RESTRICTED  
  
S/CSC/M/81  
 
27 November 2019  
(19-8176) Page: 1/9 
Committee on Specific Commitments    
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETIN G HELD ON 28 OCTOBER 2019 
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT1 
The Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) held a meeting on 28 October 2019 chaired by 
Mr. Tamás Vattai  from Hungary. The agenda for the meeting, contained in document 
WTO/AIR/CSC/10, was adopted.  
 
1  ITEM A - CLASSIFICAT ION ISSUES  
1.1.  The Chairperson  recalled the agreement adopted  at the Committee's meeting of 
16 November  2010 that the Committee should regularly be updated o n changes and developments 
in services classification  and in statistical systems relating to international services trade.  In this 
context, the Secretariat w ould give a presentation on recent developments in the measurement of 
digital trade under this agenda item.  The international statistical community was making efforts to 
develop the methodology to better measure trade that was digitally ordered and/or digitally 
delivered.  The presentation, to be delivered by a representative of the Secretariat, would  cover the 
conceptual framework developed by the interna tional statistical community on digital trade, with 
focus on services and related classification issues . 
1.2.  A representative of the Secretariat  presented the recent work of the international statistical 
community in developing a statistical framework to measu re digital trade. The presentation focused 
on the measurement of cross -border transactions. Although this was not a new question, statistical 
frameworks had never dealt explicitly with the measurement of digital trade. With the increasing 
digitalization of  the economy and globalization, digital trade had been given more attention in recent 
years. Many challenges pertained to the statistical compilation and classification of relevant trade in 
services transactions. Following a request by the G20 in 2017, the  United Nations Inter -agency Task 
Force on International Trade Statistics had been tasked to produce a statistical framework to 
measure digital trade and conduct an inventory of pilot studies. The development of the statistical 
guidelines was led by the OE CD and the WTO Secretariat, as co -chairs of the Task Force. The 
resulting draft Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade would be finalized by the end of 2019. It would 
be submitted to the UN Statistical Commission that would be meeting at the beginning of 2020 .  
1.3.  Various agencies' past work could be used as inputs for this new statistical framework, 
namely:  a joint effort of OECD, UNCTAD, UPU and the Secretariat to exploit a UPU database; WCO 
work on the Framework of Standards on Cross -Border E -Commerce; the UNC TAD work relating to 
the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development and the Intergovernmental Working Group on E -
commerce Measurement; and the OECD/IMF stocktaking of country pilot projects to measure digital 
trade. Also, the draft framework was built up on existing statistical manuals, in particular those used 
to measure trade in goods and trade in services, namely: the International Merchandise Trade 
Statistics Manual:  Concepts and Definitions , 2010 edition, and the Manual on Statistics of 
International Trade in Services, 2010 edition.  
1.4.  The representative of the Secretariat continued by raising several services -related questions in 
developing the new statistical guidelines: how to know that services were being traded; who was 
trading, i.e. the importance o f the location of the consumer and supplier as well as the increasing 
role of intermediaries; how to separate digital from non -digital transactions; the identification of new 
ways of delivering pre -existing services; and the classification and valuation of  services transactions 
                                                
1 This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  where the end -user was not charged a fee, but revenue was generated through advertising or 
making available to third parties the data collected on users/clients. There were also some 
measurement issues in relation to goods trade: how  digitally ordered goods could be identified; and, 
because of the growing use of the Internet and apps by end -consumers to buy consumer goods, the 
rapid increase of small shipments using the postal network and how these could be identified. All 
these quest ions and issues pointed to the need to develop better data sources.  
1.5.  The first step to develop the Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade was the statistical 
operationalization of the digital trade concept, with a focus on trade in services. The statistical 
definition of digital trade was defined as all goods and services that were digitally ordered and/or 
services digitally delivered. The other dimensions of the statistical framework covered the products 
traded (goods and services), and the actors (i.e. the tr ading entities, whether firms, households, 
government entities and non -profit institutions). Identifying actors would enable the identification 
of, for instance, Business -to-Business (B2B), Business -to-Consumer (B2C) or Consumer -to-
Consumer (C2C) transacti ons. It was estimated that B2B transactions represented 90% of total e -
commerce transactions (be it cross -border  or not).  
