. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTN/S/11
11 July 2003
(03-3803)
Council for Trade in Services
Special Session
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES
Report by the Chairman to the Trade Negotiations Committee
Further to my oral report made to the TNC on 10 June 2003 I wish to make this formal
written report.
The Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services in Special Session met on 3-10 July
2003.
I. STATUS OF WORK
1. With respect to the "Assessment on Trade in  Services" the Council had a substantive
discussion in part based on a particularly rich oral statement by Malaysia on its experience with theliberalization of its financial services sector.  A few delegations echoed comments from this statement
that the sequencing and pace of reforms in this sectors was of critical importance.  The Council
expressed its gratitude to the government of Canada for a financial contribution to the International
Trade Centre which is ear-marked for a project that assists governments in conducting national
assessments on trade in services.  The Council agreed to invite the ITC to a future meeting to make a
presentation on how Members might better take advantage of this programme.  Finally, a number of
delegations suggested that elements contained in the submissions made under this item to date could
be used to structure the Council's on-going work.  I will pursue consultations in this regard over the
coming weeks.
2. Under "Proposals Relating to the Negotiations under Article XIX" India presented a proposal
on behalf of 15 developing country Member co-spons ors on the liberalization of movement of natural
persons.
1  Discussion on this proposal was substantive and characterised by a large number of
interventions underlining the importance of this mode of supply, particularly to developing country
Members.  A number of points were raised in the course of the discussion including the need to
examine the current nature of mode 4 commitments, administrative procedures relevant to mode 4, the
recognition of qualifications of service suppliers and a possible model schedule.  The proposal has
served to draw additional attention to this issue at  an important juncture in the request-offer process.
Additionally, the delegation of Venezuela expanded upon an earlier presentation of a proposal on
energy services.2  It is worth noting the exemplary nature of the transparency with which the energy
friends group has pursued its work as testified to by its oral reports and written submissions.
3. As is to be expected, the Council had substantive and very extensive discussions under the
item "Review of Progress in Negotiations".  Overall, Members felt that the negotiations to this point
                                                     
1 TN/S/W/14.
2 S/CSS/W/69/Add.2.TN/S/11
Page 2
had been running relatively smoothly.  Important wo rk has been done on the various elements of the
negotiating architecture mandated in paragraph 3 of Article XIX.  Market access negotiations were
being conducted in a positive and constructive atmosphere, and the participation of Members has been
broadening.  However, delegations also sought to identify a number of areas of concern.  For
example, there were some expressions of disappointment with the limited number and the overall
modest nature of the offers on the table.  Repeated encouragement was recorded for Members torenew their efforts to submit initial offers prior to the Ministerial Conference and eight delegations
indicated that this was their intention.  Attention was drawn to the difficulties faced by developing
countries, and particularly the least-developed country Members, in overcoming the technical and
human capacity constraints required in preparing an offer.  In terms of the quality of the offers a
number of Members indicated it was mixed and at times did not include sectors and modes which they
had identified in their requests as being of particular  interest to them.  Others indicated that they were
encouraged by progress in the negotiations on financial, maritime transport and energy servicessectors.  In terms of the rule-making components of the negotiations, disappointment was expressed
with the lack of progress in work, although a few Members noted there were initial encouraging signs
emerging from the Working Party on Domestic Regulation.  Members highlighted a particular
concern over the negotiations on emergency safeguard measures in the context of the preparations for
the meeting of Ministers in Cancun.  Finally, I woul d note that the Council held its first discussion
under a permanent sub-item on the implementation of paragraph 15 of the Negotiating Guidelines
relating to Articles IV and XIX:2 of the GATS.  The proponents of this proposal presented a series of
questions which they felt could be used as a basis for future work.  Due to a lack of time, Members
could only commence their discussion of these questions.  I will be holding consultations in this
regard in order to prepare for continued discussion in October.
II. OUTSTANDING ISSUES
4. Please see my report under this same sub-heading contained in document TN/S/10.
III. FUTURE WORK
5. Please see my report under this same sub-heading contained in document TN/S/10.
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