RESTRICTED  
  
JOB/SERV/ 282 
 
13 June 2018 
(18-3665) Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade in Services  
Special Session   
 
COMMUNICATION FROM C HILE, MEXICO, NEW ZE ALAND AND PANAMA  
EXPLORATORY DISCUSSI ONS ON MARKET ACCESS  
The following communication , dated 12 June 2018 , is being circulated to Members of the Council 
for Trade in Services in Special Session , at the request of the delegation s of Chile, Mexico, New 
Zealand and Panama.  
 
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This communication puts forward suggestions on how to structure and focus exploratory 
discussions on market acc ess in the Council for Trade in Services in Special Session (CTS-SS).  
1  RATIONALE  
1.1.  The GATS has a built -in mandate on services negotiations in Article XIX, with built -in 
flexibilities.  Except for acceding Members, GATS commitments are more than 20 years old.  The 
last set of offers was submitted in 2005, and the Signalling Conference took place in 2008.  Since 
then, Members have continued to advance liberalization autonomously, and have increasingly 
undertaken commitments in the context of regional trade agreem ents (RTAs).  Government policies 
and approaches, as well as ways of accessing markets in different sectors and modes, have 
changed rapidly since the entry into force of the GATS and especially in the last decade.  Despite 
this, market access for trade in se rvices has been absent from WTO discussions in recent times.  
1.2.  We, therefore, suggest holding exploratory discussions in the CTS -SS with the purpose of 
delegations exchanging views on their current areas of interest, against the background of 
relevant trade , policy, and market developments, especially over the last decade.  
1.3.  A better appreciation of Members' views on key trade issues across different sectors and 
modes and, more generally, an updating of Members' market access expectations, would foster a 
better collective understanding and build more solid foundations for any future market access 
negotiations.   
2  SCOPE OF THE EXPLORA TORY DISCUSSIONS  
2.1.  This process should be open, inclusive, transparent, incremental and exploratory in nature. 
Discussions may help i dentify areas of common interest to Members and their purpose would not 
be to ascertain whether Members would undertake certain commitments or not.  Indeed, this 
communication is not suggesting that Members start negotiations or set timelines for requests o r 
offers.  While any delegation remains free to submit negotiating proposals in areas of interest at 
any time, discussions would be without prejudice to final positions in any future negotiations.   
2.2.  The exchange of views on market access areas of interest ma y cover any specific sector and 
mode, or cut across several sectors and modes.  It may encompass the sectoral coverage of 
schedules, the levels of treatment under market access  (Article XVI) and national treatment 
(Article XVII), additional commitments (sector -specific or cross -cutting) (Article XVIII), MFN 
exemptions, and scheduling issues that might be addressed through commitments.   
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  3  PREPARATION AND STRU CTURE OF THE MEETING S  
3.1.  We suggest that discussions take place over a few meetings of the CTS -SS in 2018 and 2019.  
Discussions should be structured and, for that purpose, we propose organizing each meeting 
around different sectors and modes of supply, while allowing discussion of cross -cutting issues, 
based on Members ' interests.   
3.2.  The first meeting could  take place during the fall of this year.  On the basis of that first 
exchange of vie ws and the results of the Chair' s consultations, we suggest that a thematic 
schedule of meetings be established.  Such schedule should remain flexible and could be modified 
in light of interest of Members.  Ample time should be allowed between meetings to permit 
Members to prepare their interventions.  
3.3.  To help focus and organize discussions, meetings might be preceded by a note from the 
Chair.   
3.4.  We would also suggest that relev ant background information be prepared in advance of each 
of the focused discussions.  Material from earlier Secretariat Notes could be updated and used to 
prepare factual background information on each of the sectors or modes to be discussed.  Such 
earlier Secretariat Notes include the informal Note providing an overview of specific commitments 
(JOB/SERV/201), as well as summary data on offers tabled.  Factual and summary information on 
commitments undertaken in RTAs notified under GATS Article V could also b e prepared for each 
mode/sector to be discussed.  In addition, relevant information on applied services trade policies 
(e.g., I -TIP, monitoring reports of the Director General) could be summarized by mode/sector.  The 
series of sectoral background Notes from  2009-2010 could also provide useful information to 
support the discussion.  
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