RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/C/M/46
20 September 2000
(00-3732)
Council for Trade in Services
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 14 JULY 2000
Note by the Secretariat
1. The Council for Trade in Services held a meeting on 14 July 2000.  The agenda for the
meeting is contained in document WTO/AIR/1354.  Under Other Business, the Chairman said that he
would make a statement concerning enquiry and contact points and the Review of the Annex on Air
Transport Services.
2. The Chairman proposed that the Council adopt the agenda as circulated, with the addition of
the items raised under Other Business.
3. The Council so agreed.
A. REVIEW OF THE UNDERSTANDING ON ACCOUNTING RATES IN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
4. The Chairman recalled that, at its last meeting, the Council had received a note by the ITU on
their work on reforming the accounting rate system, which had been circulated as Job No. 2947.  The
note was very informative of the status of the ITU work in this area.  Since the note had been received
shortly before the meeting, the Council had taken note of the brief comments made and it had been
agreed to revert to the matter at the present meeting.  He said that all delegations were familiar with
the background for the review and recalled that the Secretariat had provided an information note in
that regard, circulated as Job No. 765.  He invited Members' comments on the ITU note and on how to
proceed with the review.
5. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation's approach to the
issue was simple.  He noted that, by the end of the negotiations on basic telecommunications, the
reform of the accounting rate system in the ITU had not been resolved and that it was still on-going.
He stated that the ITU Study Group 3 was very active and sought the advice of the ITU Secretariat on
whether its work on reforming the accounting rate system could resolve the discrimination problem
and on whether it was binding on ITU Members.  If that was the case, Members should help thereform process on-going in the ITU.  He added that the issue would be discussed by the World
Telecommunication Standardization Assembly in September 2000.  Hence, he suggested that the
moratorium on disputes relating to accounting rates be extended either until a date between September
and the stock-taking exercise of the Special Session or until a date prior to the Fourth Ministerial
Conference.
6. The representative of Australia said that she would reflect on the proposal by the European
Communities and revert to it.  She drew Members' attention to the paper on termination services
submitted by her delegation and circulated as document S/C/W/153.  The paper proposed that the
Council recognize termination services as traded services subject to the GATS principles and to the
Reference Paper's competitive safeguards and that general commitments on non-discriminationapplied to all modes of supply.  The paper further proposed that the Council remove the moratoriumS/C/M/46
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on disputes relating to accounting rates, which constituted only one of several ways of settling
accounts.  She explained that the starting-point of the paper was its reference to "international
telecommunication termination services or interconnection", rather than "accounting rates" per se .
The paper defined "international termination services" as traded services provided by carriers which
delivered telecommunication traffic that had originated in another carrier or services provider.Accounting rates were a regulated pricing arrangement for termination services, based on government
intervention in the market for termination services.  The accounting rates were traditional ITU
standards for bilateral settlement of termination services accounts between international carriers.
Historically, these rates had been made under regulatory arrangements constituting government
measures.  The system was based on considering each international route between two countries as a
discrete, two-way traffic exchange on which only the balance of traffic was financially settled.  That
practice did not reflect advances in telecommunication technology, nor changes in service mix, trafficmanagement or competitive market structures.  The accounting rate system had, in many ways, ended
up obscuring commercial dealings based on market power and regulatory intervention.  However, as
countries moved toward market-based telecommunications services, methods other than accounting
rates were increasingly being recognized within the ITU system for settling international accounts.
7. She said that the exemption of accounting rates from the disciplines of the GATS appeared to
give unjustified special treatment to a particular form of business arrangement that was prone to
government measures.  If governments wished to maintain measures supporting accounting rate
practices that were discriminatory, then such an intention should be made transparent through
appropriate MFN exemptions.  The purpose of explic itly recognising termination services as a traded
service in such a context was to clearly establis h the nature of the traded services that underlay
accounting rates, and to indicate the scope of the trade that might be distorted through continued
protection, by government measures, of discriminatory accounting rate arrangements.  She informed
Members that Australian telecommunication experts we re in Geneva and were willing to meet with
interested delegations.
