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S/CSC/M/75  
 
14 April 2016  
(16-2102)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Specific Commitments    
 
 REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 MARCH 2016 
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT1 
The Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) held a meeting on 17 March 2016, chaired by 
Ms. Brigitte Lüth from Austria. She indicated that since the consultations conducted by the out-
going Chair of the CTS had yet to be concluded, the Committee would not address the item on the appointment of the new chairperson at this meet ing. The agenda for the meeting, contained in 
WTO/AIR/CSC/4, was adopted as modified. 
 1  ITEM B - SCHEDULING ISSUES 
1.1.  The Chairperson recalled that at the last two meetings, a number of Members had expressed 
interest in having technical discussions on scheduling issues. One specific suggestion had been to 
further discuss economic needs tests (ENTs) by building upon the work previously done in the Committee.  This suggestion had received general support from delegations as it had been noted 
that most ENTs in Members' schedules were indeed inscribed without indicating criteria for 
application and thus undermined the value of specific commitments under the GATS. To facilitate the discussion on ENTs, the delegation of Turkey  had submitted a communication which had been 
circulated to all Members as document JOB/SERV/224 on 29 February 2016. She then invited the 
delegation of Turkey to present their submission. 
1.2.  The representative of Turkey stated that her delegation's submission aimed to reinvigorate 
discussions on ENTs. It built upon previous work by the Secretariat, UNCTAD and OECD as well as 
Members' contributions. While mode 4-related EN Ts were the main concern of some Members, 
including Turkey, some requested that all modes be covered in the review. The paper was thus 
prepared without prejudice to any mode. The problem with ENTs was that most entries in 
schedules were vague and ambiguous, inconsis tent with the requirement of the Scheduling 
Guidelines that the scheduling of ENTs be specific and descriptive. Although ENTs were by nature quantitative restrictions, most entries lacked quantitative criteria. This ambiguity surrounding ENT 
entries undermined the value of commitments as it made the verification of compliance difficult. 
Moreover, such ambiguity made it obscure whether an ENT was discriminatory or not. Most importantly, market access uncertainty discouraged possible service suppliers. This was inconsistent with the spirit of the GATs and undermined the efforts to create more liberal and 
predictable markets. To facilitate future discussion s, Turkey suggested further work as follows: (1) 
an update of the Secretariat’s Note on ENTs by including the schedules of new Members and revised offers; (2) a review of Members’ ENT entries in FTAs with a view to a mutually acceptable 
definition and scheduling of ENTs; (3) an exchange of information by Members on ENT 
requirements specified in their legislation and de facto  application of ENTs, on a voluntary basis; 
(4) identification of common elements in criteria for ENTs by mode and sector. 
1.3.  The Chairperson noted that Tukey's submission marked a good start to this year's work. She 
drew attention to a number of questions that had been raised in the past and remained valid for 
further discussion on ENTs, such as: What was meant by "economic needs"? Could, for example, public interests or social development, also be  considered as "economic needs"? What kind of 
measures might qualify as an ENT? Would, for example, city development planning or social 
development programme, be qualified as an ENT? Was it desirable to identify certain common 
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to thei r rights and obligations under the WTO. S/CSC/M/75 
 