1.6.  The draft Handbook focused on the role of digital intermediary platforms, and how their 
transactions should be recorded. Digitalisatio n had enabled the emergence of major actors that 
facilitated transactions (be it B2B, B2C, or C2C). In other words, these actors did not own the goods 
and/or supply services that clients bought through these platforms, but rather had an intermediation 
role in the transactions. They helped match the demand of buyers and the offer of sellers/suppliers. 
The current recommendation in the draft Handbook was to record transactions net from the 
perspective of the jurisdiction where the intermediary would be locate d. However, there was no 
guidance at that point in time as to which entity should be charged for implicit fees. One difficulty 
faced by compilers was that the platforms often had no commercial presence in the economy of the 
buyer and/or the seller (e -residency). In addition, survey respondents would not necessarily be 
aware where they were buying their products from, nor being able to identify the location of the 
intermediaries. Also, for platforms, including those through which services were provided (e.g.  
audio -visual products, software/apps) without charging a fee to the end -user, different approaches 
were under discussion as to how to account (or not) for the services in national accounts and trade 
statistics.  
1.7.  The classification of transactions as goods or services was already covered by existing statistical 
guidelines and classifications, be it the CPC Rev.2.1, ISIC rev. 4, the 6th edition of the Balance of 
Payments Manual, or the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services 2010 edition. 
Nevertheless, as previously indicated, digitalization had raised other statistical classification issues. 
The recent UNCTAD work on measuring ICT -enabled services was identified as being relevant when 
focusing on services digitally delivered. The draft Handboo k also suggested that intermediary 
platforms be classified together with the industry that they served with intermediary activities 
separately identified.  
1.8.  With respect to data sources, there were still many practical challenges for compilers, and the 
traditional data sources were not  fit for the purpose  of measuring digital trade . There were on-going  
pilot projects and experiences to build upon, but compilers w ould need to be innovative, and there 
was scope for inter -country cooperation in that field . 
1.9.  The representative of the Secretariat ended the presentation by pointing out that useful data 
sources had already been used to build some rough estimates, such as the recent UNCTAD pilot 
studies on ICT -enabled services, or the new experimental dataset on T rade in Services by Modes of 
Supply (TiSMoS) that had been released at the end of July 2019. To illustrate, he presented a rough 
estimation, based on TiSMoS, of the value of services digitally delivered across borders. The total 
accounted for USD 2250 bill ion, with distribution and financial services representing the largest 
share. He concluded by indicating that more work was needed, in particular at the national level, to 
have the necessary data in order to measure digital trade.  
1.10.   The Chairperson  thanked t he representative of the Secretariat  for the interesting and 
informative presentation. He asked whether there were efforts by statisticians to estimate data 
flows. Although data were often acquired for free by the end -consumer, they had value for firms, 
for example, to generate advertising revenues. He also asked the extent of the measurement 
challenges with respect to intermediary platforms, as they could be either located in the country of 
one of the players involved in transactions or in a third economy.  S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  1.11.   The representative of Brazil  queried how the definition of digital trade used by statisticians 
would match the definition of e -commerce used under the Work Programme. A clear understanding 
of this would enable better informed discussions on electronic com merce in the WTO.  
1.12.   The representative of Bangladesh  asked what types of consumers the "C" in B2C referred to: 
whether they covered businesses as consuming entities, or only referred to individual consumers?  
1.13.   The representative of China  raised two questions r elating to the estimations presented. First, 
what did distribution services refer to? Second, was the total estimated figure of "about 2.25 trillion 
dollars of services digitally delivered cross -border" drawn from the newly released TiSMoS 
experimental dat aset? 
