RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSS/M/1
12 April 2000
(00-1479)
Council for Trade in Services
Special Session
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 25 FEBRUARY 2000
Note by the Secretariat
1. The Council for Trade in Services held a Special Session on 25 February 2000.  The agenda
for the meeting is contained in document WTO/AIR/1245.
2. The Chairman, Ambassador Sergio Marchi of Canada, expressed the Council's gratitude to
Ambassador Harbinson for the efficiency and cordiality with which he had conducted the business of
the Council through a very busy and interesting year.  He added that the fact that the services dossierwas universally acknowledged to have been the best prepared item on the Seattle agenda was due in
large part to Ambassador Harbinson's leadership and to the cooperative and positive relationships
between members of the Services Council.  He also thanked Mr Hartridge and the Services Division
of the WTO Secretariat for their work and support.  He then proposed that the agenda for the meeting,
as set out in the Airgram, and with the addition of the item on the assessment of trade in services, beadopted.
3. The Council so agreed.
A. NEGOTIATIONS UNDER ARTICLE XIX OF THE GATS – STATEMENT BY THE 
CHAIRMAN
4. The Chairman said that, as that was the first of the special sessions of the Council devoted to
the new round of negotiations, he would take the opportunity to explain how he saw the Council's
work for the year.  He stressed that the negotiations were Members' main concern, because of theirmajor economic importance and because they would be seen as a test of the resilience of the WTO
system and the commitment of its Members.  A great deal of attention would be focused on the
Services Council, and the positive spirit and expertise of Members were of great value.
5. He noted that the decision taken by the General Council on 7 February had left the Services
Council with a good deal of flexibility as to the way in which it organized its work, and added thatflexibility should be Members' guiding principle.  The decision that the negotiations be managed in
special sessions of the Council, with the corollary that the normal business of the Council would
continue in ordinary meetings worked well, as the greater part of Members' work for the year in the
subordinate bodies, and therefore in the Council, would be negotiations or a direct input into the
negotiations.  He felt that it would probably not be  helpful to draw too sharp a distinction between
negotiations and routine work:  all of the subordinate bodies would report to the Services Council, as
always, whether in special sessions or in regular meetings, and decisions by the Council in Special
Session had exactly the same legal status and effect as decisions in ordinary meetings.  He intended to
promote such flexibility by running, whenever possible, the special sessions back-to-back with routine
meetings, to make the most efficient use of the time of delegations and to minimise any difficultieswhich might arise from the distinction between what was a negotiating issue and what was not.  It was
hard to predict the precise rhythm of meetings, but he suggested that meetings be scheduled atS/CSS/M/1
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intervals of about five or six weeks.  He also in tended to consult extensively at the informal level,
whether in informal meetings of the Council or in contacts with individual delegations.  He noted that
the Services Council would be reporting to the General Council on all elements of its work, and he
suggested that such reporting be done rather more frequently due to the interest in the negotiating
process.  He proposed that the Chairman of the C ouncil also report orally to the General Council.  He
noted that the Services Council also had to cons ider whether to appoint a vice-Chairperson;  he
thought that at some stage, or for a particular pu rpose, Members might find it desirable to do so, and
that the possibility should be left open, but suggested that for the moment there was no need for a
decision on the issue.
6. Several delegations intervened to thank Am bassador Harbinson for his excellent work as
Chairman and to congratulate and welcome Amba ssador. Marchi as new Chairman of the Council.
7. The representative of Argentina, speaking on behalf of his own delegation and as a
representative of the temporary presidency of ME RCOSUR, welcomed the beginning of the services
negotiations.  The mandated negotiations were at the centre of attention, as they constituted the first
step towards restoring confidence in the WTO, in its mechanisms and in the security of commitments
undertaken and their consolidated.  MERCOSUR was fully committed to the services negotiations
and to seeing progress being made.  However, the interests of MERCOSUR did not end with theservices negotiation, and a balanced treatment ne eded to be ensured between the negotiations in
services and in agriculture, with parity, a certain parallelism and equal speed.  Hence, the Services
Council and the Committee on Agriculture needed to report regularly and simultaneously to the
General Council, for the two negotiations  to be evaluated and directed jointly.
