WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSS/3
24 November 2000
(00-5028)
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1. At its meeting on 7 February 2000, the General Council decided that the services negotiations
would be conducted in Special Sessions of the Coun cil for Trade in Services, back-to-back with the
regular meeting of the Services Council, and that the Services Council would report on a regular basis
to the General Council.  It was also decided that the Chairman of the Services Council would chair the
Special Sessions, and that the Services Council would consider whether any further procedural
questions needed to be addressed, including the possible appointment of a Vice-Chairman.
2. The Council held five formal meetings in Special Session up to October 2000.  Reports of the
meetings are contained in documents S/CSS/M/1 to 5, and should be read in conjunction with this
report.  The Special Session addressed the following matters:
I. NEGOTIATIONS UNDER ARTICLE XIX OF THE GATS – STATEMENT BY THE
CHAIRMAN
3. At the first Special Session of the Council, held on 25 February, the Chairman explained how
he saw the Council's work for the year.  All of the subordinate bodies would continue to report to the
Council and decisions by the Council in Special Se ssion had exactly the same legal status and effect
as decisions in ordinary meetings.  Whenever pos sible, the special sessions would run back-to-back
with regular meetings.  He suggested that, while the possibility of appointing a Vice-Chairman should
be left open, no decision on the issue needed to be taken at that stage.  Members outlined what they
considered to be the objectives and basic principles guiding the negotiations.  The Chairman noted thepositive and constructive spirit and sense of flexibil ity of delegations and said that the Council would
take note of the statements made.
II. ASSESSMENT OF TRADE IN SERVICES
4. Article XIX:3 of the GATS requires the Services Council to carry out an assessment of trade
in services in overall terms and on a sectoral basis, with reference to the objectives of the Agreement,including those set out in Article IV:1.
5. At the regular Council meeting held on 25 February, it was decided that the assessment of
trade in services would be moved to the agenda of the Special Session, where it would figure as a
standing item.  It had been agreed that the asse ssment should be regarded as an on-going process,
rather than a one-off exercise.  Accordingly, starting with the meeting of 25 February, Membersaddressed this item in the Special Session.
6. An informal paper presented by the delegation of Norway, entitled "Liberalization of Trade in
Producer Services - The Impact on Developing Count ries", was discussed in February.  In October
Members held initial discussion of another informal paper presented by the delegation of Korea,
entitled "Korea's Liberalization of Trade in Services and its Impacts".S/CSS/3
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7. At its meeting on 26 May, the Special Session also discussed the communication by the
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama in document
S/C/W/149, containing the conclusions and reco mmendations of an UNCTAD Expert Meeting on
Tourism.
8. Delegations noted the importance of solidifying the services statistical basis.  As far as
international statistics were concerned, at the meeting in May Members' attention was drawn to a
background note which the Secretariat had prepared for the Working Party on GATS Rules, document
S/WPGR/W/32, which reported on the state of play in the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on
Statistics on International Trade in Services.  The Secretariat also produced a note, in document
Job No. 4418, containing an update of sources of information on statistics different from those of the
Balance-of-Payments, and was mandated to produce an update of its earlier note on services trade
statistics, document S/C/W/27, at the Special Session meeting in July.
9. At the meeting held in July, based on a proposal from Canada, Members agreed to hold a
half-day seminar on how services statistics were collected and how that related to trade negotiators'
needs.  The seminar took place on 3 October.
III. TOURISM SERVICES
10. At its regular meeting held on 25 February, the Council agreed to place discussion of the
proposal on tourism presented by the delegations of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and
Honduras in document S/C/W/127 and Corr.1, on the agenda of the Special Session.
11. Accordingly, at the Special Session meeting on 25 February, Members took up discussion of
the proposal.  The organization of work on this subject was addressed, and a proposal that a
symposium on tourism be held as a way of deepening Members' understanding of the sector was metwith broad support.
12. At its meeting on 26 May, the Council agreed that the Secretariat would prepare a note
putting forward ideas on the organization and substantive content of such a symposium.  The note,
contained in document Job No. 4112, was discussed at the meeting in July, when Members agreed
that the symposium would be held early in 2001.  Th e Secretariat was tasked with producing a revised
agenda incorporating Members' comments, which was distributed as Job No. 5842 and discussed at
the meeting held on 5 October.  In light of the comments made at that meeting, a further revised draft
was circulated as document Job No. 6245 for approval through an ad referendum procedure.
13. At the meeting in October, Members also continued discussions of the initial proposal from
the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras, also on the basis of a paper submitted by the
European Communities and circulated as document S/CSS/W/5.