8. The representative of Canada said that the paper by Australia was a substantive contribution
in preparation for future telecommunication services negotiations.  She noted that there might be other
telecommunication and Internet-related services which might not have been fully captured by the
existing classification and would give further consideration to the issue and revert to it, as well as to
the European Communities proposal.
9. The representative of Mexico recalled that the question with accounting rates was not
necessarily whether they were or not discriminatory.  Since no mutually agreed methodology existed
in the ITU, different agents, both public and private, had adopted different ones, which had resulted indifferentiated rates.  Precisely because of the lack of a mutually agreed methodology, during the
Uruguay Round five Members had been prudent and listed MFN exemptions with respect to
accounting rates;  the Understanding had been reached precisely to avoid massive recourse to MFN
exemptions.  The ITU was looking to agree on a common methodology, which would then solve the
problems related to accounting rates.  The note by the ITU informed Members of progress in StudyGroup 3;  unfortunately, the Group had not completed its work, which meant that the Understanding
reflected circumstances which had not changed from the ones which had originated it and were still
valid.  With respect to the European Communities proposal that the Understanding be extended, he
underlined that the purpose of the review was not to decide whether or not to prolong the moratorium,
but rather to comply with the second indent in paragraph 7 of the report of the Group on BasicTelecommunications that the Understanding would be  reviewed no later than 1 January 2000.  He said
that the Council had to take note of either that the circumstances had changed sufficiently to permit
the elimination of the Understanding or that another date had to be agreed in order to carry out the
review, but should not be discussing a date for termination of the Understanding.S/C/M/46
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10. The representative of India said that his country had been one of the prudent Members
referred to by the representative of Mexico and had listed an MFN exemption for accounting rates.
He would give more thought and revert to the intervention by the European Communities.  By way of
preliminary reactions to the Australian paper, he indicated that legal uncertainty still existed about
whether accounting rates were within the purview of the GATS;  his delegation believed furthermorethat they were best negotiated bilaterally in the ITU and that the WTO had only a limited role.  He
therefore did not share Australia's suggestion that the moratorium be removed.  He reserved his
delegation's right to revert to the issue.  The representative of Pakistan reserved his delegation's right
to revert to the intervention by the European Communities and the Australian submission, but in apreliminary manner echoed the comments by India.
11. The representative of Brazil said that she would revert to the intervention by the European
Communities.  The paper by Australia was still being examined by her authorities, but her delegation's
initial reaction was it did not contain all the necessary elements which justified the proposal to remove
the moratorium.  Such a removal had profound implications for the Brazilian telecommunication
sector and she reserved her delegation's position until the ITU had completed its work on the issue.
12. The representative of the United States said that broad agreement seemed to exist that the
accounting rates regime had to be reformed, as variations in rates were not sustainable, might be trade
distorting and resulted from a lack of competition.  Until the reform was completed and competition
was more pervasive, the WTO had a useful monitoring role to play and his delegation was not
opposed to extending the moratorium.  He said that he would revert to the intervention by the
European Communities.  He noted that in the Secret ariat note it was stated that "… It is becoming
increasingly common for competing private firms to negotiate accounting rates or other alternative
arrangements with one another on a commercial basis, which do not in principle give rise to
"measures by Members" in the GATS sense.  However, in a number of countries, particularly
developing economies, governments still take an active role in the negotiation and conclusion of such
agreements. …".  In that respect, his delegation's primary goal in the discussion was to determine, in
instances when the application of accounting rates gave rise to "measures by Members", what thelevel of transparency was with respect to such rates;  this was important to reduce any trade
distortions under current practices.  With respect to the Australian submission, he concurred that cost-
oriented termination services might provide a pro-competitive alternative to the accounting rates
system and should be explored.  In addition, application of the telecom Reference Paper would ensure
that, when a major supplier dominated the market, transparency, non-discrimination and unbundling
applied.  However, he disagreed that termination services should uniformly apply to packet-switched
data services, which typically had not fallen under the accounting rates regime.  Termination and thecosts associated with termination were not meaningful terms in a data sector, and particularly in
packet-switched data and in reference to accounting rates, since the concepts of a call, a circuit,
individual recipient were absent in many data services.  Any suggestion that accounting-rate-like
arrangements be applied to data services was a step backwards into the monopoly era.