8. He then identified the basic principles to guid e the services negotiations.  They were to be
conducted in conformity with the principle of progressive liberalization, as contained in Article XIX
of the GATS.  Adequate flexibility for developing countries in undertaking commitments should be
ensured, together with market opening by industrialized countries in sectors and modes of interest to
developing countries, in order to promote growing participation of developing countries in
international trade in services and to make the principles in Article IV operational.  No sector or modeshould a priority be excluded from the negotiation.  The architecture of the GATS needed to be
respected, both in terms of the approach to scheduling and the use of the four modes of supply.  In
principle, negotiations of specific commitments should be based on a request-and-offer approach.
Benchmarks should be established and met in the course of the negotiations, such as for the
development of disciplines on domestic regulation and GATS rules, as they would give certainty and
clarity to Members in scheduling commitments.  Likewise, the conclusion of work on classification
and scheduling guidelines was essential to the presentation of requests and offers.  MERCOSUR wasof the view that the end of 2000, or early in 2001, were feasible benchmarks, and that the Working
Party on GATS Rules, the Working Party on Domestic Regulation and the Committee on Specific
Commitments should report regularly to the Council for Trade in Services in Special Session.  In
parallel to such built-in work, guidelines and procedures for the negotiations of specific commitments
should be established, as mandated by Article XIX.  MERCOSUR was of the opinion that the firstpriority for the special sessions of the Counci l should be the rule-making work and the work on
classification and scheduling guidelines.  He proposed that, in order to maintain parity between the
mandated negotiations on services and on agriculture, the next Special Session of the Services
Council be held in May.
9. The representative of Switzerland was pleased that the mandated services negotiations had
been formally launched.  His delegation was both ambitious and pragmatic.  It was ambitious in terms
of the negotiations bringing about substantial improvements in commitments, both in terms of sectoral
coverage and as regards their levels, and further strengthening the agreement in areas such as GATS
rules, domestic regulation, classification and scheduling techniques, which should be brought forward
to ensure a reliable functioning of the GATS.  His delegation also approached the negotiation withS/CSS/M/1
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pragmatism, given that Members could not benefit from the framework and the momentum of a large
negotiating round, at least for some months to come.  Under the circumstances, great attention should
be given to building sound foundations for the negotiations.  Hence, he suggested that Members be
given the opportunity of submitting proposals and contributions to the Council in Special Session at
their convenience in a very open process, and in that respect he very much favoured the notion offlexibility that the Chairman had proposed in his introduction.
10. The representative of the Dominican Republic said that the launching of the services
negotiation was of a great importance to his delegation.  The services sector generated more than 50
per cent of foreign exchange earnings on his country's current account balance and more than two-
thirds of its employment and GDP.  In his view, ensuring progressive liberalization in sectors and
modes of relevance to developing countries would help to reinforce the credibility of the WTO.  He
said that the services negotiations represented the fi rst opportunity to put to the test the provisions of
the GATS and to carry out the intersectoral work which would fulfill the negotiating mandate of
Article XIX.  In this regard, he suggested that  Members consider the adoption of the negotiating
mandate prepared for the Seattle Ministerial Conference and that discussions of benchmarks and
negotiating guidelines continue on that basis.
