WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
S/WPGR/M/79 
16 October 2012 
 (12-5616) 
Working Party on GATS Rules  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 1 OCTOBER 2012 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
1. The meeting was chaired by Ms Kyoko Hokugo from Japan.  The proposed agenda and the 
Chairperson's annotated agenda for the meeting were circulated in documents WTO/AIR/4002 and 
JOB/SERV/115 respectively.  The agenda was adopted. 
I. NEGOTIATIONS ON EMERGENCY SAFEGUARD MEASURES (ESM) UNDER 
ARTICLE X OF THE GATS  
2. The Chairperson reminded delegations of the Documentation Guide  prepared by the 
Secretariat (JOB/SERV/106), which listed all doc uments issued between July 1995 and June 2012 
where key ESM-related concepts had been discuss ed.  The Guide encompassed 17 so-called "core 
elements".  It did not attempt to summarize any su bstance regarding these topics, but simply referred 
to the relevant section or paragraph where a key concept had been addressed.  As delegates had not 
had much time to digest the information prov ided in advance of the last meeting, the Guide  was 
included again in the agenda of this meeting.  In that context, the Chairperson informed that a few 
minor reference errors had been detected in the English and Spanish versi ons of the document, for 
which a corrigendum would be issued shortly.   
3. While recalling a period of reflection had been unde rtaken by the Friends of ESM in view of 
the overall situation of the negotiations, the repr esentative of the Philippines, on behalf of the 
delegations of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesi a, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand 
and Viet Nam, felt the Secretariat’s Documentation Guide  was a useful tool when trying to think of 
ways forward.  Based on that Guide , the unofficial Room Document entitled " Documentation Guide 
and Summary of Core Elements Contained in Docu ments Related to Emergency Safeguard Measures 
– Friends of ESM " (RD/SERV/79 dated 1 October 2012) s ubmitted by the ESM proponents attempted 
to locate in a systematic way the inception, e volution, and current state of their proposal. 
4. Aware of the difficulty in the overall DDA negotia tions and conscious of Members’ feedback 
to their proposal thus far, he clarified that the Friends of ESM did not attempt to propose an 
intensification of the talks or expound on any new initiative.  Ra ther, their submission aimed at 
reminding delegations of what had been done so  far and keeping newcomers up to speed on their 
proposal.  Its first part enumerated the proponents'  formal and informal submissions since 1995.  
Although similar to the list contai ned in JOB/SERV/89, it contained only the submissions of the 
proponents.  Thus far, the latter had submitte d 14 documents – in the beginning through the 
submissions of Thailand, then through ASEAN coll ectively, and then through the Friends of ESM.  
Four documents were formal (S/WPGR documents);   the remaining ten were informal.  The second 
part of the Room Document detailed, in a non- exhaustive manner, substantive portions of the 
proponents' submissions pertaining to each of the 17 core elements identified in JOB/SERV/106. 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  S/WPGR/M/79 
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  5. As Members had received the Room Document  only very recently, the Friends of ESM 
welcomed preliminary comments whilst anticipati ng further discussion on the document at the next 
scheduled meeting in December (either in formal or informal mode).  They reserved their right to provide enhancements or corrections to the text.  In  the future, there would also be scope to provide 
their analysis on the compilation, including the evolving context of the submissions, and further 
thoughts on the relevance of the proposal in th e current and future services trade environment. 
6. The Chairperson thanked the Friends of ESM fo r their submission and statement.  She then 
opened the floor for delegations' views on future  work as well as on the two recently circulated 
documents.  
7. The delegate of the European Union thanked the Friends of ESM for their submission and 
enquired about its relation to the Documentation Guide  prepared by the Secretariat. 
8.   The representative of the Philippines, on beha lf of the delegations of Brunei Darussalam, 
Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines,  Thailand and Viet Nam, explained that their 
submission was complementary to the Secretariat's Guide .  Their document covered only submissions 
made by the ESM proponents, but went further in that  it also included some of  the substance of what 
was discussed under the 17 core items, not just the references.  It thus focussed on the proponents' 
own documents – for Members' appr eciation and further review.    
9. The representative of Japan deemed the Secretariat's Documentation Guide  to be useful as it 
reviewed the past 17 years of discussions.  He welcomed the submission made by the Friends of ESM, 
adding that his delegation would examine it. 
10. Acknowledging that Members had had too little time to study the Room Document circulated 
by the Friends of ESM in any depth, the Chairp erson hoped that it would trigger more comments in 
the future.  She suggested reverting to the item at the next meeting. 