1.14.   The representative of Ecuador  recalled the example of the intermediary platform. He asked 
what transactions would be recorded if this intermediary was located in the same territory as the 
buyer. While similar discussions had taken place in other grou ps, it was still unclear how it would be 
possible to register the transactions.  
1.15.   The representative of the Secretariat  outlined the importance of these questions, many of 
which had been addressed or were being analysed by statisticians.  
1.16.   Concerning the valu ation of data flows, there had been many discussions in the statistical 
community. Some of these data were clearly covered by the concept of "digital trade", as they were 
part of, or were in themselves, the actual products being traded. Other data flows co ncerned data 
flowing from the client to the producer and used as inputs to the production of goods or the supply 
of services. Estimating the size of these data flows crossing borders was still an open question among 
statisticians. It might be interesting t o measure the volume of data crossing borders for specific 
types of industries, and this could support discussions or research work relating to data flows. 
However, establishing a direct link between data flows and the value of trade would be extremely 
difficult.  
1.17.   The recording of international transactions involving intermediary platforms would depend 
upon the location of the platform, the supplier of the product being intermediated, and the client. 
First, there would be an export of the product being inte rmediated only if the supplier and the final 
client were in two different jurisdictions. If the product traded was a service, the transaction would 
be recorded as trade in services in the balance of payments (transactions between residents and 
non-resident s). For the intermediary service, it would be recorded as an international transaction 
between the platform and the supplier and/or the client depending on the location of the platform. 
In other words, only when it represented a transaction between residen ts of two different economies. 
There was at that point in time no clear recommendation to whom implicit intermediation fees should 
be charged – either to the buyer, to the seller or both. Another important issue that had not been 
covered in the presentatio n, was the relationship between the entities - were the transactions 
between affiliated or non -affiliated entities? This would also be an important dimension to consider.  
1.18.   The representative of the Secretariat then repeated that the definition included in t he draft 
Handbook was a statistical definition of "digital trade". It addressed the information needs of users 
(including in the context of the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce), as well as what was 
possible to measure from a practical perspective. Th is definition not only covered digital ordering of 
goods and services (as defined by prior OECD definitions of e -commerce), but also the digital delivery 
of services. Statistics developed according to this statistical definition (both aggregates and 
breakd owns) would therefore be useful in the e -commerce discussions.  
1.19.   With respect to what was meant by "C" in C2C, he explained that this referred to "end 
consumers", which would correspond to "households" or its members as defined in statistical 
frameworks suc h as the national accounts or the balance of payments. Firms or enterprises would 
be covered by "B" in B2B or B2C.  
1.20.   Finally, he clarified that the data used to approximate cross -border digitally delivered services 
were drawn from the TiSMoS experimental da taset. Those services whose supply required the 
physical presence of the supplier were not covered (e.g. transportation) therein. Distribution services 
referred to the margins of retailers and wholesalers on goods sold cross border. These margins were 
used to estimate the value of the distribution services that were digitally provided.  S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  1.21.   The Chairperson  concluded that the presentation and follow up discussions had helped to have 
a clearer understanding of the impact of digitalization on trade in services, as well as its policy 
implications. This would continue to be one of the key challenges for the trade community. He  then 
suggested that the Committee take note of the presentation  and the statements made and revert 
to this agenda item at the next meeting.  
1.22.   It was so agreed .  
2  ITEM B - SCHEDULING ISSUES  
2.1.  The Chairperson  recalled that  at the last meeting, the Committee had continued to discuss 
scheduling issues under mode 4, further to a Communication from the Kyrgyz Republic ( contained 
in JOB/SERV/287).  The Kyrgyz Republic had also circulated a room document sharing its thoughts 
on how to improve transparency and clarity of mode 4 commitments. Other Members  had exchanged 
information on how labour market tests (LMTs)  were operated in practic e. Previous discussions 
confirmed that transparency and clarity of mode 4 commitments could be improved by specifying 
ENT or LMT entries and adding definitional elements to the categories of mode 4 persons. While it 
was difficult to reach agreement on comm on definitions, there might be  pragmatic approaches to 
addressing ambiguity and uncertainty of mode 4 commitments. For example, he asked whether it 
would  be desirable and workable for the Committee to suggest a list of specific elements that could 
be incor porated into mode 4 commitments with respect to ENTs/LMTs or categories of natural 
persons . He also invited Members to exchange information on how ENTs or LMTs were operated in 
practice.  