11. The representative of the European Communities welcomed the start of the services
negotiations.  Similarly to most WTO Members, services accounted for the largest share of the
European Union's GDP, but not for the largest share of its exports.  Liberalization of services trade
could help to correct such an imbalance, in a mutu ally advantageous way for all Members.  As for the
negotiations, he concurred with the Chairman's suggestion that the distinction between the Council in
special and in regular session should not be rigid.  Indeed, a lot of the preparatory work carried out bythe Council in the previous year was feeding directly into the negotiations;  for instance, the mandated
reviews, although separate from the negotiations, would provide information useful to the
negotiations;  similarly, the work of the subsidiary bodies could be readily pursued or completed in
the context of negotiations in proper.  He expressed interest in market access negotiations being
carried out on a sector-by-sector basis as soon as possible.  He reiterated the European Communities'conviction that sectoral discussions and negotiations be carried out in parallel with rule-making work.
In that respect, he welcomed the opportunity of starting informal discussions with other interested
Members on a number of sectors as soon as possible, which might lead in due course to the exchange
of initial requests, and agreed that flexibility was key.  We was also in favour of scheduling the next
Special Session before the Easter break.
12. The representative of Australia foresaw a clear work programme for 2000, and a framework
on negotiating modalities based on the mandate for progressive liberalization in Article XIX.  Her
delegation believed that substantive services negotiations would serve the interests of all Members,
facilitating investment and growth.  She stressed the need for early consideration of an emergency
safeguard mechanism, work on mode 4 and measures to facilitate developing countries' participation
in world trade.  As concerned the organization of future work, she expressed a preference for
scheduling special sessions every thirty to forty-five days.
13. The representative of Ecuador stressed the importance his delegation attached to the services
negotiations.  He observed that the responsibilities on the WTO, and on the Services Council in
particular, were tremendous in this respect.  New dynamics were needed, based on the preamble of the
GATS, to achieve progressively higher levels of liberalization and to promote the interest of all
Members on a mutually advantageous basis.  In order to achieve those objectives, Members needed todetermine the goals and scope of the negotiations, the procedures to ensure efficient negotiations and
to discuss the participation of developing countries.  Three issues of particular interest were
approached from a different perspective by developed and developing countries:  the level and scope
of commitments; domestic regulation, including its predictability and legal stability; and questions
relating to the functioning of the GATS.  His delegation believed that it was important to identifyS/CSS/M/1
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points of convergence on such issues.  It was also essential to ensure the full participation of all
Members in the negotiations, and in particular of developing countries, thorough the appropriate
interpretation and application of Article IV and the flexibility in Article XIX:2.  He stressed that the
negotiations should build on existing commitments and be conducted on the basis of a request-and-
offer approach;  and they should not last beyond a period of three years.  His delegation believed thatnegotiating guidelines should not be drawn up until greater clarity was achieved on the work being
carried out on emergency safeguard measures, on cl arifying certain GATS provisions, on questions
relating to schedules of commitments and on services classification.  His delegation also believed that
all Members, and particularly developed country Members, needed to give positive signals on services
liberalization.
14. The representative of Slovenia welcomed the start of the services negotiations.  Slovenia was
a relatively small economy, but an outward-oriented one, with sixty per cent of its GDP accounted for
by services.  His delegation expected fruitful negotiations on further and substantial liberalization of
trade in services, and was quite flexible as concerned modalities and organization of the negotiations.
His delegation also believed that the services negotiations should be synchronised with other built-in
agenda negotiations, and specifically with those under the Committee on Agriculture and those under
the Council for TRIPS.
15. The representative of Japan welcomed the launch of the new services negotiations, to be
conducted with positive spirit and in accordance with Article XIX of the GATS.  In that regard, he
said that negotiating guidelines should be established in the Special Session of the Council, but that
his delegation was prepared to be flexible.  His delegation also believed that a new comprehensive
round of negotiations should be launched as soon as possible, to enable Members to respond to avariety of concerns and for the service negotiations to bear more fruitful and substantial results.
16. The representative of Cuba said that the new services negotiations should aim at progressively
higher levels of liberalization and ensure greater participation of developing countries in services
trade.  Guidelines should be established on the basis of Article XIX of the GATS.  She said that the
present architecture of the GATS should be respected and that negotiations should build on existingcommitments.  She agreed with the spirit of flexibility which had been mentioned by the Chairman,
and stressed the importance of utmost transparency throughout the negotiations.