II. NEGOTIATIONS ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT UNDER ARTICLE XIII 
OF THE GATS 
11. Turning to government procurement, the Chairp erson recalled that, at the last meeting, a 
delegation had expressed interest in examining "barriers that were common to procurement 
transactions and commercial services trade in sectors most relevant to services procurement", enquiring whether the Secretariat might provide some  input on that matter.  Several delegations had 
sought clarification on the request made.  Some ha d held the view that Members might be better 
placed than the Secretariat to provide information about obstacles experienced by their service 
suppliers when trying to access foreign procurement markets. 
12. She reported that, since the last meeting, the Secretariat had screened through a small 
selection of recent Trade-Policy-Review reports by th e Secretariat.  These did contain some valuable 
information about Members' proc urement policies and internationa l tendering systems.  In a few 
instances, they comprised data on the size of procur ement markets and even estimates of the share of 
foreign service suppliers in total public procuremen t transactions.  This being said, it would not be 
possible, based on these reports, to identify  barriers to procurement transactions in individual services  
sectors  (that were most relevant to services procurement).  The reviewed reports did not contain 
sufficiently disaggregated sector-specifi c data to extract such information. 
13. Regarding a related topic raised by some de legations, namely the size and contestability of 
public procurement markets, it seemed to be difficult to obtain data comparable across a wide range of 
WTO Members.  A 2002 OECD study on "The Size of Government Procurement Markets", which 
covered both OECD and non-OECD countries, had not  been updated since.  However, individual  S/WPGR/M/79 
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  Members might well possess relevant information that they might wish to share.  The Chairperson 
then opened the floor for reactions and suggestions.  
14. The representative of the European Union thanked the Secretariat for its investigations.  Her 
delegation had to reflect further on possible avenues to pursue.  She suggested that delegations 
thought about the contours of a possible work programme at a future informal session.     
15. The Chairperson thanked the delegate of the European Union for her comments and 
suggestion.  Acknowledging that more discussion was needed, she suggested that Members revert to 
this topic at the next meeting.      
III. NEGOTIATIONS ON SUBSIDIES UNDER ARTICLE XV OF THE GATS 
16. The Chairperson recalled that the discussion on subsidies had remained at an impasse for 
some time.  At the last meeting, Members had agreed that the Secretariat updated its Background 
Note on "Subsidies for Services Sectors ‒ Information contained in WTO Trade Policy Reviews" 
(S/WPGR/W/25/Add.5, last updated in March 2007) .  The Secretariat was still working on the 
document, which should be ready in time for the D ecember meeting.  She then opened the floor for 
Members' views regarding the possibility to engage anew in conceptual discussions or technical work 
on subsidies.     
17. The representative of Switzerland recalled his delegation's submission concerning disciplines 
on export subsidies (JOB/SERV/36 of 2 December 2010), stressing that the latter could serve as a 
basis for future discussions. 
18. The representative of Hong Kong, China shared  the Chairperson's assessment that the 
discussion was at an impasse;  the overall situation was not conducive to an in-depth engagement.  
Nonetheless, his delegation remained convinced of  the usefulness to engage in conceptual and 
technical work to be ready once the negotiations  resumed.  Past contributions from Members, 
including the one from Switzerland, provided valuable  inputs in this regard.  The Working Party was 
not lacking contributions from Members:  a number of useful proposals were on the table.  Rather, 
time did not seem ripe for an in-depth engagement on those proposals.  He was looking forward to the 
update by the Secretariat of its Background No te in time for the December meeting. 
19. In the absence of further suggestions, the Chai rperson recommended that Members revert to 
this item at the next meeting. 
IV. OTHER BUSINESS 
20. Turning to other business, in light of the brev ity of a number of past meetings and of the 
WTO's overall cost-cutting efforts regarding the or ganization of meetings, the Chairperson proposed 
that, unless there was any objection, the Working Party would hold its meeting during the December 
cluster in open-ended informal mode .  This did not entail any reduction in the activity of this Working 
Party.   Rather, she expected discussions to flow mo re freely on each of the th ree issues at an informal 
meeting. 