13. The representative of Korea said that th e European Communities intervention contained
elements of merit and that he would further consider it.  He would also revert to the Australian
submission and looked forward to meeting w ith the Australian telecommunication experts.
14. The representative of Japan said that the Understanding was based on the premise that
governments were involved in setting differentiated accounting rates.  He noted that paragraph 7 of
the ITU paper stated that "… In a majority of the ITU's 189 Member States, competition is notpermitted in the provision of international telecommunication services….";  there was therefore still a
high degree of government involvement in the sett ing of accounting rates.  In that respect, the
situation had not changed, so that the Understanding should be extended.  With respect to the
Australian submission, he said that it was unclear what termination services meant.  According to the
Australian paper, termination services might be an element of various internationalS/C/M/46
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telecommunication services.  In that case, termination services were included in international
telecommunication services.  He also said that the situation of the incompatibility between the setting
of differentiated accounting rates and the MFN obligations had not been changed yet in international
telecommunication services.
15. The representative of Hong Kong, China said th at he would revert to the intervention by the
European Communities.  With regard to the paper by Australia, he said that his delegation was
unclear about what termination services were and would welcome clarification, including on
coverage, application and relationship to interconnection.  He was puzzled also about the fact that in
paragraph 5 of their paper termination services only applied to international services, and wondered
whether the concept did not apply to domestic services.  His delegation was interested in the
conclusions of the paper, but did not think that the body of the paper provided sufficient information
to lead to those conclusions.  He concurred with the United States that, where markets were fullyliberalized, the carriers were free to negotiate any rates with their counterparts and could have valid
reasons for different rates, but echoed the statement in the Secretariat note that such activities were
not "measures by Members".  On the question of  voice and data, information on the balance of
financial advantages between providers regarding Internet and the traditional voice traffic suggested
that there might be some shifting back of the traditional advantages and disadvantages as to who waswinning and who was losing.
16. The representative of Australia said that she would invite delegations to participate in a
round-table discussion with the capital-based tel ecommunication experts the following week, so as to
clarify the more technical issues.  She said that, in her delegation's view, MFN exemptions could be
more transparent than the moratorium in the Understanding.
17. With respect to the question by the European Communities whether the reform work in ITU
Study Group 3 would resolve the accounting rates issue, a representative of the ITU Secretariat
observed that accounting rates were not always discriminatory.  He explained that the ITU haddeveloped recommendation D.140 which, if applied, woul d result, in principle, in cost-oriented rates
with no discrimination.  With respect to the work on accounting rates currently underway in StudyGroup 3, he explained that, once operators introduced the termination charge, there would not be any
discrimination, as, by definition, the termination charge was a single charge at the origin of the traffic,
so that the same rate would be applied to everyone.  One of the conditions required to apply such a
method of remuneration was that the charge be cost-oriented;  however, as with accounting rates,
many countries still did not know how to calculate cost.  That was why the ITU was in the process of
developing methodologies to determine cost, so that operators could calculate costs exactly and
negotiate on the basis of these.  Hence, the termination charge would solve the accounting rateproblem, but it was not yet known when operators would be applying such a charge, so that a
transition period was involved;  some operators, w ho already knew how to calculate cost, had already
started applying it, others might need several years, during which they would be applying accounting
rates.  With respect to whether the Assembly m eeting in Montreal in September could resolve the
problem of accounting rates, he explained that that this would not be the case.  As was stated inparagraph 11 of the note they had submitted, a transitional arrangement over one to three years had
been proposed to facilitate the move to cost-oriented methods, but Study Group 3 had been unable to
approve the arrangement;  the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly had been asked
to consider resolving the problem of the transition period.