17. The representative of New Zealand said that his delegation attached considerable importance
to the services negotiations mandated by Article XIX of the GATS and was very encouraged by the
constructive approach taken by Members in relation to the initial negotiating stages.  The services
negotiations consisted of two pillars, the first relating to the negotiation of improved commitments
across the full range of services sectors, and the second relating to the continuation of work on theframework disciplines of the GATS which had not been completed during the Uruguay Round.  It was
his delegation's view that those two pillars should proceed in tandem.  The negotiations on specific
commitment should aim, in accordance with Article XIX, at progressively higher levels of
liberalization, through commitments across a fuller range of sectors and through the reduction or
elimination of limitations.  He also endorsed the Ch airman's comments on the need for flexibility on
the way the Council organized its work.  On organizational aspects, his delegation was inclined to use
the established Council schedule of meetings to en able regular opportunities for meetings in special
negotiating sessions.
18. The representative of Mexico stressed that nego tiations should be held in strict compliance
with GATS Articles IV, XIX and the Annex on Article II Exemptions.  Progressive liberalization
should be based on a request-and-offer approach, with other modalities, horizontal or sectoral, to be
used whenever Members so agreed.  The negotiations should not exclude any sector or mode a priori,
and particular attention should be paid to sectors and modes of interest to developing countries.
Priority attention should be given to the work underway with respect to domestic regulation, GATSS/CSS/M/1
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rules and the Committee on Specific Commitments.  The architecture of the GATS should not be
changed, especially as concerned the scheduling of commitments and the modes of supply.  The
negotiations should take into account autonomous liberalization measures, as well as the reviews
mandated by the Annex on Article II Exemptions and the Annex on Air Transport Services.  His
delegation was not in favour of an unclear distinction between the meetings of the Council in regularsession and in special session, to avoid confusing issues.  However, any documents or papers
presented or discussed in regular session could be also used in special sessions.  He fully shared the
Chairman's suggestion that the Council did not need to discuss at that stage the appropriateness of
appointing a vice-Chairperson.  He then noted that no common view existed as to the date of the next
Council meeting, the number of meetings to be held in 2000, or their frequency; it was also not clear
how the Services Council would be reporting to the General Council.  Hence, he suggested that the
Chairman hold consultations on such issues.
19. The representative of the Czech Republic observed that the smooth start of the services
negotiation was a very encouraging signal.  At the same time, however, Members had to be realistic
as to what could be achieved in the absence of a comprehensive round of negotiations.  Still, his
delegation was optimistic about the possibility of launching a new round of negotiation, which would
undoubtedly bring new impetus to the services negotiations.  He agreed with the negotiatingframework and the way of reporting to the General Council which had been suggested.  Other
important issues were pending and needed to be clarified, especially with respect to negotiating
guidelines and procedures, but he was of the view that further reflection was needed and that no
agreement could be reached at that meeting.  His delegation was also of the view that positions on the
papers prepared for the Seattle Ministerial Confer ence were premature, but felt that they were
valuable work and that some of the elements contained therein could be useful.  However, it was still
necessary to explore to what extent the emerging consensus on services-related aspects was
conditional upon the adoption of the entire declaration, taking into account all relevant factors
mentioned by delegations in both formal and informal recent meetings of the General Council.  Until
consultations had produced concrete results, he stated that the services negotiations had no deadlinesand no new objectives beyond those contained in Article XIX.
20. The representative of the United States said that cross-border trade in services accounted for
nearly one-quarter of world trade and that in many  countries, including developing countries, services
made up well over 60 per cent of GDP.  Access to high quality affordable services promoted
economic growth, provided choice to consumers and facilitated human resource development.  The
successes in the basic telecom and financial services negotiations demonstrated Members' desire to
open markets in two important services sectors, a nd Members' shared task was now to do the same in
more sectors.  His delegation had read with interest Members' submissions identifying sectors and
modes of interest to them and would welcome statements of interest from other delegations as well.
