RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/WPPS/M/6
12November 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-4801)
Working Party onProfessional Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING HELD ON2OCTOBER 1996
Note bytheSecretariat
1. TheWorking Party onProfessional Services helditssixth meeting under thechairmanship
ofAmbassador Bautista ofthePhillipines. Theagenda wascontained inairgram WTO/AIR/419.
Thechairperson proposed thatregarding participation ofobserver organisations, theUnited Nations,
UNCTAD, theWorld Bank, theIMFandtheOECD should continue tobeinvited asobservers within
thecurrent framework ofadhocprocedures which were being usedbytheGeneral Council andits
subsidiary bodies anditwassoagreed. Themeeting focused onthefollowing issues.
Guidelines onmutual recognition
2. Regarding theestablishment ofguidelines fortherecognition ofqualifications, theChairperson
recalled thegeneral viewintheWPPS thatthiswasoneoftheareas inwhich progress could bemade
inthedrawing upofsome guidelines toprovide aframework forWTO members whowereseeking
toconcludemutualrecognitionagreements(MRAs).Anumberofnon-papershadalreadybeencirculated
onthesubject. Inparticular, thenon-paper bytheEuropean Community entitled WTO Guidelines
forMutual Recognition Agreements intheAccountancy Sector seemed tomany delegations tobea
goodbasisforfurther work asitsynthesised anumber ofelements thatother delegations hadproposed.
Theessential aimwastosetoutachecklist ofitems thatwould leadtogreater transparency inthe
negotiation, conclusion andsubstance ofMRAs. Onedelegation suggested thatwork onguidelines
intheWPPS should benefit alltheregulated professions. Itwaspossible thattheresults ofthework
intheaccountancy sector could beexamined atalaterstage toseewhether theycould bebroadened
outandcertain elements applied more generally.
3. Anumber ofdelegations commented onthecontents andstructure oftheECnon-paper which
wasmainly concerned withrecognition ofqualifications. Forthemajority ofparticipants inthe
discussion, theoverall viewwasthataneffective MRA should focus onthesignificant gapsbetween
theelements offoreign professional qualification andtheelements oflocalqualification andsetout
thestepsthathadtobetaken byaforeign professional inorder tobridge thatgap.ForNewZealand
andAustralia, however, itwasimportant totakeaccount ofanalternative formofMRA: onenotbased
onrecognition ofqualifications persebutonrecognition ofthelicensing orregistration decision made
byregulators intheother party. TheMRA could specify themechanism bywhich eligibility forsuch
recognition wasestablished. Thisapproach would bedesigned tocover, forexample, thecaseofa
practitioner, who, ifhecould show thathehadbeenregistered inhiscountry oforigin, would be
deemed tobecompetent andentitled topractise inanequivalent occupation intheother party's
jurisdiction. Theregulator could notprevent thepractitioner frompractising unless itcould show that
theoccupation forwhich hewasregistered inthecountry oforigin wasnotequivalent totheoccupation
which hesought topractise.
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4. With respect tothestatus ofanyguidelines thatmight emerge from thework oftheWPPS,
themajority ofdelegations considered thattheguidelines should benon-binding innature andthattheir
purpose would betoassist -onavoluntary basis-thenegotiation andconclusion ofmutual recognition
agreements orarrangements. Theguidelines would provide achecklist ofitems tobecovered byany
MRA andanoutline guide totheconduct ofnegotiations. Inorder tofacilitate further work, itwas
agreed thattheSecretariat should develop andcirculate todelegations asingle, comprehensive paper
using theECnon-paper asabasis andreflecting thediscussion thathadbeenheldsofar.
Relevance oftheTBT andImport Licensing Agreements toGATS Article VI.4
5. TheSecretariat paper TheRelevance oftheDisciplines oftheAgreements onTechnical Barriers
toTrade andonImport Licensing Procedures toArticle VI.4oftheGATS (indocument S/WPPS/W/9)
examined theapplicability oftheconcepts andapproaches taken intheabove goods-related agreements
tolicensing andother requirements covered byArticle VI.4 intheservices area. Anumber of
delegations welcomed thepaper butsaidthattheyneeded more timetoanalyse thevarious points it
raised, aswellastoconsult withrelevant professional bodies intheirdomestic jurisdictions. Itwas
agreed torevert tothesubject atalatermeeting.
Report oftheWPPS fortheSingapore ministerial meeting
6. TheSecretariat hadcirculated (on20September) adraftreport ontheactivities oftheWorking
Party which contained afactual partdescribing theWorking Party'sactivities andasecond partlisting
possible items forfuture work. Minor amendments were agreed forthefactual partofthereport
andseveral detailed issues wereraised withrespect totherecommendations thattheWorking Party
should make, some ofwhich hadbeenproposed byAustralia. Themainissues concerned: theinclusion
ofadeadline forthework onaccountancy services; thecommencement ofawork programme on
horizontal aspects taking thediversity ofspecific professional services intoaccount; andareference
tothebenefits ofefforts underway inother foratodevelop international accounting standards.
7. Giventhediversityofviewsexpressedoneachoftheproposalsforfurtherwork,theChairperson
proposed thatfurther informal consultations should beheldahead ofthenextmeeting oftheWPPS,
on28October, toarrive ataconsensus onthefuture work oftheWorking Party.