2.2.  The representative of the Kyrgyz Republic  thank ed all the delegations  that had made 
interventions at the meeting of 24 June 2019 with respect to his delegation's  Communication on 
scheduling issues under mode 4 (JOB/SERV/287). He recall ed that in the last two meetings of the 
Committee,  the Kyrgyz Republic ha d drawn  the Commi ttee’s attention to the issues raised in the 
Communication,  which require d clarification and better understanding of many vague and 
ambiguous Mode 4 entries . These entries might lead to  significant administrati ve discretion. To some 
degree, lack of clarity  and transparency in mode 4 commitments would entail legal uncertainty and 
thus undermine the value of specific commitments. More specifically, his  delegation ha d raised the 
following issues: Should a Member decide to specify its ENT entries under mode 4, what might have 
been the common elements, especially for LMTs inscribed in the horizontal section? Would  it be 
desirable to develop common definitions of the categories of mode 4 persons? If so, what might be 
the basis for such common definitions? Alternatively, how could clarity and predictability be 
enhanced for scheduled mode 4 categories? Could a checklist of k ey definitional elements be 
developed, for instance? Would it be useful to clarify the relationship between horizontal and sector -
specific commitments in the case of mode 4? To add clarity and accuracy to commitments under 
mode 4, would Members consider ap plying the Procedures for the Certification of Rectifications or 
Improvements to Schedules (S/L/84)? During the last two Committee meetings, there was  a lively 
discussion , active participation and valuable feedback s from Members. The Kyrgyz Republic  
partic ularly appreciate d delegations' efforts in addressing the questions raised in its Communication, 
and the information shared on LMTs. 
2.3.  The representative of India reiterate d its appreciation for the delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic 
for having tabled a usefu l proposal on "Scheduling issues under mode 4 ", as contained  in document 
JOB/SERV/287.  India recommend ed Members to jointly work in the identified areas . The criteria for 
administering ENTs should be transparent and objective and not on a discretionary basis. India 
agree d that  it would be desirable to jointly develop a list of specific elements such as criteria and 
details of ENT/LMT requirements, and procedure s and guidelines for administration of such tests. 
India welcome d the suggestion by the E uropean Union that there should be no ENTs for the category 
of Intra-Corporate Transferees ( ICTs). As to developing agreed definitions for scheduled mode 4 
categories,  India agree d that this would  be difficult at the multilateral level , given different  domestic 
legislations  among Members.  However, it might be workable to  develop key definitional elements or 
some common criteria  for committed categories of Mode 4. As sug gested by the Kyrgyz Republic, it 
would  be useful to specify the degree of education or speciali zation. S ervice suppliers from India 
had faced difficulties due to subjective and arbitrary assessment of qualifications , especially in the 
case of the "special ist" sub-category of ICTs . India recall ed that many Members had agreed at the 
last meeting that it would  be helpful to clarify the relationship between horizontal and sector -specific 
commitments on mode 4.  S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  2.4.  The representative of Turkey  noted that the Kyrgyz Republic's Communication became the 
catalyst reinvigorat ing the  work of  the Committee and dr ew attenti on to the need for enhanc ing 
certainty and predictability in mode 4  related services trade . Turkey agreed with the Kyrgyz Republic 
that lack of clarity and specificity constitute d the main scheduling problem in relation  to ENT entries 
in Members’ schedules . She reiterated that no  LMTs were applied to the  categories of natural persons 
on which Turkey had undertaken commitments . For other categories , information on qualifications 
and job requests  of the unemployed was published on the website of the Turkish Employment 
Agency. If an employer wanted to apply for a work permit for a possible foreign worker, he/she 
needed to first check the website of the Turkish Employment Agency to ensure that no Tur kish 
applicant would fulfil the employment requirements. Turkey was ready to support any work that 
would  be undertaken in this Committee to make the operation of ENTs more transparent , in the 
hope of a common understanding reached on this issue . 