As concerned the work programme for 2000, his delegation's view was, first, that it was important to
ratchet up the level of work in the four subsidiary bodies, and to devote additional time and resources
to each of the items under discussion in those bodies.  Second, an active and productive role for theCouncil in Special Session must be ensured;  init ially, it would serve to monitor progress and ensure
transparency in the negotiations.  The Council in Special Session should be the forum where all
aspects of the negotiations would come together, but flexibility as to whether any additional functions
or roles may be appropriate for this body was important.  Third, a timetable for the negotiations
should be agreed;  benchmarks had been included in the draft Seattle text on services.  Fourthly, sixweeks or so should be the frequency of future m eetings;  moreover, to facilitate participation of
capital-based negotiators, meetings of the Council in special and in regular sessions and of the four
subsidiary bodies should be scheduled back-to-back.
21. The representative of Venezuela welcomed the formal beginning of the services negotiation.
She said that it was important to give priority to unfinished work, particularly on specific
commitment, and to bear in mind the provisions se t out in the Preamble to the GATS.  She reiteratedS/CSS/M/1
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what had been stated by her delegation in document WT/GCW/281 in relation to the architecture of
the GATS, the request-and-offer approach and broad-based negotiations in all sectors.  She also
endorsed what had been said by the delegation of Argentina, on behalf of MERCOSUR, in terms of
scheduling activities, and stressed that meetings of the Services Council in Special Session should be
held with the same frequency of the meetings on agriculture.
22. The representative of India stated that the services negotiations had to be guided by the
principles in Article XIX, of progressive liberalization and adequate flexibility for developing
countries, and that sectors and modes of interests to developing countries should be given due
consideration in market opening by developed countries.  She recalled that the Council had agreed
that the assessment of trade in services would be a focal point for discussions in the special session
meetings.  There was a need to examine in greater detail the extent to which the liberalization in world
services trade had increased participation of developing countries and added to their capacity-buildingneeds, to help focus attention on the areas of concern in the negotiations.  Her delegation believed that
the mandated negotiations under Article XIX were a distinct process from other mandated reviews
and negotiations in the rule-making areas and that it might not be appropriate to merge them.
Negotiating guidelines and procedures should also be given priority in the Special Session and she
hoped to see them as an item on the agenda of the next Special Session.  Her delegation was of theview that the Special Session of the Council s hould deal with the mandated negotiations under
Article XIX, and that the Council's routine work should continue in its regular sessions, and that such
a distinction should be maintained.  She agreed that the regular and special sessions be held back-to-
back, to facilitate participation of all Members and of capital-based delegates.  She then drew
attention to the inevitability of a parallel being drawn between progress made in mandated
negotiations on services, agriculture and TRIPS, as well as in addressing implementation concerns.
23. The representative of Korea said that his delegation attached great importance to the services
negotiations and agreed that parity in speed be ensured with other negotiations.  Article XIX called for
the establishment of negotiating guidelines; howeve r, he suggested that for the time being Members
concentrate on preparatory work rather than on the guidelines, which could be quite sensitive.  Headded that Article XIX mandated that modalities be established for the treatment of autonomous
liberalization.  He also expressed his delegation's expectation that a comprehensive round of
negotiations be started at the earliest possible date.
