RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSC/M/21
5 February 2002
(02-0541)
Committee on Specific Commitments
REPORT OF THE MEETING HE LD ON 30 NOVEMBER 2001
Note by the Secretariat
1. The Committee on Specific Commitments held a meeting on 30 November 2001.  The agenda
for the meeting is contained in WTO/AIR/1675.  No points were raised under other business.
2. The Chairperson recalled that the Committee had not met formally since May.  The only item
the Committee had on its agenda at the time was classification issues and it had been taken up for
discussion in the Services Council in Special Sessi on.  The Council would be addressing those issues
as one of the five topics during the sectoral discussions the following week, which had raised doubts
as to the timing being right for resuming classification discussions in the Committee.  Nevertheless, it
had been considered appropriate to convene a formal meeting before the end of the year.
A. CLASSIFICATION ISSUES
3. The Chairperson recalled that in May delegations had had a brief exchange of views on each
of the five services sectors under discussion in the Committee, namely, Environment, Energy, Legal,
Postal and Courier, and Construction Services.  Subs equently, in light of developments at the Services
Council in Special Session concerning classification issues, the Committee had decided at the July
informal meeting to change slightly the approach to this agenda item and provide flexibility for
delegations to resume technical discussions by way of presenting new or updated proposals in sectors
of their interest.  That approach would not pr eclude the continuation of discussion on existing
proposals, when delegations further develop views on them.  The Committee’s latest deliberations hadrecognized that the process should be Member driven and thus it would be up to delegations to resume
discussions whenever deemed appropriate.  She invited any views that might have developed since
May regarding the classification of the five sectors that the Committee had been discussing until then.
Additionally, she invited delegations to raise any new classification issue, if they so wished.
4. The representative of the European Communities drew attention to the revised proposal on
classification of environmental services submitted by her delegation, Job No. 7612 dated 28
November 2000 .   The introductory note of that submission set out the reasoning behind the changes
introduced in the revision.  She said that her delegation continued discussing with a number of
interested delegations regarding a couple of items, such as distribution of water.  She invited
comments from all delegations, which could be taken into account in any further revision of theproposal that her delegation might make.
5. The representative of Canada felt that the Committee had a lot of value added that could be
provided in examining classification issues.  He indicated that the most recent proposal by the EC on
classification of environmental services continued to be under examination by his delegation and thus
comments would be provided at a future meeting.S/CSC/M/21
Page 2
6. The Chairperson said that the Committee would take note of the statements made and revert
to this item at its next meeting.
B. ORGANIZATION OF FUTURE WORK
7. The Chairperson recalled that discussions on this issue had revolved around how to advance
the classification work in light of the developments in the Special Session of the Services Council and
possible new areas on which work could be undertaken by the Committee.  As to the former, the most
recent discussions had suggested that although it was not necessary to get a mandate from the
Services Council to continue technical work, it was useful to wait for the Council’s in-depth sectoral
discussion to develop, as that might provide further elements to advance deliberations on
classification in the Committee.  Regarding the latt er, it had been recognized that the work by the
Committee had been, and would continue to be, driven by Members and that within the ambit of its
terms of reference the Committee could undertake discussion on any issue upon request by anyMember.  She observed that there were a few points that delegations should bear in mind when
considering the organization of the work in the Committee: the Council had already discussed all
sectors at least twice; Members needed to prepare to present requests for specific commitments by
June 2002; and the fact that the guidelines for the negotiations call for the subsidiary bodies to be
utilised to their maximum capacity.  She stressed that there were decisions that the Committee couldnot take for the Council, however, Members of the Committee could decide to undertake work
deemed helpful in the present context as long as it  was compatible with its terms of reference.  She
invited delegations’ views on how to proceed with the work on classification as well as on areas
where the CSC could carry on work.
8. The representative of the European Communities recalled that many delegations had
expressed a desire to discuss the classification issues at least once within the Services Council in
Special Session.  The Committee should be able to take up elements of classification where technical
work could help to move forward the understanding of Members.  The classification exercise was a
Member driven process relating only to those areas where Members believed it necessary to clarify
the elements already included in the W/120, whether by spelling them out in some clearer way orunderstanding better where individual elements might be found in W/120.  Thus her delegation did
not seek a whole scale review of the W/120.  During the discussions in the Council in Special Session,
her delegation would be looking for classification issues that could be addressed in the Committee in
a pragmatic and flexible way.