2.5.  The repres entative of the Kyrgyz Republic  stated that t he Government of his country  issued  
work permits  annually to attract and hir e foreign person s. The system was established on a sectoral 
and regional basis . The agency responsible for issuing work permits for for eign persons was the 
State Migration Service of the Kyrgyz Republic. Two types of work permits were issued:  (1) employer 
permit - a document giving the right to legal entities and individuals to hire foreign persons  in the 
territory of the Kyrgyz Republic;  (2) w orker permit – a document confirming the right of foreign 
person s to carry out labo ur or entrepreneurial activities in the Kyrgyz Republic.  Individuals and legal 
entities of the Kyrgyz Republic planning to attract and hire foreign workers should obtain an 
employer permit  before hiring. Foreign persons  who ha d lawfully entered the territory of the Kyrgyz 
Republic and  planned to work or conduct an entrepreneurship in the Kyrgyz Republic needed to  
apply for a worker permit . Each permit application was scrutinized at the regular meetings of the 
Interagency commission. The main criteria for the worker permit include d the level of qualification, 
knowledge of foreign languages, financial and intellectual contribution , etc. The list of necess ary 
documents for obtaining a work permit was on the website of the State Migration Service of the 
Kyrgyz Republic.  
2.6.  The representative of Canada  thanked the Kyrgyz Republic for sharing the information on their 
domestic experience. While acknowledging the u sefulness of additional information on some specific 
questions and the existence of a scheduling issue, she thought that any future work of the Committee 
should not be limited to only one mode of supply and that all modes of supply should be considered.  
2.7.  The representative of the United States  thanked Kyrgyz Republic for raising the issues. Some 
information provided at the last meeting, particularly Turkey's practical experience on the operation 
of certain elements of ENTs/LMTs, was helpful. Sharing experie nces and information by other 
Members was also welcome. He agreed that it would be difficult for the Committee to develop 
common definitions or common elements in relation to mode 4. He also echoed Canada's statement 
that the Committee's work should not be  limited to mode 4 as scheduling problems existed for other 
modes of supply as well.  
2.8.  The representative of Australia  appreciated the information shared by the Kyrgyz Republic and 
other Members, which would be  useful to build an understanding of ENT practic es. Different practices 
among Members made  it difficult to identify and establish common criteria or checklists  for ENT. It 
would not be workable to decide on common categories or checklists of natural persons.   
2.9.  The representative of the European Union  welcomed future work in the Committee that could 
add value to what had been done over the past years. In this respect, she appreciated the 
Communication from the Kyrgyz Republic and information on their practices. She reiterated her 
delegation's comments on t he four questions put forward in the Kyrgyz Republic's Communication. 
On the first question, the European Union's approach would be not to impose ENTs for the category 
of intra -corporate transferees. For the other categories, it would be very difficult to establish 
common ENT criteria as practices amongst Members differed, rendering the identification of common 
elements difficult. But Members could be encouraged to be as clear as possible when scheduling 
mode 4 commitments. With respect to the second questi on on common definitions of categories  of 
mode 4 persons, the European Union's position had always been that this would be a valuable 
exercise. An existing communication by the European Union and other Members of 18 February 2005 
(TN/S/W32) suggested the adoption of common categories for mode 4 commitments. Concerning 
the third question on the relationship between horizontal and sectoral commitments, the European 
Union did not see the issue at stake. The fourth question might be premature for  discussion at this 
stage.  S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  2.10.   The representative of the Kyrgyz Republic  thanked delegations for their valuable 
interventions. He reiterated that the purpose of his delegation's Communication was to bring mode  4 
related issues to Members' attention. He hoped t hat the Committee would continue to work on these 
issues in future discussions.  