24. The representative of Hong Kong, China said  that his delegation attached considerable
importance to the services negotiations.  There were a number of issues on which work had been on-
going in the Services Council and in its subsidiary bodies and which were closely related to the
negotiations mandated under Article XIX of the GATS.  His view was that if all outstanding issueswere taken forward, sufficient interest would be generated for all Members to contribute positively to
the negotiations; hence, he was flexible as to how organizational issues would be tackled.  He saw no
need to rush towards establishing negotiating guidel ines.  He agreed with the Chairman's suggestion
that the Chairpersons of the subsidiary bodies repor t to the Council, covering an appropriately wide
scope of their work, on a regular basis, perhaps in conjunction with the Services Council reporting tothe General Council.  He also agreed that the Se rvices Council meet in Special Session every five to
six weeks, with a suitable number of informal mee tings in-between, so as to maintain momentum;  in
that regard, he was in favour of scheduling the next Council's meeting before Easter.  He also agreed
that consideration of whether or not a vice-Chairperson should be appointed could wait until there was
a clearer indication of the workload in the Council's regular and special sessions.
25. The representative of Poland said that no sector or mode of supply should be excluded from
the negotiations, which could be based on a request-and-offer approach.  Negotiating guidelines
should be established as soon as possible, and should contain deadlines for the negotiations on GATS
rules, and in particular safeguards, as well as a date for submission of offers on specific commitments.
A common understanding on classification issues, scheduling guidelines and domestic regulationS/CSS/M/1
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should also be reached.  In his delegation's view, the text for the Seattle Ministerial Conference was a
good starting-point for the negotiations.  He agreed with the suggested frequency of meetings and
supported the proposal that special sessions of th e Council be held back-to-back with the regular
meetings and that the possibility of appointing a vice-Chairperson be dealt with at a later stage.
26. The representative of Indonesia, speaking on behalf of Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand
and his own delegation, welcomed the decision to place the assessment of trade in services, as
mandated by Article XIX of the GATS, on the agenda of the Special Session of the Council.
Article XIX mandated that Members enter into a new round of services negotiations every five years,
and that for each round guidelines and procedures be established.  Guidelines and procedures for the
current negotiations had yet to be discussed and agreed upon, and in that respect he could not support
the proposal that the draft text for the Seattle Ministerial be adopted as the basis for negotiations, as
the draft had never been formally agreed.  He therefore suggested that the Council in Special Sessionembark as soon as possible on discussions to establish guidelines and procedures, so as to provide
Members with clear direction and guidance.  He also supported many elements of the guidelines and
modalities for negotiation as suggested by Argentina, on behalf of MERCOSUR.  He was flexible on
the organization of future work as long as it took into account the interests of all Members.
27. The representative of Singapore welcomed the launch of the mandated services negotiations.
His delegation attached great importance to the negotiations essentially for two reasons:  the vital
importance of services trade to the economy of Singapore and the central role of the GATS within the
WTO and the confidence that services negotiations were likely to build.  He endorsed a flexible and
pragmatic approach to the procedural and substantive concerns relating to the negotiations.
Articles XIX and IV provided an adequate framework for negotiations, but he said that it mightnevertheless be useful to draw upon some of the suggestions made in the Seattle Ministerial text, such
as on benchmarks and negotiating modalities.  Negotiations should deepen and broaden the level of
commitments, with no a priori exclusion of sectors or modes.  In tandem, a speedy and satisfactory
conclusion to the built-in agenda of the GATS should be achieved, as work on domestic regulation,
scheduling guidelines and classification should pave the way for effective market access negotiations.
28. The representative of Chile concurred with the representative of Argentina, who had spoken
on behalf of MERCOSUR, that the services ne gotiations should go hand-in-hand with the
negotiations on agriculture.  He added that work being carried out in the subsidiary bodies on
outstanding issues should be continued.
29. The representative of Egypt agreed with the general lines of the Chairman's assessment of the
organization of work and with the emphasis on flexibility.  The services negotiation should be
conducted in accordance with the Preamble to the GATS and Articles IV and XIX, taking intoconsideration the on-going assessment of trade in services.  Negotiation should be conducted within
the existing architecture of the GATS, on the basis of a request-and-offer approach, under the
principle of progressive liberalization, securing the overall balance of rights and negotiations,
maintaining flexibility for developing country Members, respecting national policy objectives and
taking into account the levels of development of individual Members, restoring the balance between
the four modes of supply, and ensuring liberalization in sectors of interest to developing countries.  In
the conduct of the negotiations, account should be taken and credit be given for any autonomous
liberalization undertaken by Members since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round.
