RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/C/M/14
5December 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-5102)
Council forTrade inServices
REPORT OFTHE MEETING HELD ON30OCTOBER 1996
Note bytheSecretariat
1. TheCouncil forTrade inServices heldameeting on30October 1996. Theagenda forthe
meeting iscontained inAirgram WTO/AIR/465 andAdd.1. Under other business, therepresentative
ofNorway made astatement concerning thenotification oftheAgreement concerning acommon Nordic
Labour Market.
A. PREPARATIONSFORTHE1996MINISTERIALCONFERENCEINSINGAPORE-REPORT
OFTHE COUNCIL FOR TRADE INSERVICES TOTHE GENERAL COUNCIL
2. TheChairperson recalled thatafirstdraftofthereport oftheCouncil totheGeneral Council
hadbeencirculated withanotebytheChairperson dated 7October 1996. PartIofthatdraftcovered
theactivities oftheCouncil during 1996. PartIIcovered recommendations concerning future work
oftheCouncil itself. Subsequently, arevision ofthatdrafthadbeencirculated withanotebythe
Chairperson dated 23October 1996. Itexpanded ontheprevious draftinthatithadincorporated the
contents ofthereports produced bysubsidiary bodies. TheChairperson hadbeenconducting informal
consultations onthebasisoftherevision dated 23October. Onthebasisofthose consultations asecond
revision dated 29October 1996hadbeencirculated. Itconsisted oftwoparts: afactual partcontained
thework undertaken bytheCouncil andthesubsidiary bodies and, asecond partcontained
recommendations onfuture work. Shestated thatwhile PartIdidnotseem togiverisetoanyserious
problems, PartII,required further work. Therefore, theCouncil wasnotinaposition toadopt its
report atthismeeting. Sheadded thatthepoints which remained toberesolved weremostly matters
ofemphasis andtiming. Sherecognized thatmore consultations withcapitals were necessary.
3. Therepresentatives ofCanada, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico andColombia stated that
theirdelegations supported thewhole report asitstood. Intheirviewbothpartsstruck anappropriate
balance.
4. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities stated thatherdelegation didnothave
difficulties withPartIofthereport: PartII,however, gaverisetoanumber ofproblems. Theordering
oftheparagraphs inthatpartdidnotreflect priorities ofwork. Shesuggested thatPartIIshould start
withunfinished business, followed byongoing work andfinally address future work. Shealsomade
other specific textual suggestions inrelation toparagraph 42concerning thefuture work oftheCouncil
itself.S/C/M/14
Page2
5. Therepresentative ofIndia stated thathisdelegation supported thefirstpartofthereport as
itstood, butnotthesecond. Heagreed withtherepresentative oftheEuropean communities thatthe
paragraphs ofpartIIshould berearranged toreflect theorder ofpriority. Hewasconcerned that
decisions onfuture negotiations werebeing made withunwarranted haste. Theproposal byChile in
document S/C/W/16 wasacceptable tohisdelegation oncondition thatitwasnotlinked withother
proposals. Hisdelegation wasinterested inaninformation exchange exercise which would allow
developing countries toparticipate more effectively infuture negotiations. Hestated that,withrespect
totheproposal made byAustralia indocument S/C/W/17, more specific details wereneeded inorder
toassess itsimplications. There wasalready aheavy work programme inplace andhisdelegation
washesitant torushahead withfurther work onissues relating tothenextround ofnegotiations.
6. Therepresentative ofthePhilippines, speaking onbehalf oftheASEAN countries, stated that
thereport asitstood wasacceptable. However, dueconsideration should begiven toMembers who
would stillbeintheprocess offormulating theirownpolicies atthetimewhen theCouncil conducted
theexchange ofinformation programme. Sheadded thatparticipation insuchaprogramme should
beonavoluntary basis.
7. Therepresentative ofMorocco supported theviews ofthedelegation ofIndia inrelation to
anydecisions onnew items ofwork. Healso agreed with therepresentative ofthe
European Communities thattheparagraphs ofPartIIshould berearranged toreflect theorder of
priorities.
8. Therepresentative ofKorea stated thathisdelegation hadseveral problems withPartIIofthe
report, inparticular, paragraph 42.Hesuggested thatthesecond indent ofthatparagraph should be
deleted.
