RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/C/W/36
14 May 1998
(98-1933)
Council for Trade in Services Original:  English
COMMUNICATION FROM SINGAPORE
New Negotiations in Services
The attached communication has been received from the delegation of Singapore with the
request that it be circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services.
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1. Article XIX:1 of the GATS states that “Members shall enter into successive rounds of
negotiations beginning not later than five years from the date of entry into force of the WTO…”.  In
this connection, Members agreed in 1996 that it would be useful to have an Information Exchange
Programme (IEP) to prepare for the negotiations scheduled to begin in 1 January 2000.  The 1996
report to the GC (prepared for the 1996 MC in Sing apore) stated that “the aim of the (IEP) is to
facilitate the access of all Members, to information regarding laws, regulations, administrativeguidelines and policies affecting trade in services in order to contribute to the assessment in trade in
services which would assists future negotiations in the services sector”.  The IEP would help to meet
the mandate in Article XIX:3, i.e., “for each round, negotiating guidelines and procedures shall be
established…”.
2. In our view, new negotiations in services may need to address the following issues: (a) the
ongoing work, (b) systemic issues that emerged during implementation of the services agreement and
(c) possible modalities for the new negotiations.
(a) Ongoing work
3. They comprise: Articles X (Emergency Safeguards measures), XIII (Government
Procurement), XV (Subsidies) and XXI (Procedures for the modification of schedules) and Article
VI:4 work.  While Article X has a deadline (end June 99), the others do not.  Given the conceptual
difficulties in some of the issues, it is not likely that all the issues can be resolved before the newnegotiations begin.  To facilitate progress, we may suggest the following approach.
(1) Set out a "road-map" for the Article X negotiations.  This should not prejudice the
question on the desirability of having ESMs .  For example, the issues identified in the
Hong Kong paper could be grouped under clusters and each cluster could be
addressed in a particular meeting of the WPGR.  Discussions based on the Chair’squestions and the brainstorming session would facilitate the negotiations.  (All papers
and responses submitted on this matter would serve as useful references).
(2) For the Article XIII and XV negotiations, it would be useful for the Secretariat to
draw up a compendium of issues that have been raised under the two items.
(Reference:  Papers and responses to questionnaires on Articles XIII and XV.)S/C/W/36
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(3) Given the inter-relationship between Articles X and XXI, it would be useful to have
closer coordination of work on the two issues.
(Note:  It should however be emphasized that Article X and XXI have separate
mandates and are not linked.  Closer coordination should not hamper work on Article
XXI).
(4) Article VI:4 work.  Besides working to complete the accountancy negotiations, the
WPPS/CTS could also  begin addressing the following.
(1) Which professional services sector/s to take up next.
(2) Whether the negotiations should be handled one-by-one or horizontally.
(b) Systemic Issues
4. Several issues have emerged during the UR negotiations and  in the course of negotiations in
the context of the unfinished business (i.e.financial, maritime transport and telecommunications).Among others, they are
(1) Commitments indicated in the schedules that are inconsistent with scheduling
guidelines.  (e.g. in financial services, reference to measures which are prudential in
nature, licensing requirements without the specification of criteria);
(2) Overlap between some inputs under the market access and national treatment
columns;
(3) Problems in the classification of services – e.g. difficulties of making distinction
between modes 1 + 2 & definition of new services;
(4) Review of MFN exemptions;
(5) Measures falling under Articles VI, XVI and XVII;(6) The grandfathering issue;
(7) Clarification of the term "economic needs test". There have been references to this
test without the specification of criteria on which these tests are based.
The above list is neither exhaustive nor stated in order of priority.  It would be useful if the
Secretariat could draw up a list of such issues that may be addressed in the preparatory stage and inthe new negotiations.
(Note:  There could be some overlap between the negotiating and systemic issues).S/C/W/36
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Information Exchange Programme
5. To facilitate the IEP
(i) It would be useful to identify sectors for which the IEP would be needed.  They can
be listed, say, in alphabetical order.  Questionnaires soliciting information on the state
of the relevant services sectors could be prepared.  As far as possible, existinginformation should be used. Where relevant, information gaps should be filled. For
example, Members could draw upon the responses that they have made in the past
few years (e.g. maritime transport services), and update them.
(ii) Meetings of the CTS could be used by Members to update developments
(introduction of new or changes to existing regulations) in the relevant identified
sectors.  The secretariat could prepare a compendium of relevant information
contained in notifications submitted by Members in accordance with Article III.
(iii) Pursuant to the provisions in the Annex on Air Transport Services and given ongoing
developments (e.g. proliferation of open-skies agreements, inclusion of this sector in
RTAs) it would be useful if the Secretariat could prepare an informative paper
outlining these developments.
The IEP would help to identify sectors and possibly decide on timeframes needed to complete
work on the identified sectors in the context of th e new negotiations.  The IEP itself may also need to
have a time-frame.
Modalities for the New Negotiations
7. The modalities for the new negotiations would have to be determined.  A priori, no services
sector should be excluded from the new negotiations.  It appears that sectors to be negotiated could beclassified under three categories.  One, sectors envisaged as unfinished business of the UR
negotiations and those in which negotiations have been suspended. Two, ongoing work (e.g.
accountancy, other professional services).  Three, other services sectors and new services.
8. The new negotiations may also have to deal with the ongoing work in the rules areas and
systemic issues relevant to the services sector in general.
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