RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/C/W/155/Add.1
18 September 2000
(00-3658)
Council for Trade in Services Original:  English
COMMUNICATION FROM POLAND
Review of Article II Exemptions
Replies to Questions Posed on Poland's MFN Exemptions in the Course of the
Review of MFN Exemptions
Addendum
The attached communication has been received from the delegation of Poland with the
request that it be circulated to Members of the Council for Trade in Services.
_______________
A. ANSWER TO THE QUESTION SUBMITTED BY JAPAN NO. 529:
1. Only half of the 85 bilateral agreements concerning air transport services contain the said
reciprocal provisions on selling and marketing of air transport services (a list of these agreements is
contained in Annex 1). None of the bilateral agre ements contain provisions on computer reservation
system (CRS) services.
B. ANSWER TO THE QUESTION SUBMITTED BY JAPAN NO. 530:
2. Preferential market treatment consists in the following.  Under a bilateral air services
agreement a specific air carrier is designated to provide - on the reciprocity basis and in compliancewith Poland's domestic regulation - air transportation services in Poland. The selling of the services
can be done either by the carrier office of by other agents. No other preferences are granted to the
designated air carrier.
C. ANSWER TO THE QUESTION SUBMITTED BY JAPAN NO. 655:
3. A list of bilateral transport agreements by coun try and transport sector is attached to this
document in the Annex 1.
D. ANSWER TO THE QUESTION SUBMITTED BY JAPAN NO. 656:
4. In the given case an MFN exemption concerns the compulsory arbitration of investment
disputes between the Polish State and foreign inve stor of a country with which Poland has concluded
a bilateral agreement on the promotion and protection of foreign investment. Poland is not liable tocompulsory investment dispute arbitration with fo reign investors from other countries.  The idea of
such agreements is that their scope be as general as possible.  Foreign investments do happen in the
transport services sector in the form of commercial presence of a foreign service supplier who
establishes for example a transportation company with a foreign capital participation.  Hence, thereS/C/W/155/Add.1
Page 2
are no specific reasons for why it should be excluded from the purview of foreign investment
agreements.
E. ANSWER TO THE QUESTION SUBMITTED BY JAPAN NO. 657:
5. Air transport.  Transportation quotas do not occur in air transport expressis verbis.  However,
the bilateral air services agreements contain provisions on capacity share and flight frequency, whichmultiplied by each other result in a quota.
6. Inland waterway transport.  There are no transportation quotas applied in the inland
waterway sector.
7. Maritime transport.  There are no transportation quotas applied in the maritime sector.
8. Railway transport.  There are no effective transportation quotas in the railway transport.
9. Road transport.  Transportation quotas, meant as the total number of entry permits granted to
foreign commercial vehicles, are applied on the basis of provisions contained in the international,bilateral and transit road transport agreements.  No transportation quotas are applied in cabotage
(transportation within Poland), where market access is reserved for Polish nationals and Polish
companies. There are currently two systems applied:  (a) multilateral and (b) bilateral. In both cases
limitations on market access are necessary for the protection and adequate maintenance of road
infrastructure.
10. Multilateral quota is negotiated and fixed within the European Conference of Ministers of
Transport (ECMT)
1 only for international goods transport. This system takes especially into account
environment and safety standards of lorries, establishing a conversion rate between permits issued for
particular vehicle categories (for example a permit issued for a so-called traditional lorry equals
3 permits issued for a vehicle meeting higher environment and safety standards).2  There are also
special quotas allowed for some ECMT Member-States for humanitarian reasons (these countries are
at present: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldavia).  The specific rules for the ECMT multilateral
quota have been laid down in the ECMT Resolution of May 2000 on the Development of the
Multilateral Quota.
11. According to the above mentioned ECMT resolution, the ECMT Member-States may apply
bilateral regime of permits (with or without quota) without prejudice to the conditions governing the
ECMT multilateral quota.  Bilateral quotas are fixed - on the reciprocity basis - under 44 bilateral
agreements and concern international goods transport.  In case of Austria, Croatia, the Czech
Republic, Italy, Latvia, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia transportation
quotas have been fixed also for international passenger transport. Bilateral transportation quotas do
not concern the cabotage market, access to which is restricted to Polish operators.  There are no
transportation quotas in bilateral traffic for operators from Finland (since 1998), Luxembourg (since1999), the Czech Republic (since 2000), the Slovak Republic (since 2000) and Slovenia (since 2000).
For the last three there are also no transportation quotas in transit traffic (since 2000).
                                                     