2.11.   The representative of Japan  stated that, while sharing the importance of clarifying ENT  entries 
in schedules  to improve transparency , his delegation wondered whether it was wo rth investing  time 
on this issue at this stage . He shared the view that it would be difficult to reach consensus on 
common definitions of natural persons, due to different domestic laws and regulations . Japan was 
therefore not enthusiastic about further ad vancing this exercise . 
2.12.   The Chairperson  proposed that the Committee take note of the statements made and revert 
to this agenda item at the next meeting .  
2.13.   It was so agreed .  
3  ITEM C – POSSIBLE FU TURE WORK OF THE COM MITTEE  
3.1.  The Chairperson  recalled that he had been  holding extensive consultations with delegates on 
possible future work  since the Committee's last meeting on 24 June. He thanked delegates for their  
trust and support . He noted some constructive ideas put forward to him, which, in line with the 
mandate of the Committee, could warrant a meaningful work in the Committee. One idea was to 
examine those commitments which condition ed their entry into force, implementation or 
improvement to the adoption of new legislation or the review of the pre -existing  regime . Most of 
these commitments dated back to the 1990s. Since more than 20 years ha d passed, the value of 
these  commitments became  questionable. I t would be beneficial to Members' collective interest if 
these commitments could be updated or, at least, information could be provided about their 
implementation.  This would improve the transparency and legal certainty of commitments. Another 
idea for the Committee's future work pointed to the well -known fact in the services world: "water" 
in the GATS commitm ents, i.e. the gaps between GATS commitments and the applied regime. The 
idea suggest ed that the Committee examine the "water" issue by analysing WTO Members' services 
commitments in FTAs  which, to a large extent, were believed to bind the status quo of re gulatory 
conditions in services. T hese exercise s, long overdue , concern ed the relevance of GATS 
commitments . He sought Members' views on these ideas, including how the Committee could 
proceed with these, should the exercises be desirable.  
3.2.  The representativ e of the United States  stated that his delegation had raised the first idea  in 
the Committee before . He noted the indications contained in some schedules that commitments 
would be updated when pending legislation was adopted. However, these schedules had n ot been 
updated after more than 20 years. Those Members concerned should fulfil their commitments. His 
delegation would  welcome those Members concerned to provide information on implementation and 
support the Secretariat to help identify which areas and co mmitments were most impacted by this 
scheduling technique. His delegation was open to further discussing how to move this issue forward.  
3.3.  The representative of the Russian Federation  sought clarification on the first idea of examining 
conditional commitments. It would be unlikely for anyone to oppose this work as it would improve 
transparency of commitments. Her question was how the exercise would be organized, including the 
format of discussion, and who would conduct the study.  
3.4.  The representative of Brazil  echoed the questions raised by Russia about how the suggested 
exercise should be organized and what would be its basis and framework. Noting that  this was a 
Member -driven committee, he encouraged any Member interested in discussing these ideas to  
elaborate and table a communication which would provide a better basis for Members' consideration.  
3.5.  The representative of the European Union  stated that her delegation had no particular interest 
or concern regarding the phase -out of specific commitments.  Her delegation's experience from 
working with trading partners in bilateral or regional contexts was that Members respected the 
phase -out of commitments. Her delegation had not experienced the opposite. She wondered whether 
other Members had real concerns i n this area.  S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  3.6.  The representative of Canada  was supportive of having new discussions in the Committee and 
was interested in other Members' views on potential areas for discussion. She echoed Brazil's 
comments about having more information on the idea suggest ed by the United States. The same 
question would be raised with respect to the second proposal on the issue of "water". She sought 
any further information from the proponent and asked how the proposal would relate to a past work 
done by the Secretariat. Ha ving more information would be useful for her delegation to consider all 
the proposals.  
3.7.  The representative of Australia  stated that her delegation was  open to engaging in new 
proposals from Members and thank ed the U nited States for its explanation regardin g examining 
commitments which condition ed their entry into force on the adoption of new legislation. She also 
sought  further information on this proposal and the proposal regarding "water " in Members ' GATS 
commitments  as well.  