30. The representative of Pakistan supported the views expressed by Argentina, on behalf of
MERCOSUR, India, Mexico and Egypt.  He stre ssed that the services negotiations should be
conducted in accordance with the provisions of Article XIX of GATS.  To ensure that the objectives
of the negotiations, as stated in Article XIX, were met, the negotiations had to be conducted within
the existing architecture of the GATS.  Priority attention should be given to the imbalances  inter alia
in terms of lack of concrete market access benefits accruing to developing countries.  Market openingS/CSS/M/1
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by developing countries should be guided by their national policy priorities, given the role of services
in development, and with due regard to the principle of flexibility.  As concerned the assessment of
trade in services, the establishment of negotiating guidelines and procedures, the distinction between
special and regular sessions of the Council and the draft text for the Seattle Ministerial, he reiterated
what India and Indonesia had said.
31. The representative of Israel welcomed the beginning of the mandated negotiations on
services.  With regard to modalities and other organizational matters, his delegation was flexible and
ready to lend its support to any step that would fa cilitate the negotiations and contribute to the
promotion of liberalization in services for the benefit of all Members.
32. The representative of Hungary said that his delegation attached great importance to the
mandated services negotiations and endorsed most of the elements in the Chairman's introductory
statement.  The negotiations should aim to achieve, in accordance with the principle of progressiveliberalisation and with a view to promoting the intere sts of all participants in a mutually advantageous
basis, meaningful market access and national treatment commitments while completing the
framework of the GATS.  He concurred that a broa d-based round of negotiations beyond services was
needed and hoped that it would be launched in the foreseeable future.  The position of his delegation
had been made clear prior to Seattle with respect to the substantive and organizational details of theservices talks.  He stressed two points, namely that market access talks should proceed in tandem with
the rule-making work in the subsidiary bodies, and that Members could rely on the useful work
carried out in preparation for the Seattle Ministerial Conference.
33. The representative of Turkey welcomed the new round of services negotiations and said that
his delegation was in favour of a pragmatic and practical approach, so long as due account was taken
of the mandate in Article XIX.  Negotiating guidelines and procedures needed to be established for
the negotiations; a flexible approach could be taken in that respect, with the adoption of a short and
simple text, but without sacrificing precision and content for the sake of simplicity.  The text for the
Seattle Ministerial could be a good starting-point, but it should not be forgotten that it was related to
other elements in the draft declaration and that it might need to be modified.  His delegation was notparticularly keen on benchmarks and would want as few as possible set up.  He also noted that
Members had agreed that the assessment was an ongoing process, which was important for the
establishment of guidelines.  As far as the conduct of the sessions, his delegation was flexible and
pragmatic, and did not see a particular need for a strict demarcation between ordinary and special
sessions of the Council, so long as the process was transparent and no Member was excluded.  Nor
did he see at that stage any need for special sessions of the subsidiary bodies, as these would
unnecessarily complicate and increase Members' workload.
34. The representative of Malta welcomed the start of the services negotiations, as mandated by
Article XIX of the GATS, and supported them, also in view of the importance of services for his
country's economy.
35. Summing up the discussion on this item, the Chairman noted the positive and constructive
spirit and sense flexibility of delegations.  Many of the points which had been raised were meritorious
of considerably more reflection, and he added that he would be consulting informally with
delegations.  He suggested that the Council take note of the statements made and revert to this item at
its next Special Session.
B. ASSESSMENT OF TRADE IN SERVICES
36. The Chairman recalled that at the regular meeting of the Services Council, Members had
agreed to move the item on the assessment of trade in services to the agenda of the Special Session.