9. The representative of Chile said that the Committee had so far focused on classification issues
but the negotiating process would bring new issues appropriate for the Committee to address.  For
instance, the preparation of requests and offers might bring questions regarding the scheduling ofmeasures, which could be taken up by the CSC.  Di scussions at the Services Council the following
week could provide guidance in that respect.
10. The representative of India shared views expressed by other delegations regarding the
importance of the Committee in clarifying issues of classification.  The classification work was very
technical and given its expertise the CSC should be the only forum discussing those issues.  If needbe, the CSC could seek advise from the Services Council.  Regarding the idea of developing criteria
for introducing changes to the W/120, his delegations felt that prior to making any decisions on that
proposal the objectives and principles on which such criteria could be based should be prepared.  He
recalled that India's position with regard to changes to W/120 had been stated in the meeting of May
2001.  As regard to the desirability of concluding the classification work prior to the negotiations ofthe commitments, given that commitments would be based on classification, it would always be
preferable to conclude such work before the commitments are negotiated and thus the Committee
should strive to conclude the work expeditiously.  However, such work should not be rushed so that
the very purpose of achieving clarity and certainty would be defeated.S/CSC/M/21
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11. The representative of Uruguay recalled one issue that seemed adequate for the Committee to
discuss, namely, the question of incorporation of new commitments into the schedules of Members.
The WTO Secretariat had prepared a note for the Services Council describing what had taken place in
the field of goods in GATT regarding the successive tariff schedules.  After successive rounds of tariff
negotiations a country had different schedules, which made it very difficult to determine the actualsituation at a given time.  He said that the Secretariat note suggested certain possible options to deal
with that problem in services schedules.  For example, one possible option would be that the services
negotiations would produce a new schedule additional to the one resulting from the Uruguay Round.
Another possibility would be consolidating the schedules, that was to merge in one schedule the
commitments of the Uruguay Round and those resulting from the current negotiations.  His delegation
had not position in that respect thus far but felt that the issue would be a topic on which the CSC
would have to reflect and agree a solution to recommend to the Council as soon as possible.  Membersneeded to understand what the process would be as such certainty would facilitate to a great extend
the work of the delegations and respective capitals, especially given the specific benchmarks for
presentation of requests and offers adopted in the Ministerial Declaration of Doha.
12. The representative of Canada concurred.  It was necessary to consider the relationship
between the old and the new schedules well in advance of the conclusion of the present negotiations.
It was important to strike a balance between legal certainty of commitments and producing schedules
that were understandable to users in each Member country.  The representative of the European
Communities also found those suggestions inte resting for the Committee to consider. The
representative of Switzerland supported the suggestion by the representative of Uruguay and the
urgency of classification issues.
13. The representative of New Zealand observed that many of the proposals presented to the
Special Session had picked up classification issues.  During the negotiations, Members would be free
to cast their requests and offers on whatever basis they might chose.  The real issue was whether there
was merit in moving ahead in the Committee to approach classification issues on a common basis by
June 2002 or whether to wait for developments in the Services Council in Special Session.  Hisdelegation felt that the Committee should wait for the Special Session to task the Committee with
pursuing further work, perhaps the latter part of next year.
14. The representative of Brazil shared the views expressed by the representative of Uruguay.
There were other issues that required attention by the CSC in addition to those mentioned, for
instance, procedures for rectifications to the lists of MFN exemptions.  The CSC had addressed
similar procedural issues regarding the schedules in the past.  The representative of Korea argued that
the Service Council was already addressing that matter and thus taking it up in the CSC could
duplicate efforts or cause inconsistencies.  He reiterated that the classification system was an
important tool to be used in the negotiations.  Considering that the Doha Ministerial Declaration had
included benchmarks for the request and offer process, Members needed to solve those issues as soon
as possible.  There were various fora discussing classification issues.  His delegation wanted to get a
clearer picture in certain areas, such as classification of energy services, before the actual request andoffer stage and bilateral negotiations.  It was necessary to streamline the classification discussions and
future work involving the various fora.  He sugge sted that the Services Council in Special Session
could organize future work in a better way.
