RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/WPGR/M/9
7March 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-0910)
Working Party onGATS Rules
REPORT OFTHE MEETING OF23JANUARY 1997
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Theninth meeting oftheWorking Party onGATS Rules waschaired byMr.Stuart Carre of
Canada. Theagenda consisted offiveitems: negotiations onsubsidies under Article XVoftheGATS;
negotiations ongovernment procurement under Article XIIIoftheGATS; negotiations onsafeguards
under Article XoftheGATS; dateofthenextmeeting oftheWorking Party; andOther Business.
Negotiations onsubsidies under Article XVoftheGATS
2. TheChairman stated thatinlightofthecomments made attheeighth meeting oftheWorking
Party onthesubsidies questionnaire prepared bytheSecretariat, andfollowing further informal
discussions, arevised draftofthesubsidies questionnaire wasbefore theWorking Party. TheWorking
Party approved thetextandestablished 15May1997 asthedeadline forsubmission ofresponses.
TheChairman noted thattheSingapore Declaration called formore analytical work intheareaof
subsidies andinvited comments onthesubject.
3. Therepresentative ofthePhilippines made thefollowing statement onbehalf ofASEAN:
"ASEAN acknowledges thataninformation exchange exercise insubsidies ismandated byArticle XV
ofGATS. Wenotethatthedraftquestionnaire requires detailed andcomprehensive information on
allsubsidy programmes related toservices tradeadministered byMembers. Aswehavenoindications
astohowsubsidy disciplines inservices would eventually bedevised, some oftheresponses tothe
questionnaire maynotbeclear andcould prejudge thenegotiations. Inaddition, wewould liketo
underline thatthestatistical andconceptual problems associated withservices datawould make the
information exchange exercise untenable. ASEAN isoftheviewthatamore prudent andconstructive
approach isfortheWPGR towork onthesubsidy disciplines inparallel withananalytical exercise.
Asastart, theSecretariat could elaborate onthefollowing questions: i)Inlightofthefourmodes
ofservices, whatcould constitute subsidies inservices? Should there beonedefinition forallfour
modes orindividual definition ofeachmode?; ii)Isthedefinition contained inArticle XV:1 ofthe
Agreement onSubsidies andCountervailing Measures abletotakeintoaccount thedifferences inthe
fourmodes ofsupply?; iii)What arethetrade distortive effects? Howdoesonedefine andmeasure
these effects under thefourmodes ofsupply?".
4. Some delegations expressed theviewthattheinformation tobeprovided should beanarrative
description, which could becomprehensive, butnotatalevelofdetail thatwould prove excessively
burdensome. Onedelegation added thatMembers should usetheworking definition contained inthe
questionnaire andavoid analternative definition. Shealsostressed theimportance ofproviding
information covering allareas ofservices atalllevels ofgovernment. Another delegation reiterated
thattheinformation exchange wasmandated under Article XVofGATS andthatMembers expected
toreceive asmuch information aswasavailable from other Members.S/WPGR/M/9
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5. Several delegations observed thatstarting analytical workwithout anadequate information base
would beverydifficult. Others alsoacknowledged thatconducting analytical work without completing
theinformation exchange onsubsidies might limitthediscussion toadegree, butwere nevertheless
oftheviewthattheanalytical discussion should bestarted shortly.
Negotiations ongovernment procurement under Article XIIIoftheGATS
6. TheChairman recalled thatMinisters inSingapore referred totheneedformore analytical
work onprocurement andinvited comments fromdelegations. Healsosuggested thatMembers might
consider theimplications ofthenewgovernment procurement negotiating mandate from Singapore
fortheworkoftheWorking Party. Heemphasized thattheWorking Party stillhadanegotiating mandate
thattheyneeded torespond to,butatthesame time, itwasimportant toavoid unnecessary duplication
ofwork.
7. Onedelegation stated thatitwascleartherewould beoverlaps between theworkoftheWorking
Party andthework ofthenewworking group mandated inSingapore. Henoted thatthere werethree
potential foraforprocurement intheWTO --under theGovernment Procurement Agreement, under
GATS Article XIII, andunder theSingapore mandate. Heexpressed concern regarding theriskof
contradictory discussions going oninparallel fora. Hesuggested deferring theestablishment ofan
agenda fornegotiations intheWorking Party, atleastuntilitbecame clearer astowhatmight develop
inthenewgroup mandated bytheSingapore Ministerial.
8. Several delegations wereoftheviewthatthefocus ofattention oftheWorking Party should
beitsownagenda. Itwaspremature toconsider possible implications oftheSingapore decision for
theWorking Party orhowwork might becoordinated withthenewbody. These questions would
havetowaituntilthenewbody wasuparunning. Anumber ofdelegations were oftheview that
theSingapore decision should notslowdown thepaceofwork intheWorking Party. TheChairman
proposed thattheWorking Party might usethematerial provided inanswers tothequestionnaire to
considersomeofthekeyprinciplesthatwouldneedtobeaddressedwhenconsideringtheGATSmandate
onprocurement. TheWorking Party agreed todothisatitsnextmeeting, andtheChairman undertook
tocirculate ashort notethatwould provide anindication ofhowthequestionnaire replies might relate
toparticular principles. TheChairman urged those Members whohadnotyetsubmitted replies to
thequestionnaire tomake suchsubmissions assoonaspossible; ifitwastheirintention toparticipate
intheinformation gathering exercise.
Negotiations onsafeguards under Article XofGATS
9. TheChairmanrecalledthatatthelastmeetingMembersagreedtoprovideanswersonavoluntary
basistoaseries ofwritten questions contained intheworking document S/WPGR/W/15. Heobserved
thatsuchinformation would helptheWorking Party initstaskandurged Members todotheirutmost
toprovide written replies tothequestions asquickly aspossible. Healsoreminded delegations that
some ofthem hadundertaken toprovide information onservices safeguard measures contained in
domestic legislation. Heemphasized thatinthesafeguards areatheWorking Party needed torecognize
thatitwasunder timepressure, particularly inviewoftheMinisterial endorsement oftheDecember
1997deadline fornegotiations onthissubject. TheWorking Party established atarget dateoftheend
ofFebruary 1997, bywhich delegations would endeavour toprovide written answers totheChairman 's
questions. Several delegations confirmed theirintention tosubmit written replies. TheChairman also
noted thatcertain delegations hadalready made written submissions totheWorking Party, which
contained useful material forthediscussion. Itwassuggested thattheWorking Party should agree
upon atimetable foritswork onsafeguards atthenextmeeting.S/WPGR/M/9
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Dateofthenextmeeting oftheWorking Party
10. TheWorking Party agreed toholditsnextmeeting onThursday, 13March 1997.
Other business
11. TheChairman recalled thatthestandard practice inWTO wasfortheChairpersons torotate
onayearly basis. Henoted thathistermhadexpired andurged Members toreach consensus onthe
appointment ofanewchairperson forthenextmeeting.