At its last regular meeting, the Council had had a very useful discussion of the paper presented by theS/CSS/M/1
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delegation of Norway, entitled "Liberalization of Trade in Producer Services – The Impact on
Developing Countries".  It had been agreed that the Council would revert to the paper for further
discussion.  He also recalled that the delegation of Venezuela had suggested that the documents
circulated at the WTO/World Bank seminar on developing countries be made available to the Council.
Therefore, the Secretariat had prepared a list of all such documents, and included the Internet addressfrom which they could be downloaded.
37. The representative of India suggested that Members might want to study in greater detail the
extent to which liberalization of world services trade had increased participation of developing
countries and added to their capacity-building needs.  She was keeping her intervention short in view
of the lateness of the hour, but hoped that Members would revert to this item at the next meeting.  The
representative of Pakistan reiterated India's comment.
38. In his concluding remarks, the Chairman observed that the assessment of trade mandated by
Article XIX was a useful way of improving Members' understanding of developments in trade in
services, both overall and on a sectoral basis.  The related exercise of exchange of information which
had started in 1998, and had continued for several Council meetings, had also been helpful and he felt
that, as a result, Members were in a better position to form a judgement of how trade in services had
developed over the past few years and how the new round of negotiations should be approached.  He
thought that there was a widely held view in the Council that the assessment should be regarded as an
on-going process rather than a one-off exercise, and that revisiting the assessment during the course of
negotiations would be a useful way of keeping up to date with developments in different service
sectors and to exchange views on important issues which might arise in the negotiations.  It would
also help participants, particularly developing countries, to undertake further work on identifyingareas of interest to them.  He therefore suggested that the Council revert to this item at its next Special
Session.
C. ORGANIZATION OF FUTURE WORK AND DATE OF THE NEXT SPECIAL
SESSION
39. The Chairman recalled that, in his opening statement on item A, he had suggested to the
Membership that meetings be scheduled every five to six weeks.  He was mindful that some
delegations had made a specific suggestion that the next Special Session to be scheduled after the
Easter break, but he hoped that, given the positive and constructive spirit shown by delegations,
Members could consider and agree to meet in Special Session during the second week of April.
40. The representative of Argentina, speaking on behalf of MERCOSUR, recalled that in his
earlier intervention he had stressed the importance of parity between the negotiations in services and
agriculture and had suggested that the next Special Session of the Services Council be scheduled afterEaster.  He was prepared to join a consensus on scheduling the next meeting during the second week
of April, but stressed that he in no way endorsed the Chairman's proposal on the frequency and
number of meetings, and that such issues should be the subject of consultations.  The representative of
Chile concurred.
41. The representative of Mexico said that his delegation had no particular problems with the
suggested date for the next Special Session.  However, as concerned the frequency of meetings, he did
not believe that by meeting more frequently the Council would be making more progress, and
suggested that Members await the informal consultations before taking any decisions on the matter.
42. Summarizing discussion on this item, the Chairman concluded that, thanks to the flexible
spirit of delegations, the next Special Session of the Council would take place during the second week
of April, towards the end of the week.  As concerned the frequency of meetings, he would make this a
matter of priority for his consultations with Members.S/CSS/M/1
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43. The representative of New Zealand wondered if the Working Party on GATS Rules, for
which the next meeting was scheduled at the end of March, would stand alone, outside the second
week of April during which most services-related meetings would take place.  A representative of the
WTO Secretariat said that the date of the next meeting of WPGR could be changed, but observed that
that body was faced with a deadline for the negotiations on safeguards, and that scheduling all
services-related meetings in one week might be too burdensome.
44. The representative of Mauritius expressed concern about the frequency of meetings, and
suggested that, in his consultations, the Chairman concentrate on setting a slate of days for future
meetings, so as to facilitate the participation of capital-based experts.
45. The Council agreed with the Chairman's conclusions and took note of the statements made.
D. OTHER BUSINESS
46. No items of other business were raised.
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