18. The representative of Chile said that he was unclear about how a termination charge could be
a uniform, single charge and also be cost-based.
19. The representative of Barbados said that her authorities had been very supportive of the work
in ITU Study Group 3 on the development of the accounting rates guidelines to facilitate the transition
towards cost-orientation and that it was unfortunate that at, its meeting in December 1999, StudyS/C/M/46
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Group 3 had not been able to approve those guidel ines.  She looked forward to the Assembly in
Montreal as a possible way of backing up those guidelines and underscored the comment in
paragraph 11 of the ITU note, that Study Group 3 had agreed that the guidelines should be aimed,
inter alia , at discouraging the imposition of unilateral actions.
20. Responding to the question by Chile, a representative of the ITU Secretariat explained that the
termination charge was intended to apply to all traffic from any source arriving at the administration
in the country of destination, unless it could be demonstrated that there were significant differences in
cost.  In principle, as the part of international circuit in the total charge was very limited, no cost-
differences were expected.  However, if a country demonstrated that a difference in cost existed,
because of differences in traffic or in the media used, then it could apply a different termination
charge.
21. The representative of Indonesia reiterated his delegation's position on the review of the
Understanding that the technicalities of accounting rates needed to be analysed further.  Any decision
with respect to the Understanding should not be taken until the issue was fully understood and the
ITU had concluded its work on the issue.
22. The representative of Mexico suggested that the Council do not revert to this agenda item at
its next meeting, but that it wait until the situation with respect to accounting rates had changed.
23. Summing up the discussion on this item, the Chairman said that several delegations had
requested additional time to consider the interven tions by the European Communities, Australia and
the representative of the ITU Secretariat, as well as other Members' comments.  He also noted that, at
the October meeting, Members might want to di scuss the outcome of the World Telecommunication
Standardization Assembly to be held in Montreal in September, and therefore suggested that theCouncil revert to the issue at its next meeting.
24. The representative of Mexico said that he could support the Chairman's suggestion, but
stressed that, in his delegation's opinion, the Understanding on accounting rates did not exclusively
depend on what happened in the ITU, as other factors also needed to be taken into account.
25. The representative of Brazil also supported the Chairman's suggestion and stressed that his
delegation would take into serious consideration the results in Montreal, as well as other factors.
26. The Council agreed to revert to the item at its next meeting.
B. NOTIFICATIONS TO THE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO ARTICLE V OF THE GATS
– STATEMENT BY THE UNITED STATES
27. At the last meeting of the Council, the delegation of the United States had made a statement
concerning the notification and examination of economic integration agreements pursuant to Article V
of the GATS.  The Chairman recalled that the United States statement, which was contained in
document S/C/W/147, invited discussion on how to improve the timeliness of such notifications and
their transmittal to the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements for examination.  A few delegations
had made preliminary comments on the subject and it had been agreed to revert to the issue.
28. The representative of India said that he concur red with the main thrust of the United States
proposal that economic integration agreements should be promptly notified pursuant to Article V of
the GATS.  However, he was unclear about the suggestion in the penultimate sentence of their paper
that the Council "act" on agreements notified but not yet referred to the CRTA.S/C/M/46
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29. The representative of Canada stressed the importance of the issue.  She supported further
discussion of how to improve the timeliness of tran smittals from the Council to the CRTA, and in that
respect she suggested that:  the Secretariat draw up a list of agreements notified but not yet referred to
the CRTA;  that referral to the CRTA be automatic 60 days after notification, unless otherwise
requested by the Members concerned;  and that, to encourage notification, the Secretariat reviewrecent Trade Policy Review reports to identify agreements which could require notification under
Article V.  She echoed India's comment and caut ioned Members against any duplication of efforts
between the Services Council and the CRTA.