15. The representative of New Zealand agreed with the view that there were other issues that the
Committee could address, however, there were doubts concerning the desirability of addressing all of
them and whether they were covered by the terms of reference of the Committee.  If deemed
necessary, the terms of reference could be revisited to provide a more updated focus.  The
representative of Chile felt that more than revising the terms of reference Members needed to read
them in a way that would allow covering those issues that had been identified by the discussions.  TheS/CSC/M/21
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Chairperson recalled that any revision of the terms of reference of the CSC should be considered by
the Services Council and not by the Committee itself.
16. The representative of Venezuela did not favour a full revision of the W/120 and supported
conclusion of classification work before, and as a pre-requisite, for the exchange of specific
commitments.  It was necessary to clarify the scope of the classification of certain services, such asenergy services, so that domestic constituencies could understand the opportunities presented by the
services negotiations.
17. The representative of Hong Kong, China support ed the views expressed by the EC about the
organization of future work and the suggestion by Uruguay.  Regarding the question of MFN
exemptions, a draft procedure had been tabled at th e Services Council and it would be better to wait
for its discussion in that forum.  On the suggestion of revisiting the terms of reference of the CSC, his
delegation wanted to reflect further.  Regarding new topics for work, his delegation had noticed thatapart from market access and national treatment commitments, many negotiating proposals had
indicated a way for Members to make commitments in other aspects as well.  His delegation did not
intent to discuss those other types of commitments  in the CSC but was interested in the Committee
shedding some light on the various approaches or the various methods by which those other specific
commitments outside market access and national treatment could be inscribed in the schedules.Basically, the suggestion was to discuss the different approaches and their differences, which his
delegation felt would help Members to have a better understanding in the negotiations process.
18. The representative of Mexico supported the statements by the delegations of Uruguay, EC,
Brazil and Canada in particular.  As to the suggestion of revisiting the terms of reference of the
Committee, on a preliminary basis, such mandate for the Committee derived from a regular session ofthe Services Council and constituted a permanent mandate, which would be different from a
negotiating mandate that would have to derive from the Services Council in Special Session.
According to the guidelines and procedures for the negotiations, Members should try to use the full
capacity of the auxiliary bodies so as not to set up new negotiating bodies.  Therefore, there would be
a possibility of a negotiating mandate from the Services Council in Special Session, which was so farthe only body with a negotiating mandate, to the subsidiary bodies.  However, many of the topics
might be discussed in the regular session or the negotiating session of the Services Council.
19. The representatives of Chile; Hong Kong, China
; and India  suggested that the Chairperson
could hold informal consultations on new issues for work by the Committee before the next formal
meeting.
20. In summing up, the Chairperson said that in general delegations felt that the Committee was
the right forum to conduct technical discussions.  Regarding classification issues, most delegations
felt that the Committee should wait for the classification discussion to take place at the Services
Council in Special Session the foll owing week, which could identify the technical issues on which the
Committee should undertake further work.  Regarding other issues that the Committee could take up,
a few topics deemed relevant to the on-going negotiations and appropriate for consideration by the
Committee had been suggested for reflection by delegations.  Those topics included possible criteriafor introducing changes to the sectoral classification list, document W/120; procedures for
rectifications of MFN exemptions lists; any questions regarding the listing of measures in the
schedules; different approaches to the scheduling of commitments other than those relating to market
access and national treatment; and the development of a procedure for the incorporation of new
commitments resulting from current negotiations in  Members' schedules.  As suggested by a few
delegations, she could conduct informal consultations on those topics before the next formal meeting.
21. The Committee so decided.S/CSC/M/21
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C. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
22. The Chairperson proposed that, in accordance with the practice of grouping meetings of
subsidiary bodies close to meetings of the Council,  the next meeting be held during the week just
before the next Council for Trade in Services and its Special Session formal meetings.
23. The Committee so agreed.
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