON 16 NOVEMBER 1998
Note by the Secretariat
1. The Working Party on Professional Services held its twenty-third meeting on 16 November
1998.  The agenda for the meeting was contained in airgram WTO/AIR/970.  The main item on the
agenda was a revised draft Decision of the Council for Trade in Services on the legal form of thedisciplines on accountancy.  Also discussed were draft reports of the WPPS to the Council for Trade
in Services .
(a) Work Pursuant to Paragraph 2(a) of the Decision on Professional Services
Draft Council Decision
2. The Chairman introduced his revised informal  Note, "Decision on Disciplines Relating to the
Accountancy Sector" (Job No. 6051, dated 6 November 1998), by highlighting the changes made to the
draft Council Decision from the previous version, as explained in the cover note.
3. The representative of Japan said that his delega tion was comfortable with most parts of the text;
however, the WPPS should not prejudge future work by adding the phrase "including accountancy" in
paragraph 2.  The representative of the European Communities enquired whether the second sentence of
paragraph 1 might be better formulated, and asked whether the title of the draft Decision should be
changed to refer to all professional services.  She expressed doubt as to whether the phrase "including
accountancy" was needed, and said that the phrase "are intended" in the third sentence of paragraph 2
was too weak.  The delegate from Egypt expressed satis faction with the language of all three paragraphs
of the revised Decision and, noting that the text wa s a compromise, urged Members not to make further
changes.  If the text were revised, howev er, Egypt would also revise its position.
4. The delegate from the United States expressed appreciation for the revisions to the draft
Decision, and said that the text was now generally acceptable.  Stating that the accountancy
disciplines were a "low common denominator" of Members' positions, the representative said it would
therefore be problematic if the accountancy disciplines could not be revised at some point in the
future.  He also said that some Members might have the view that adoption of the text by the Council
meant the accountancy disciplines could not be changed;  in order to avoid this possibility, while
recognizing that any future changes would require a consensus among Members, the phrase "includingaccountancy" should remain in the text.  He also noted there was concern over not specifying a date in
the text.  This was unavoidable, however, as the schedule for the next round of negotiations was
unknown in this respect.
5. The representative of New Zealand agreed th at the second sentence of paragraph 1 should be
reexamined, as the disciplines would not have lega l force following a Council Decision.  She noted that
the inclusion of the word "all" in the third senten ce of paragraph 2 could also cause confusion.  The
delegate from Australia stated that the draft Decisi on was now nearly a final document.  On the phrase
"including accountancy", she agreed with the United St ates that a specific reference was needed.  On the
second sentence of paragraph 1, she felt it should be deleted.S/WPPS/M/23
Page 2
6. The delegate from India said that the existin g text was acceptable, but that any substantive
changes would require further discussions and comments .  If changes were to be made, he supported the
deletion of the phrase "including accountancy".  The representative from Brazil noted that his delegation
had not favoured mention of a horiz ontal approach in regard to futu re work;  his delegation was willing
to be flexible, however, in order to reach a consensus.   Brazil did wish to register that its understanding
that the wording of paragraph 2 was such that it di d not prejudge the future course of negotiations, and
left open the opportunity to develop sectoral disciplin es when needed.  Like other delegations, Brazil felt
the phrase "including accountancy" was not necessary.  The delegate from Canada said the existing
consensus should be maintained, and therefore furthe r drafting changes should not be made.  He noted
that the text already reflected a "precarious ba lance" between the viewpoints of Members.  The
Chairman stated that in his understanding the phrase "are applicable" in paragraph 1 meant "are capable
of application", not that th ey would apply immediately.
7. The delegate of Mexico said she was pleased with the revised Decision.  In paragraph 1, she
suggested that the second sentence be revised slightly to say "These disciplines are to be applicable"
while, in paragraph 2, she felt the phrase "including accountancy" was not necessary.  In paragraph 3,
she suggested the phrase "and with their Schedules of Specific Commitments" be added to the secondline after "existing legislation" in order to cover commitments which go beyond the status quo in
national legislation.  The delegation from Uruguay noted that the text had been improved, and was
nearly finished.  On paragraph 1, the suggestion to revise the second sentence to say "are to beapplicable" should be considered.  However, the phrase "including accountancy" was probably
redundant, and doubtful from a legal point of view.  The delegate of Argentina said that the draft
Decision was acceptable, and noted that the text was the result of compromise between Members.  He
indicated that it was better to reach consensus on the existing text rather than attempt further
revisions.  The delegation of Switzerland indicated their agreement on the need to maintain consensus
on the basis of the existing text.  The representative of the European Communities indicated that her
delegation would give a response soon on the request to maintain consensus.
8. The delegate from Canada asked for clarification of the concerns raised by Mexico in respect to
paragraph 3.  The delegate from the United States said, regarding Mexico's points, the GATS covered
only government measures, and not measures taken outside the government domain.  Member
commitments in the Schedules were already covered by the DSU.  The representative also strongly
agreed with other Members that the text of the Decision should not be altered.  The delegate of
Mexico said she found the comments by the U.S. delegate helpful.  To respond to Canada, the
representative said Mexico's concerns included, fo r example, industry codes of conduct not subject to
national legislation. The representative of New Z ealand said she supported Mexico on the inclusion of
the phrase "are to be applicable".
9. The Chairman also urged Members not to reopen the text, apart from two minor editing
changes, i.e. revising paragraph 1 to say "These disciplines are to be applicable" and deleting "all"
from paragraph 2.  On the point raised by Mexico, the Chairman observed that what is contained in
Members' Schedules, other than possibly additional commitments, was a separate matter from ArticleVI:4 issues.  The Chairman concluded discussions by saying that he hoped to finalize the text at the
next meeting.
Draft WPPS report
10. The draft report of the WPPS to the Council for Trade in Services, in the form of a
Chairman's Note (Job No. 6052, dated 6 November 1998), was discussed in informal mode.  OneMember suggested some minor clarifications, and on this basis Members agreed to go forward with
the final version of the report.S/WPPS/M/23
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(b) Other Business
11. Under "Other Business", the Chairman noted that the next WPPS meeting was scheduled for
4 December.  The objective of the meeting would be to finalize both the accountancy disciplines and
the Council Decision.
12. Introducing the draft of the annual WPPS report to the Council (WTO document
S/WPPS/W/20, dated 16 November 1998), the Chairman then asked Members to present their
comments in advance of the next meeting, in order to allow the report to be adopted at the meeting.
The representative of Columbia commented that the term "reference paper" was not appropriate in the
third paragraph, stating that "additional commitments" would be a better term.
13. The Chairman concluded by stating that Members should start to consider the direction of the
WPPS's work for the next year, and that this topic could also be discussed at the next meeting.  The
representative of Canada then enquired whether paragraph 5 of the draft annual report should serve as
the starting-point of the discussions.  The Chairman replied that he felt paragraph 5 reflected the
extent of the discussion to date, but did not represent a commitment by Members.
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