30. The representative of Japan shared the view that the notification obligation of Article V
should be conformed to, and stressed that all Members should conform to all the provisions of that
Article, including paragraph 1, which provided the conditions for economic integration agreements.
He concurred that notifications under Article V should be transmitted to the CRTA for examinationand in that sense he found the proposals by Canada interesting and would further consider them.
31. The representative of Argentina said that the issue was an important one, with regard not only
to future notifications but also existing ones which had not given rise to action from the Council, so as
to ensure that GATS provisions were equally applied to all Members.  With respect to Canada's
suggestions for automatic referral to the CRTA and a Secretariat's review of the TPR reports, he said
that further reflection was necessary and that he would revert to them.  The representatives of
Uruguay and of Brazil  concurred and reserved their delegations' right to revert to the issue.
32. The representative of Hong Kong, China expressed support for the United States proposal and
what it tried to achieve, Canada's suggestions and Japan's comments.
33. Commenting on Canada's proposals, the representative of Mexico said that he could support
that the Secretariat draw up a list of agreements notified but not referred to the CRTA.  With respect
to the proposal that Secretariat review TPR repor ts, he said that this did not fall within the
competencies of the Secretariat and could interfere with the transparency objective of the TPR
reviews and with Members' freedom to notify the WTO in line with their obligations.
34. The representative of Sri Lanka said that the Article V contained special provisions for
greater flexibility for developing countries and sought clarification from the Secretariat on whether
the examination of economic integration agreements by the CRTA was carried out with due
consideration for Members' level of development.
35. A representative of the WTO Secretariat said that he was unsure about how the CRTA carried
out its examination, but his understanding was th at the CRTA, whose only function was to decide
whether an agreement was inconsistent with the Articles under which they were notified, had never
denounced an agreement involving a developing country.  He added that the need for flexibility withrespect to coverage of such agreements when a developing country was involved was a point certainly
raised and taken note of in the reports of the CRTA.
36. The representative of Switzerland supported the comments by Argentina and Uruguay.  He
concurred with the United States that the notification of economic integration agreements under
Article V was of great importance, but was unclear about the meaning of their suggestion that theCouncil "act" on agreements not yet referred to th e CRTA.  With respect to Canada's suggestions, he
supported the first one, for the Secretariat to draw up a list agreements notified but not referred to the
CRTA, echoed Mexico's comments with respect to  the proposal that the Secretariat review TPR
reports, and, with regard to the suggestion for automatic referral to the CRTA, drew Members'
attention to Article V:7(a), which stated that "the  Council may establish a working party" and hence
contained no notion of automatism.S/C/M/46
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37. Responding to questions from delegations, the representative of the United States said that
their suggestion that the Council "act" on agreemen ts was meant to refer to the Services Council's
discretion in its referrals to the CRTA of agreements notified, and to propose that agreements notified
but not yet referred be referred to the CRTA.  He would give further consideration to the suggestions
by Canada.
38. The Chairman said that several delegations had requested more time to reflect further on the
United States paper and on Canada's suggestions.  He suggested that the Council take note of the
statements made and revert to the issue at its next meeting.
39. The representative of the European Communities recalled that in the course of the Council's
discussions of "Systemic Issues Arising from Article V of the GATS", the view of many delegations
had been that Article V represented a fine and delicate balance.  He cautioned Members against
undermining such a balance and said that no additions to, or interpretations of, Article V should beundertaken.  He added that he would further reflect on Canada's proposals and revert to them.
40. The Council took note and agreed to revert to the item at its next meeting.
C. RE-OPENING OF THE FOURTH PROTOCOL – STATEMENT BY BRAZIL
41. The Chairman indicated that the item had been placed on the agenda at the request of the
delegation of Brazil.  He invited the representative of Brazil to take the floor.