IV. ELEMENTS OF A PROPOSED FIRST PHASE OF THE SERVICES
NEGOTIATIONS MANDATED UNDER ARTICLE XIX OF THE GATS
14. Under the agenda item "Other Matters Relating to Negotiations under Article XIX of the
GATS", on 14 April the delegations of Australia and Singapore submitted a proposal on "Elements of
a Proposed First Phase for the Services Negotiations Mandated under Article XIX" in document
S/CSS/W/1, and the MERCOSUR Members (Argentina,  Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) tabled a
proposal on the same topic, contained in document  S/CSS/W/2.  Members discussed the submissions,
and the Secretariat was asked to prepare an informal paper bringing together the two proposals and
taking into account comments made by Members at the meeting.  A first draft, Job No. 2428, was
circulated with an invitation to Members to subm it comments.  Following several rounds of informal
consultations and a number of revisions to the draft, the text was finally adopted at the SpecialS/CSS/3
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Session meeting of 26 May, and is contained in paragraph 24 of the report of that meeting, document
S/CSS/M/3.
V. NEGOTIATING GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES PURSUANT TO ARTICLE XIX
OF THE GATS
15. Article XIX of the GATS requires that, for e ach round of negotiations, negotiating guidelines
and procedures shall be established.  Starting with its meeting on 26 April 1999, the Council for Trade
in Services had discussed the establishment of such guidelines in the context of the preparations for
the Seattle Ministerial Conference.
16. At its meeting on 26 May 2000, the Special Session began discussions on how to proceed
with the preparation of negotiating guidelines and procedures.  Members agreed that the Secretariat
would prepare a compilation of elements that might be  considered in the preparation of the guidelines
as a basis for discussion, drawing from the draft Seattle Ministerial Declaration, the Uruguay Roundguidelines and a number of other papers mentioned by delegations.  The Secretariat note, Job
No. 3820, was discussed at the meeting in July, and Members decided that the Secretariat would
revise the list of possible elements for inclusion in the guidelines on pages 2 and 3 of its note in view
of Members' comments.  At the same meeting, an informal note submitted by the European
Communities entitled "Negotiating guidelines:  Drafting Elements" and contained in Job No. 4406was also discussed.
17. The revised note produced by the Secretariat, Job No. 5658, was taken up at the Special
Session meeting in October.  At that meeting, Members also discussed the communication submitted
by the delegation of Mauritius on behalf of the African Group on negotiating guidelines and
procedures and contained in document S/CSS/W/7.  Elements of the submissions presented by the
delegations of the United States and of Hong Kong, China under the agenda item "Other Matters
relating to Negotiations under Article XIX of the GATS" were also discussed.  Widespread support
was expressed for the proposal that a Special Session meeting be devoted to the issue of the treatment
of autonomous liberalization, for which Article XIX of the GATS requires that modalities be
established, and Members agreed that such a meeting would be scheduled back-to-back with theDecember meeting of the Special Session.
VI. OTHER MATTERS RELATING TO NEGOTIATIONS UNDER ARTICLE XIX OF
THE GATS
18. It had been agreed in April that this item would be a standing item on the agenda of the
Special Session, to provide an opportunity for Members to raise any matter relating to the negotiations
which was not covered by the other items on the agenda.
19. At its meeting on 26 May, the Special Session began discussion of two submissions on
clusters, by the European Communities in document S/CSS/W/3 and by Australia in Job No. 3194.
At the Special Session meeting in July, Members agreed that the Secretariat would prepare a paper to
assist the discussion on the issue of clusters.  Accordingly, the Secretariat produced a note, contained
in document Job No. 5832, which was taken up at the meeting in October.
20. At the Special Session meeting in October, under this item Members also discussed the
submission by the United States on a "Framework for Negotiation", contained in document
S/CSS/W/4, and the submission by Hong Kong Chin a, in document S/CSS/W/6, entitled "Scope and
Coverage of the Services Negotiations and their Guidelines".
21. The Special Session also held initial discussions of a joint communication from the
delegations of the European Communities and their Member States; Hong Kong, China; Japan; theS/CSS/3
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Republic of Korea; Norway and Singapore contained in document S/CSS/W/8 on the negotiations on
maritime transport services at its meeting in October.
VII. WORK OF SUBSIDIARY BODIES – REPORTS BY CHAIRPERSONS
22. At the meeting on 25 February it had been agreed that the subsidiary bodies would report
regularly to the Special Session in the form of oral reports from the Chairpersons.  Due to timeconstraints at the April meeting, the Special Session heard these reports at its meetings in May and
July.  At the October meeting, because of time constraints and in view of the fact that the Committee
on Financial Services had not held its formal meeting yet, Members decided that on that occasion the
reports would be distributed in writing.
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