3.8.  The representative of the United States  explained that the idea suggested by his delegation 
was not a matter of phase -out in schedules, which was a legitimate scheduling technique. The idea 
suggested by his delegation was about the commitment language that specifically conditioned the  
scheduling of commitments on the passage of legislation. It would be important for this Committee 
to understand the scope and scale of the issue. It would be straightforward to address this issue, 
should Members agree to have more clarity in the schedules . His delegation could work on a 
submission for the Committee to consider at a future date.  
3.9.  With respect to the second idea mentioned by the Chair, the representative of the United States 
stated that a written proposal with more information was needed in order to flesh out the proposed 
exercise. Recalling that the World Bank might have done some work on the issue of "water" in the 
GATS commitments, he thought that it would be interesting as an initial step to see if this type of 
work had been extended by o ther organizations to examine whether and to what extent "water" had 
been "drained" by Members FTA practices. His delegation was open to working with other delegations 
should this exercise be introduced into the Committee at a future date.  
3.10.   The representati ve of the Russian Federation  said that her delegation was also interested in 
the second idea mentioned by the Chair. The result of the suggested exercise would be positive and 
delight everyone. The original Members would get the best "marks" for improvemen t, especially 
those who were actively involved in RTAs. She however noted that "water" to be identified in the 
GATS commitments would be approximate as the comparison would be made between MFN 
commitments and preferential ones. The latter would be deeper a nd more comprehensive since the 
level of integration and the possibility of exchange was higher in RTAs. Therefore, the interpretation 
of such comparison should be done carefully.  
3.11.   The suggested exercise would also draw attention to the dataset based on wh ich such work 
could be carried out. She noted the data on GATS and RTAs on WTO I -TIP webpage. While the 
dataset served as a good base for research, it needed to be developed. She noted that her delegation 
had repeatedly found errors on GATS commitments in I-TIP and had to rely on original documents. 
The RTAs dataset in I -TIP contained only a limited set of agreements concluded before 
September  2016. Some Members and even some regions were missing. Under such circumstances, 
this dataset was neither informati ve nor relevant. She recalled that during the Public Forum, the DG 
had mentioned the intensification of work on database in the WTO. The latest improvements on 
database were all about goods, and very few on services. Services database should be updated on 
a regular basis and more user -friendly. This was important for governments and business, and 
relevant for the transparency of trade and the creditability of the Organization. She hoped that the 
proposed exercise in the Committee would give an additional in put to the improvement of services 
database on a regular basis.  
3.12.   The representative of Brazil  agreed that the idea on the issue of "water" was a good one and 
that a lot of work could be done to better inform Members of the differences between GATS 
commitments and RTAs commitments as well as the applied regimes of the Members. He however 
asked whet her the CSC was the right place to conduct the exercise. Referring to its terms of 
reference contained in S/L/16, he noted that the Committee was established to "oversee the 
implementation of specific commitments in all modes of supply, including specific commitments 
relating to Movement of Natural Persons, contained in Members' Schedules; examine, at the request 
of Members, schedules of specific commitments and list of Exemptions from Article II of the GATS 
particularly with a view to improving their techn ical accuracy and coherence in the future; and S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  oversee the application of the procedures for the modifications of schedules pursuant to Article XXI 
of the GATS". Having studied the documents of this Committee, his delegation found that past 
discussions had  focused on the implementation of specific commitments, classification issues, and 
procedures for the incorporation of new commitments resulting from the DDA negotiations. It 
showed that this Committee dealt with matters of technical nature. However, the c urrent proposal 
was to discuss the substance of market access and national treatment and there was no precedent 
for such discussion in the Committee. Referring the paragraph 3.4 of the Annotated Agenda, he 
thought it interesting to understand what "water" meant, because to examine the gaps between 
GATS commitments and applied regimes of Members and to analyse services commitments in FTAs 
were different ideas. He noted in the previous working documents of the Committee that some past 
discussions involved a c omparison between specific commitments under the GATS and those in FTAs, 
but such comparison was only related to classification. The current proposal was completely different 
because it was to address the substance of the commitments on market access and n ational 
treatment. This would be better served in other bodies of the WTO, such as the CTS or the CTS -SS, 
or even the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. Or, as suggested by Russia, the Secretariat 
could deal with this by improving the database in coop eration with Members.  