42. The representative of Brazil indicated that the title of the agenda item was unfortunate, as his
authorities were not necessarily trying to re-open the Fourth Protocol.  He explained that the paper
submitted by his delegation in document S/C/W/160 was straightforward in its presentation and
transparent in its aspirations.  His delegation was faced with the difficult, but also gratifying, situation
of finding the best technical way of consolidating its improved schedule.  Document S/C/W/160suggested one possibility, namely that the Membership  agree that Brazil be allowed to substitute its
schedule as reflected in the Fourth Protocol.  His delegation was presenting the issue to the Council in
an effort of full transparency, as it had been conducting informal consultations with several Members
but, because of time constraints, had not been able to contact all Members.  He said that no decision
needed to be taken at that meeting, and that his delegation was ready to continue its consultations andwould be working with the Secretariat in order to  prepare the best possible draft decision, which
would be presented to the Council in October.
43. During the Fourth Protocol negotiations, Brazil's  offer reflected the situation at the time.  The
final parameters which would have resulted from the General Telecommunications Law, which was
being debated and examined at the moment by the Brazilian Congress, were not known at the time.
The schedule in the Fourth Protocol revealed itse lf insufficient later on to fully reflect the dramatic
changes enacted in the telecommunication sector as a result of the passing of the General Law.Hence, a conflict of regulations ensued, as Brazil's commitments in the Fourth Protocol were
superseded by the new General Law.  The Fourth Protocol had to be withdrawn from Congress as it
would not have met with Congress approval, which had prevented Brazil's acceptance of the Fourth
Protocol as it stood.
44. Since Brazil was both committed to the multilateral trading system and was willing to bind its
schedule, his delegation had decided to opt for the most straightforward solution by requesting the
Council to replace the offer made in the Fourth Protocol with a revised and substantially improved
schedule.  During the course of the consultations , it was suggested that such a solution might create
some legal difficulties;  however, the WTO was a Member-driven organization, so that whatever
decision Members decided to take, as long as it did not affect the overall balance of rights andobligations under the agreements, could constitute a precedent, but he noted that this would be goodS/C/M/46
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precedent.  Technology was changing rapidly, and the solution proposed in paragraph 19 of their
paper would be a better decision, on the part of th e Council, than any other possible procedure which
might be envisaged, the worst of which would be that Brazil would not bind its commitments.  The
solution envisaged was a good precedent also because it allowed the Council to deal with
modifications which substantially improved a Member's commitments when a Member, as was thecase with Brazil, wanted to unilaterally bind its improved obligations.  His delegation was open to
further contacts with delegations, but was looking for a decision on the matter at the Council meeting
in October.
45. He then passed the floor to his colleague from Anatel, the Brazilian telecommunication
regulatory authority, who presented the main improvements of their new schedule.  He indicated that,
on page 5 of document S/C/W/160, market access was being allowed for all basic services, for both
public and non-public use, in local, long-distance and international services with any kind oftechnology;  this had been unbound in the old schedule, because of the state-owned monopoly.  Only
a provisional limitation concerning the number of operators remained  for mode 3, which would be
removed at the end of 2001.  After 1 January 2002, there would not be any limitations on the number
of providers or in the services they chose to explore.  On page 6, there was full liberalization for
mobile services, with the exception of one region, where a duopoly still existed, which wouldhowever be removed after 1 January 2002.  On page 7, the value-added services were listed, so that
they could not be considered as having been omitted from the proposal.  In reality, these services were
no longer considered as telecommunication services;  total liberalization was granted in the provision
of these services and they were even beyond the reach of the telecommunication regulatory agency, as
was clearly stated in point (i) on page 4.  Brazil was also adopting the Reference Paper, with all itsprescriptions about safeguards, interconnection, transparency and regulation;  on page 10, the
footnotes made clear that Brazil gave preference to negotiation between operators in establishing
prices and conditions of interconnection.  It had been a successful approach considering the many
issues operators had to deal with in this field.  The footnote on page 11 referred to the asymmetrical
obligations on universal services.  Only the incumbent had obligations concerning continuity andquantitative and qualitative goals on universal services, so that new entrants had some flexibility to
face competition, considering that the incumbent still had a big market share and all the advantages of
having been the first to enter the market.