1 Poland is a Member-State since 1991.
2 The following vehicle categories are distinguished: EURO-0 (traditional or black lorry), EURO-1
(green lorry), EURO-2 (green and safe lorry) and EURO -3 (greener and safe lorry). Another category, EURO-4,
is to be introduced in 2005.S/C/W/155/Add.1
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Annex 1
List of bilateral agreements by count ry and transport sector concluded
by Poland as of July 2000.
TRANSPORT SECTORCountry
Air Maritime Railways Road Waterways
Afghanistan 1962
Albania 1957 1992 1990
Algeria 1965 1975
Angola 1976
Armenia 1998
Austria 1956 1966,3 1993,4 19975
Azerbaijan 1997
Bahrain 1997
Belgium 1956 1968
Belarus 1993 1992 1992 1992
Burma 1977
Brazil 1976
Bulgaria 1949 1972 1972
Benin 1988
Cambodia 1987
Canada 1976
China 1986 1996
Côte d'Ivoire 1984
Croatia 1966 1994
Cuba 1974 1984
Cyprus 1971 1984 1981
The Czech Republic 1969 1971 1970 1956
Denmark 1961 1924 1972
Egypt 1956 1977
Equatorial Guinea 1992
Estonia 1993 1992
Ethiopia 1977
The European Community 20006
Finland 1963 1969
France 1960 1973 1968
Former Yugoslav Republic Of
Macedonia1998
Germany 1975 1995 1971 196971991
Greece 1963 1975 1977
Hungary 1976 1993 1965
Iceland 1924
India 1977 1960
Indonesia 1991
Iran 1999 1976
Iraq 1961 1984
Ireland 1977
Israel 1990
Italy 1975 1974 1968
                                                     
3 Bus transportation services.
4 Freight transportation services.
5 Non-scheduled passenger transportation services.
6 Passenger transport services.
7 Essentially amended in 1991.S/C/W/155/Add.1
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TRANSPORT SECTORCountry
Air Maritime Railways Road Waterways
Japan 1994 1978
Jordan 1993 1978
Kazakhstan 1997 1997
Kenya 1988
Kuwait 1977
Laos 1976
Latvia 1992 1999 1992
Lebanon 1976
Lithuania 1992 1995 1992 1992
Luxembourg 1969 1989 1994
Macedonia 1998
Madagascar 1978
Malaysia 1975
Malta 1985
Morocco 1969 1993
Mexico 1990
Moldavia 1995 1997
Mongolia 1989
The Netherlands 1960 1971 1969 1992
North Korea 1978
Norway 1961 1970
Pakistan 1970 1975
The Philippines 1993
Portugal 1975 1976 1986
Qatar 1998
Romania 1977 1968
The Russian Federation 1968 1972 19668
Senegal 1969
Singapore 1979
The Slovak Republic 1994 1994 1998
Slovenia 1995 1996
South Africa 1993
South Korea 1991
Spain 1973 1978
Sri Lanka 1982 1986
Sweden 1956 1968
Switzerland 1961 1975
The Sudan 1980
Syria 1962 1978
Thailand 1976
Tunisia 1969 1980
Turkey 1967 19779
Ukraine 1994 1993 1992
The United Arab Emirates 1994
The United Kingdom 1960 1975
The United States of America 1988
Uzbekistan 1995
Vietnam 1976 1995
Yugoslavia 1955 1969
__________
                                                     
8 In force until the 1996 Agreement enters into force.
9 Essentially amended in 1994.