RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/WPPS/M/7
13November 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-4788)
Working Party onProfessional Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING HELD ON28OCTOBER
Note bytheSecretariat
1. TheWorking Party onProfessional Services helditsseventh meeting under thechairmanship
ofAmbassador Bautista ofthePhilippines. Theagenda forthemeeting wascontained inairgram
WTO/AIR/450. Under Other Business thechairperson announced fortheinformation ofdelegations
thatshehadreceived twocommunications concerning architectural services. Thefirstwasaletter
fromtheUnion Internationale desArchitectes dated 21October 1996which outlined theorganization 's
views ontheworkoftheWPPS. Thesecond communication wasfromtheArchitects Council ofEurope
dated 22October which defined theposition ofthearchitectural profession inEurope ontheissues
being discussed intheWorking Party. Sheemphasised thatthemain purpose ofthemeeting wasto
complete thereport oftheWPPS totheCouncil fortrade inServices. Thediscussions focused on
thefollowing matters.
Status ofresponses tothequestionnaire ontheaccountancy sector
2. Thechairpersonrecalledthegenesisofthequestionnaire.AttheJanuarymeetingoftheWorking
Party, delegations assessed theinformation thathadbeenmade available inanumber ofsurveys carried
outbytheOECD, UNCTAD andIFAC. Asaresult oftheassessment, theWorking Party decided
thataquestionnaire focused onspecific aspects ofdomestic regulations which affect theaccountancy
sector should beformulated andcirculated. Thespecific aspects included qualification requirements,
technical standards andethics, licensing requirements andprocedures, recognition ofqualifications
andother relevant regulatory matters. 23responses tothequestionnaire fromthefollowing countries
hadalready beencirculated: Thailand, South Africa, Korea, Norway, Canada, Uruguay, Argentina,
Australia, Slovenia, TheUnited States, Philippines, Barbados, Hong Kong, Morocco, Chile, Japan,
India, Switzerland, New Zealand, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil andtheECanditsMember States.
UNCTAD 'scommunication covering anumber ofcountries hasalsobeencirculated. Shesaidthat
itwasnottoosoontoconsider howtomake useofthematerial. Onepossibility would betoaskthe
Secretariat toprovide compilations onpoints ofparticular relevance totheGroup 'swork. Asecond
possibility, more time-consuming, would betomake asynthetic compilation ofresponses onallaspects
covered bythequestionnaire which wasdoneinthecaseofthequestionnaire onmaritime transport
services. Itwasagreed thattheSecretariat should startwithacompilation onissues ofparticular
relevance tothework oftheWPPS.
Guidelines onmutual recognition
3. TheChairperson reported thatsince thelastmeeting oftheWorking Party there hadtaken
placeanumberofinformalconsultationsonthedevelopmentofnon-bindingguidelinesforthenegotiation
ofmutual recognition agreements orarrangements. Thepurpose ofsuchguidelines would betoassist
onavoluntary basisthenegotiation andconclusion ofMRAs among WTO Members. Atthemeeting,
./.S/WPPS/M/7
Page 2
theWorking Party tooknotethatadraftpaper entitled Guidelines forMutual Recognition Agreements
orArrangementsintheAccountancySector(dated25October1996)hadbeenpreparedandcouldprovide
thebasis forfurther work. Anumber ofamendments were proposed toparagraph 1onpage2of
thedraftandonedelegation noted inparticular thatthelastindent onpage8ofthedraftconcerning
"regulations relating tonationality andresidency requirements needed forthepurposes oftheMRA"
required further consideration. Anumber ofdelegations expressed interest incoming backtothetext
towards theendofNovember butseveral others saidthattheyrequired moretimetostudy thedocument
andthatitwould therefore notbepossible toresume workontheguidelines before theendofNovember.
Itwasagreed thatconsultations would beheldtoseewhen afurther informal meeting could beheld.
WPPS report totheCouncil forTrade inServices
4. TheChairperson noted thatfurther intensive discussions hadtaken place inthegroup onthe
draftreport, notably during theinformal meetings oftheWPPS on17and24October. Asaresult
ofthose discussions, theSecretariat hadcirculated arevised draftdated 25October. Anumber of
amendments wereagreed tothefactual partoftherevised report contained inparagraphs 1to8.With
respect toparagraph 9,onfuture work, agood dealofdiscussion tookplace onthevarious issues
contained inthatparagraph andwhich hadbeenoutlined intheminutes ofthesixth meeting ofthe
WPPS (paragraphs 6and7indocument S/WPPS/M/6).
5. Withregard tothereference inthethirdsentence oftheparagraph onfuture work to"relevant
internationalorganizations",anumberofdelegationsrequestedinformationonwhethertheInternational
Federation ofAccountants (IFAC) andtheInternational Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and
theInternational Organization ofSecurities Commissions (IOSCO) could bedefined asrelevant
international organizations under Article VI.5oftheGATS. TheSecretariat responded thatinorder
toqualify assuchitwasnecessary thattheorganization 'smembership beopentotherelevant bodies
ofatleastallMembers oftheWTO. Theabove citedorganizations appeared tomeetthese criteria.
There werealsoprecedents intheGATT/WTO context forreferences tostandard-setting bodies of
acomparable kind, including references totheITU andtheISOintheGATS Annex on
Telecommunications; tothree specific organizations inthe(SPS) Agreement ontheApplication of
Sanitary andPhytosanitary Measures; andtocooperation with WIPO intheTRIPS Agreement.
6. TheChairperson announced thatshewould holdfurther informal consultations toresolve the
remaining divergences ofview. (Having doneso,theChairperson submitted onherownresponsibility
theWPPS report indocument S/WPPS/1 of30October. Further changes were made tothefinal
paragraph before thereport wasincluded, onaconsensus basis, inthereport oftheCouncil forTrade
inServices totheGeneral Council indocument S/C/3 of6November.)