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  elements by mode or by sector, which would ev entually serve as the standard criteria for 
assessing "economic needs"? 
1.4.  The representative of Switzerland supported Turkey's proposal, believing that more work by 
the Secretariat as suggested could help Members schedule ENTs more precisely and more 
efficiently. Based on the work undertaken by UNCTAD, ENTs in modes 1 and 2 did not make much 
sense.  
1.5.  The representative of Canada noted that th e work suggested by Turkey to be undertaken by 
the Secretariat would lead to much needed clarification on the types of measures which should be 
scheduled as ENTs. Accordingly, Canada supported the Secretariat to follow up on these suggestions.  
1.6.  The representative of the European Union st ated that her delegation, in principle, supported 
the suggestion to work on the scheduling of ENTs. In particular, it was a good idea for the 
Secretariat to update its Note on ENTs to cover new Members. She, however, sought clarifications on the scope of the proposal regarding ENTs in FTAs. She stressed that the suggested exchange of 
information should be on a voluntary basis and Member-driven. Probably the constructive way 
forward with respect to future work would be for the Secretariat to update its Note as suggested, followed by a discussion among Members, which would then allow Members to identify future 
needs for research.  
1.7.  The representative of the United States stated that his delegation, in principle, supported 
further work on ENTs. He, however, thought that the suggestion of identifying common elements 
was premature. While supporting the idea of upda ting the Secretariat Note on ENTs, he was not 
sure whether it was appropriate to include revised offers in that context. He echoed the statement 
of the European Union that the scope of the prop osal regarding ENTs in FTAs might need to be 
clarified. He supported the exchange of informatio n on a voluntary basis. Only then could Members 
move into clarifying common elements of ENTs.    
1.8.  The representative of Australia saw value in looking into more details of ENTs. Taking note of 
the work previously done by the Secretariat, she recognized the limitation in the examination of 
GATS commitments, given the low level of commit ments by many Members. While having seen 
some improvements in Doha Round offers, she no ted more comprehensive coverage in FTAs. The 
work on ENTs could start with the Secretariat updating its Note by including newly acceded Members' commitments. Offers could be included as  well if Members were interested in doing so. 
With respect to FTA practice, this could be an on erous task for the Secretariat. It might be more 
appropriate for Members to have exchange of information on their experience in dealing with ENTs in FTA negotiations. Only when sufficient work had been done could Members move forward to 
look into common elements as suggested by Turkey.  
1.9.  Noting the importance of discussions in the CSC, the representative of China urged more 
engagement and contribution by Members. China supported technical discussions on ENTs and 
other scheduling issues with technical assistance by the Secretariat.   
1.10.  The representative of India supported Turkey 's proposal on ENTs. With respect to suggested 
specific work, some kind of sequencing might be required. She therefore suggested that the 
Chairperson hold consultations in this regard.  
1.11.  Thanking Members' support and contribution , the representative of Turkey indicated that 
her delegation's proposal on FTAs was to examine whether and to what extent Members had 
inscribed ENTs in FTAs in a different manner than in their GATS commitments. With respect to 
offers, the proposal was intended to see whether there was a general tendency in removing ENTs 
or scheduling them in a clearer and less ambiguous manner.  
1.12.  The representative of Barbados, speaking on behalf of the ACP group, stated that they were 
considering Turkey's proposal and would comment on it at a later stage. 1.13.  The representative of Secretariat noted that certain precision might be needed with respect 
to suggested work. Updating the Secretariat Note by adding newly acceded Members' 
commitments was straightforward, but Members might wish to further consider whether DDA S/CSC/M/75 
 