9. Therepresentative ofPerustated thathisdelegation reserved itsrights withrespect tothe
adoption ofthereport. Therepresentative ofCuba stated thathisdelegation could accept PartIofthe
report butwasstillawaiting instructions from hiscapital concerning PartII.
10. Therepresentative oftheUnited States stated thatPartIofthereport, aswellasmostofPartII,
were acceptable. Hisdelegation, however, could notagree tothesecond sentence ofparagraph 47
relating tofinancial services.
11. Therepresentative ofAustralia stated thatshewasnotyetinaposition toaccept thereport
asitstood. Shedidnotseeanyproblem withreordering theparagraphs ofPartIIaslongas
paragraph 42which related tothework oftheCouncil itself remained atthebeginning ofPartII.
Ingeneral, shedidnotunderstand whysome delegations found itdifficult toagree tolanguage relating
toitems ofthebuiltinagenda.
12. Therepresentative ofEgypt stated thathisdelegation could accept PartIofthereport. PartII,
however, required further consultations.
13. TherepresentativesofBrazilandSwitzerlandagreedwiththeviewsoftheEuropeanCommunities
andIndia concerning thereordering ofparagraphs inPartIIofthereport. Therepresentative ofBrazil
alsosuggested thatthesecond indent ofparagraph 42should bedeleted.
14. TheChairperson suggested thattheCouncil takenoteofthestatements made andagree that
further consultations would takeplace ontheoutstanding issues andthattheCouncil would holda
meeting on5November 1996 toconsider arevision ofthedraftreport.
15. Itwassoagreed.S/C/M/14
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B. NOTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TOARTICLE III.3OFTHE GATS
16. TheChairpersondrewattentiontothenotificationswhichhadbeenmadetotheCouncilpursuant
toArticle III:3oftheGATS concerning modifications toservices regulations insectors where specific
commitments hadbeenscheduled. Those notifications were:
(i) CANADA (S/C/N/9)
(ii) NORWAY (S/C/N/10)
(iii) PERU (S/C/N/11)
(iv) POLAND (S/C/N/12)
(v) SLOVENIA (S/C/N/16)
(vi) PERU (S/C/N/19)
(vii) SWITZERLAND (S/C/N/20)
Shesuggested thattheCouncil takenoteofthenotifications.
17. Itwassoagreed.
C. NOTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TOARTICLE V:7OFTHE GATS
18. TheChairpersondrewattentiontothenotificationswhichhadbeenmadepursuanttoArticleV:7
oftheGATS. Thefirstthree notifications ofthefollowing listhadalready come before theCouncil
atprevious meetings:
(i) CANADA, MEXICO USA (S/C/N/4)
(ii) EC&MEMBER STATES (S/C/N/6)
(iii) NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA (S/C/N/7)
(iv) EC&MEMBER STATES AND
SLOVAK REPUBLIC (S/C/N/23)
(v) EC&MEMBER STATES AND
REPUBLIC OFHUNGARY (S/C/N/24)
(vi) EC&MEMBER STATES AND
REPUBLIC OFPOLAND (S/C/N/25)
(vii) EC&MEMBER STATES AND
CZECH REPUBLIC (S/C/N/26)
(viii) EC&MEMBER STATES AND
ROMANIA (S/C/N/27)
(ix) EC&MEMBER STATES AND
THE KINGDOM OFNORWAY,
REPUBLIC OFICELAND
AND THE PRINCIPALITY OF
LIECHTENSTEIN (S/C/N/28)
19. Therepresentative ofAustralia, speaking onbehalf ofAustralia andNewZealand, stated that
afinalnotification oftheProtocol onTrade inServices totheAustralia -NewZealand Closer Economic
RelationsTradeAgreementwasunderpreparationandwouldbecommunicatedshortlytotheSecretariat.
Herdelegation wasalsopreparing anotification oftheTrans Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement
regarding Goods andOccupations which hadbeenconcluded inJuly1996..
20. TheChairperson suggested thattheCouncil takenoteofthenotifications andthestatement
made bythedelegation ofAustralia.S/C/M/14
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21. Itwassoagreed.
D. NOTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TOARTICLE VII:4 OFTHE GATS
22. TheChairperson drew attention tothefollowing notifications which hadbeenmade pursuant
toArticle VII:4 oftheGATS concerning recognition agreements:
(i) CHILE (S/C/N/8)
(ii) ARGENTINA (S/C/N/13)
(iii) NORWAY (S/C/N/14)
(iv) MACAU (S/C/N/15)
(v) ELSALVADOR (S/C/N/17)
(vi) BRAZIL (S/C/N/18)
(vii) COLOMBIA (S/C/N/21)
(viii) CUBA (S/C/N/22)
23. Therepresentative ofSingapore stated thathisdelegation hadrecently made anotification
pursuant toArticle VII:4 oftheGATS.
24. TheChairperson suggested thattheCouncil takenoteofthenotifications andthestatement
made bythedelegation ofSingapore.
25. Itwassoagreed.
E. EXAMINATION OFAGREEMENTS PURSUANT TOARTICLE V:7-REQUEST BYTHE
UNITED STATES
26. TheChairperson recalled thatattheprevious meeting oftheCouncil thedelegation ofthe
United States hadraised under otherbusiness arequest fortheexamination ofcertain agreements falling
within thescope ofArticle VoftheGATS (Economic Integration). Ithadbeenagreed thattheCouncil
would revert tothematter atitsfollowing meeting.
27. Therepresentative oftheUnited States reiterated therequest thattheCouncil takeadecision
toexamine, pursuant toparagraph 7(a)ofArticle V,thefollowing agreements:
(a) ProtocolonTradeinServicestotheAustralia-NewZealandCloserEconomicRelations
Trade Agreement (S/C/N/7)
(b) Europe Agreement between theEuropean Communities andtheirMember States and
theSlovak Republic (S/C/N/23)
(c) Europe Agreement between theEuropean Communities andtheirMember States and
Republic ofHungary (S/C/N/24)
(d) Europe Agreement between theEuropean Communities andtheirMember States and
Republic ofPoland (S/C/N/25).
28. TheChairperson suggested thattheCouncil decide toreferthose agreements totheCommittee
onRegional Trade Agreements forexamination pursuant toparagraph 7(a)ofArticle VoftheGATS.
29. Itwassoagreed.S/C/M/14
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F. OBSERVERSTATUSFORINTERNATIONALINTERGOVERNMENTALORGANIZATIONS
30. TheChairperson recalled thatinaccordance withtheadhocprocedure which hadbeenagreed
bytheGeneral Council concerning participation ofinternational intergovernmental organizations as
observers inthemeetings ofWTO bodies, theServices Council hadbeeninviting foursuchorganizations
toitsmeetings onanadhocbasis untiltheGeneral Council hasapproved thegeneral Guidelines for
Observership ofsuchorganizations. TheGeneral Council, atitsmeeting, on18July1996, hadapproved
the"GuidelinesonObserverStatusforInternationalIntergovernmentalOrganizations".TheChairperson
saidthatshewould holdinformal consultations concerning which international intergovernmental
organizations would begranted permanent observer status intheServices Council. Until such
consultations wereconcluded andadecision wastaken bytheCouncil, thesame fourorganizations,
theUN,UNCTAD, IMFandtheWorld Bank should beinvited toparticipate intheCouncil meetings
asobservers onanadhocbasis.
31. TheCouncil soagreed.
G. OTHER BUSINESS
32. Therepresentative ofNorway stated thathisdelegation hadrecently notified theAgreement
concerningaCommonNordicLabourMarketandtheProtocolannexedtoitinaccordancewithArticleV
bisoftheGATS. TheAgreement entered intoforce on1August 1993, replacing aprevious Nordic
agreement of22May1954. Itwasapplied inNorway inafashion which compatible withtheEEA
Agreement. According totheprovisions oftheAgreement, nations ofthecontracting countries have
arightoffreeentry totheemployment market ofanyother contracting country. They areexempted
from requirements concerning residency andwork permits. Thelabour market regulations ofany
contracting country maynotplace thenationals oftheother contracting countries inalessfavourable
position thanthatcountry 'sownnationals.
Furthermore, nationals ofonecontracting country whoareemployed inanother contracting
country shallbetreated inthesame wayasthatcountry 'sownnationals withrespect toremuneration
andother conditions ofwork. Other WTO Members parties totheAgreement wereDenmark, Iceland,
Finland andSweden.