21. The representative of Canada emphasized the need for the Secretariat's updated Background 
Note on subsidies to be released well in advance of th e next meeting to allow capitals to review it.  If 
the paper was not circulated sufficiently in advan ce, it might be better to delay the meeting until 
delegations had had the time to review it.  Mee tings should not be held for the sake of having a 
meeting;  rather they should tackle substantive wo rk, which in turn required that delegations obtained 
the documents in time to be prepared to engage on them. S/WPGR/M/79 
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  22. The representative of Turkey felt no necessity, at  this point, to modify the scheduling of 
meetings of subsidiary bodies of the Services Council.  There was a risk that this could run counter to 
WTO principles in general and MC8 decisions in particular, where Ministers had underlined the 
importance of the work of regular WTO bodies.  In  her delegation's view, nothing in the Ministerial 
Declaration could be viewed as a call to reduce the number or length of meetings that addressed 
regular trade-related work of the WTO.   
23. The representative of Australia supported the Chairperson's proposal, which she felt was 
constructive and fitted well with the WTO's overall cost saving measures.  
24. The representative of the European Union supporte d the interventions by both the Turkish and 
Australian delegations.  Meetings ought not to be discontinued because of the mere fact that, for the 
time being, there was not much progress within reach .  At the same time, the quality of meetings 
could be improved if submissions were issued well in advance and delegations came prepared.  
Discussing how to move forward on all three items in informal mode in December made a lot of sense;  therefore, her delegation supported the Chairperson's proposal. 
25. The representative of Hong Kong, China suppor ted the Chairperson's proposal as a sensible 
way forward.  Such open-ended informal discu ssion would depend upon de legations receiving the 
contributions, and notably the Secretariat's updated Background Note on subsidies, well in advance.  
He thanked the Friends of ESM for their submission and invited them to provide more direction as to 
the areas/issues they would like Me mbers to focus upon.  This woul d facilitate a more orderly and 
productive exchange at the next meeting.  
26. The representative of Chile supported the Chairper son's proposal.  He thanked the Friends of 
ESM for their document, which his delegation would examine further. 
27. The representative of Singapore, speaking on be half of all of ASEAN, added her support to 
the Chairperson's proposal to hold an informal open-ended discussion during the December cluster.  
This was a constructive and sensible way forward, and one that would balan ce cost considerations 
with continued activity and discussions. 
28. The representative of the United States also le nt his support to the Chairperson's proposal.  
However, his delegation's endorsement was specific to this Working Party and reflected the work 
before the latter, and should not be taken as any kind of precedent for similar procedures in other 
bodies of WTO. 
29. The representative of Australia sought clarifica tion regarding the costs of interpretation, 
recalling an earlier explanation given by the Secret ariat at an informal meeting of the Council for 
Trade in Services held on 27 September 2012.  She asked whether interpretation costs were indeed 
always incurred for a full day irrespective of the actual length of the meeting. 
30. The Chairperson confirmed that this understanding was correct. 
31. The representative of Australia remarked that th ere seemed to be some support in favour of an 
informal meeting, subject to the concerns of the delegation of Turkey and fu rther consultations.  She 
wondered whether it would be possible, as a conclusion of  this meeting, to agree that the next meeting 
would be held in open-ended informal mode, subj ect to any further comments Turkey might wish to 
bring back at the Council for Trade in Services.  
32. The representative of Turkey was not in the positi on to agree to this proposal.  If the informal 
meeting was to be held within  a cluster, she had to reserve her delegation's position.  The matter was 
different for informal meetings outside a cluster.    S/WPGR/M/79 
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  33. The Chairperson suggested that the issue be decided after consultations.  The Secretariat 
would, as usual, prepare the minutes of the meeting leaving time for the delegation of Turkey to 
further consult internally.  The e-mail with the advance copy of the minutes would then inform 
Members about the formal or informal character of the next WPGR meeting.  The question of whether 
or not to meet in December hinged upon the availa bility of sufficient material for discussion.  The 
Secretariat would try to issue its updated Background Note on subsidies at the end of October.  She 
recalled that the Secretariat's Documentation Guide  as well as the Friends of ESM's Room Document 
had not been the object of a detailed discussion yet.  She thought that December could provide a good 
opportunity to meet if the promised material was ready. 
34. The representative of Canada thanked the Chairper son for these clarifications and stated that, 
if her delegation received the Secretariat paper by th e end of October, this should provide enough time 
to review it.  Her earlier comments were aimed at ensuring that there was sufficient material to allow 
for a substantive exchange at the December meeti ng.  She echoed the delegate of Hong Kong, China's 
request for further input from the Friends of ESM to give more focus to the forthcoming discussion of 
their Room Document. 
35. As no other topic was raised under this agenda  item, the Chairperson suggested that the 
Working Party adjourn the meeting.   
36. The meeting was adjourned. 
 
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