46. The representative of Brazil asked a representative of the Secretariat to explain in more detail
the question of the procedural possibilities that Members would be faced with at the Council meeting
in October.
47. A representative by the Secretariat indicated that the delegation of Brazil had been discussing
with the Secretariat various possible procedures.  Brazil was seeking to replace the schedule attached
to the Fourth Protocol with an improved schedule.  However, that could not be done just by taking the
old schedule out of the Protocol and inserting the new one, because many Members had already
signed the Fourth Protocol in its existing form and the Protocol could not be changed post-facto.
However, giving legal effect to the new schedule would not present a problem, as certificationprocedures existed under which it could be submitted and undergo a 45-day period for consideration
by the Membership, after which, in the absence of questions or objections, the certification procedure
would be completed and the schedule added to the G A T S .   I n  t h a t  c a s e ,  B r a z i l  w o u l d  s i m p l y  n o t
accept the Protocol as far as the schedule was concerned.  An additional factor was, however, that in
the Fourth Protocol Brazil had listed an MFN exemption which it was necessary to maintain.  Thatexemption, legally speaking, would only come into  force when Brazil ratified that Protocol.
Therefore, a procedure where Brazil would not ratify the Protocol would deny them the exemption
which they had listed.  As it was necessary that the new schedule be accompanied by the MFN
exemption, the Council would need to take some decision to the effect that, notwithstanding what was
stated in the Protocol, the exemption, having been submitted within the due period, was deemed to bevalid and was attached to the GATS.  Hence, there would be two acts, a certification of the scheduleS/C/M/46
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and a decision by the Council on the MFN exemption.  He indicated that what he had outlined was
only one of the possible solutions.
48. The representatives of the Canada, the United States , the European Communities  and Mexico
had taken note of Brazil's statement and description of the proposed new schedule and indicated their
intention of reverting to the matter.
49. The Chairman said that Brazil's intervention was intended as an extension of their
consultations and that they were not looking for a decision by the Council at that meeting.  He
concluded that the Council would revert to the item at its next meeting.
D. OTHER BUSINESS
50. The Chairman offered the floor to a representative of the Secretariat to make a statement on
the Review on the Annex of Air Transport Services and on enquiry and contact points.
51. With respect to the air transport review, a representative of the WTO Secretariat informed
Members that the Secretariat was preparing a paper for the meeting on 28-29 September on recent
developments in the air transport sector, which would be circulated a month in advance of the
meeting, but which would not cover the whole list of issues, A to N, which had been agreed.  It was
turning out to be a very substantial document and most of the points from A towards N would be
covered, but issues listed under N, which covered "Commercial air transport services", normallyreferred to as "hard rights", would not be addressed in the first paper, but only in a second half of the
paper to be submitted in time for the second meeting of the review.
52. He then drew delegations' attention to the doc ument entitled "Contact and Enquiry Points",
which had been circulated on 12 July 2000 as Job No. 4427.  He recalled that, at the last meeting, it
had been agreed that the Secretariat should draw up an updated list of contact and enquiry points, tobe made available both on paper and on the WTO web-site.  Job No. 4427 was based on the
information currently available with the Secretariat.  It was not the updated list but had been prepared
to that effect, and was being circulated with the request that Members look at their own enquiry and
contact points and inform the Secretariat of any mistakes, updates or omissions, so that an updated
document could be prepared for the autumn.
53. The representative of Argentina said that his delegation had only notified an enquiry point
and asked if it was possible that the revised list distinguish between enquiry and contact points.  The
representative of India encouraged Members to communicate e-mail addresses whenever possible.  A
number of delegations concurred and informed the Secretariat of mistakes.
54. The Chairman suggested that the Secretariat be  informed of corrections in writing.  He
concluded that the Council had taken note of the statements made.
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