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  offers should be included. Noting that ENTs in the GATS were referred to as one of the forms of 
quantitative restrictions under Article XVI of ma rket access, he wondered whether ENTs in FTAs 
were defined in the same way. Deviations in definition might need to be taken into consideration should the Secretariat be required to look into ENTs in FTAs.  
1.14.  The Chairperson noted that the Secretariat co uld start to update its Note on ENTs by adding 
new Members' commitments and that she would hold consultations on other work suggested by 
Turkey. She then suggested that the Committee take  note of the statements made and revert to 
this item at its next meeting. 
1.15.  It was so agreed.  
2   ITEM C - CLASSIFICATION ISSUES 2.1.  The Chairperson recalled that at the last meeting, a representative from the UN Statistical 
Division had made a presentation on the gaps be tween the CPC Provisional and the CPC Version 2, 
which had been well received by the Committee. Nevertheless, the discussion following the presentation had shown that Members continued to  have divergent views on the issue of "new 
services" as they had reiterated their different positions in this regard. Further, a number of 
delegations had noted that the Committee had exhausted the topic of "new services". She therefore had held consultations on future work under this item, believing that technical 
discussions in the Committee would help clarify many classification issues and benefit trade 
negotiators at large. 
2.2.  One specific idea had been to discuss "Other" categories in W/120 with a view to shedding 
some light on what might be covered therein. Each sector in W/120 ended with a residual category 
"Other". Some "Other" categories had CPC references, while others did not.  Although W/120 was 
not legally binding, it was probably so far the most important classification tool for trade negotiations, at least for the majority of Members. She invited delegations to consider whether it 
was desirable to add certain clarity to those "Other" categories in W/120 through technical 
discussions in the Committee. 
2.3.  Noting that the classification of several sectors or subsectors in W/120 was inadequate in 
capturing market reality, she invited delegations to consider what the Committee could do to assist 
Members in tackling this problem. One idea floated was to add more references to the classification of W/120, such as ad-hoc  classification instruments under the GATS, DDA negotiating 
proposals, CPC Version 2 and ISIC Version 4, so as to "update" W/120 in a pragmatic manner.  
2.4.  The representative of China stated that it was desirable for Members to have more discussion 
on the issue of "Other" categories in W/120. As classification was of relevance to many Members' 
schedules, China supported more technical discussion in the Committee with the Secretariat's 
technical assistance. Such discussions were only of technical nature without prejudice to the legal 
interpretation of any Member's existing commitmen ts. He cautioned about the idea of adding more 
references to W/120, suggesting that the legal status of those references and implications of 
adding them to W/120 be considered first.  
2.5.  The representative of Australia noted the va lue of discussing classification in the Committee. 
While the exchange of views on the issue of "new  services" was useful, the topic was exhausted. 
As to what could be the next technical work under this agenda item, Australia was ready to explore 
ideas with other interested Members. One of them could be to further explore some sectoral 
classification where there might be some useful discussion through sharing Members experience in their FTA practice. W/120 did not reflect modern realities in some sectors. The issue was not 
updating W/120, but having a more comprehensive overview. So it would be desirable to first have 
a more detailed discussion on developments under way in trade negotiation practice in some specific sectors. Australia hoped to be able to bring some ideas forward in following meetings this 
year.    
2.6.  The representative of the European Union st ated that his delegation was willing to discuss 
classification issues. Aware of the need to keep pace with technological developments, his 
delegation had made a number of proposals on se rvices classification in the last 15 years. 
Concurring with Australia on the issue of "new services", he reiterated that the discussion was S/CSC/M/75 
 
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  useful but exhausted. The issue of "Other" category  was close to that of "new services" and should 
therefore be disregarded. With respect to the idea of adding reference to W/120, it might be more 
useful to work on some sectoral classification to make it more compre hensive or up to date. 
2.7.  Echoing Australia and the European Union, th e representative of the United States noted that 
the discussion on the issue of "new services" was us eful, but exhausted. It would not be useful to 
update W/120 in the absence of negotiations and new commitments. Concerning more detailed discussion on sectoral classification, he indicated the difficulty in reaching consensus on new 
terminologies. He recalled that considerable amount of time and resources had been spent on 
discussing the classification of environmental, ener gy and delivery services at the early stages of 
the DDA. While such an exercise was worthwhile for identifying negotiating objectives, it did not offer much value in the absence of negotiations. Reflecting on the statement by China, he 
cautioned about having discussions on the legal interpretation of any particular Committee work.   
2.8.  The representative of Nigeria stated that his delegation was open to any discussion in the 
Committee. He, however, drew attention to the objectives of discussion, which needed to be 
clarified. He also cautioned about the implications of any revision of the current classification for 
commitments.  
2.9.  The Chairperson indicated that she would continue to hold consultations on future work under 
this agenda item. She then suggested that the Co mmittee take note of the statements made and 
revert to this item at the next meeting.  
2.10.  It was so agreed.  
3   ITEM D - OTHER BUSINESS 
3.1.  No delegation made interventions under th is item. The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.  
 
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