3.13.   The representative of Mexico  asked who the proponent of the second idea  was. It was 
important for any proposal to be submitted in written form so that Members would be able to consult 
with their capitals. It would be difficult to discuss issues simply based on ideas. She sought 
clarification from the Secretariat on the mandate  of the Committee, since it was unclear whether its 
mandate was sufficiently broad for Members to conduct the suggested exercise. While not opposing 
the exercise itself, her delegation believed that the terms of reference had to be agreed upon by all 
Membe rs through consensus.  
3.14.   The representative of Hong Kong, China  stated that his delegation had questions about the 
scope, purpose and objectives of the suggested exercise.  He therefore sought more information from 
the proponent. Referring to the comments mad e by Brazil and Mexico, he said that his delegation 
also had doubts on the mandate of this Committee. He wondered whether it was appropriate to 
consider this issue in this Committee. Nevertheless, he welcomed clarification from other Members 
or the Secreta riat. Recalling the comments made by the United States, he also noted some studies 
undertaken outside of the WTO, such as the Services Trade Restriction Index (STRI) by the OECD. 
He also noted that the STRI did not cover all WTO Members and that its object ive was different. He 
therefore sought clarification from the proponent about the purpose, scope and objectives of the 
suggested exercise.  
3.15.   The representative of Panama  echoed the statements made by Mexico and Brazil. It was 
unclear whether the Committee ha d the mandate for the suggested exercise. If its aim was only to 
make a comparison between binding commitments and applied regimes, a report would be sufficient 
for it. The question was whom the report was intended to address. If the purpose was for evalua tion 
or for market access negotiations, the proposal needed to be submitted in writing to the CTS -SS. 
She also sought clarification from the Secretariat on the mandate of the Committee.  
3.16.   The representative of the Secretariat  stated that in 2008, the Secreta riat had done some 
studies comparing GATS commitments and FTA commitments on sectoral basis and that some of 
the studies had been reflected in the Secretariat sectoral papers of 2010. But this was not done in 
the framework of this Committee or any other co mmittees. Now that nearly 10 years had passed, 
these studies could be updated only if Members so wished. With respect to the questions concerning 
the mandate of this Committee, as noted by Brazil, the Committee had a mandate in three aspects 
and its work h ad indeed focused on classification issues and scheduling issues  since 1995. The first 
aspect of the Committee's mandate, i.e. to oversee the implementation of GATS commitments, had 
never been exploited in this Committee. Regarding Russia's suggestion that  the database of GATS 
commitments be updated regularly, she noted that many Members' original schedules had several 
supplements and that some supplements were meant to replace previous ones. In maritime 
transport, some Members' commitments were contained i n S/L documents. One way to address the 
fragmentation of commitments was to create a consolidated version for schedules and publish the 
consolidated schedules on -line, if Members so wished.  
3.17.   The representative of Brazil  thanked the Secretariat for the clar ification. It was useful to 
confirm that this Committee had never addressed the substance of the commitments. While he 
agreed with Russia on the usefulness of updating the database, the work should not be done under S/CSC/M/81  
 
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  the mandate of this Committee. His deleg ation was open to considering the ideas in another body 
such as the CTS if a Member would submit a written proposal.  
3.18.   The Chairperson  concluded by stating that he would hold further consultations on the issues 
raised and reported back to the Committee at i ts next meeting.  
3.19.   It was so agreed . 
4  ITEM D – OTHER BUSIN ESS 
4.1.  No issue was raised under this item. The meeting was adjourned . 
 
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