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S/WPGR/M/90  
 
  26 August  2016 
(16-4536) Page: 1/3 
Working Party on GATS Rules    
 
REPORT OF THE MEETIN G HELD ON 16 JUNE  2016  
NOTE BY THE SECRETAR IAT1 
The Working Party on GATS Rules (WPGR) held a meeting on 16 June 2016 opened  by Mr Don 
McDougall of Canada  and, thereafter , chaired by Mr Gustavo  Héctor Mendez  of Argentina . The 
proposed a genda and the Chairperson 's annotated agenda for the meeting were circulated ahead 
of the meeting in documents WTO/AIR/ WPGR/5  and JOB/SERV/ 234 respectively .  
1  ITEM A – APPOINTMENT OF THE C HAIRPERSON FOR THE W ORKING PARTY  
1.1.  The outgoing Chairman  informed deleg ations that the Chairman of the Council for Trade in 
Services (CTS) had recently concluded his consultations on the slate of names for the Chairpersons 
of the CTS ' subsidiary bodies.  Mr Gustavo Héctor Mendez from Argentina had been  proposed to 
chair the Wo rking Party on GATS Rules . Consequently, h e suggested that the Working Party elect 
him as its new Chairperson by acclamation.  
1.2.  The Working Party elected  Mr Gustavo Héctor Mendez as its new Chairperson by acclamation.  
2  ITEM B  – NEGOTIATIONS ON EMER GENCY SAFEG UARD MEASURES UNDER ARTICLE  X 
OF THE GATS  
2.1.  Turning to emergency safeguard measures  (ESM) , the Chairman recalled  that the Working 
Party had held a dedicated discussion on Members' experiences with emergency safeguard 
provisions in their bilateral and reg ional trade agreements  in the course of 2014.  Since then, 
however, no substantive  work had been undertaken.  Yet, the proponents had reaffirm ed their 
continued interest in pursuing work on emergency safeguards and recurrently  invited  Members to 
review thei r 2007 negotiating proposal contained in document JOB(07)/155.  The proponents  had 
also reiterated  their readiness to engage  anew in dedicated discussion s, for instance on the latest  
developments in services statistics relevant for safeguard  action s. Following these introductory 
remarks, the Chairman  opened the floor for Members' interventions.   
2.2.  The representative of the Philippines , on behalf of the delegations of Brunei Darussalam , 
Cambodia , Indonesia , Lao People’s Democratic Republic , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , 
Thailand  and Viet Nam , referred Members to their proposed draft disciplines  for the use of 
emergency safeguard measures  as contained in document JOB(07)/155 of October 2007 , as well 
as to two previous dedicated discussion s on, respectively , statistics for possible use in emergency 
safeguard actions in services (held in 2011) and safeguard -type provisions  in bilateral and regional 
trade agreements  (held in 2014) . The 'Friends of ESM' reaffirmed  the built -in mandate in GATS 
Article X as confi rmed by subsequent Ministerial Declarations and suggested that work c ontinue d 
based on this mandate. Despite the absence of outcomes in services at MC10, the proponents 
remained committed to engag ing constructively in all aspects of the services negotiatio ns, 
including through continued  work on emergency safeguard measures. They acknowledged  that the 
period of reflection on the future of the overall negotiations  had impacted progress in particular 
technical areas – among which the negotiations in the WP GR. Nevertheless, the proponents hoped 
to continue their consultations with interested Members on possible next steps, including a further 
dedicated discussion  on relevant statistical developments.  
                                                
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/WPGR/M/ 90 
 
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  2.3.  The Chairma n thanked the proponents for their statement . He su ggested that the Working 
Party t ake note of the statement  made and revert to this issue at its next meeting.  
2.4.  It was so agreed . 
3  ITEM C  - NEGOTIATIONS ON GOVE RNMENT PROCUREMENT U NDER ARTICLE XIII OF  
THE GATS  
3.1.  Turning to government procurement, the Chairman reminded Members  that, in September 
2015, the EU delegation had circulated a proposal for future work on g overnment procurement 
(contained in document JOB/SERV/215 ). In its proposal, the EU  suggested  that Members exchange 
information on how they treat foreig n-owned o r -controlled  established  service suppliers in their 
government procurement procedures . The EU proposal aimed at a voluntary exchange of 
information among Members regarding their existing government procurement practices  in this 
regard . Members had discussed the EU proposal at two  formal meetings of the Working Party (in 
October 2015 and March 2016 ), as well as at an informal open -ended consultation held in 
February 2016 .   
3.2.  The Chairman also recalled that, following requests to that effect  from som e Members , the 
EU delegation had stated its openness to extend the exchange of information to other modes of 
supply ( i.e., beyond mode  3) and had invited interested Members to present specific proposals to 
that end . Finally , a number of delegations had enc ouraged the EU delegation to better reflect the  
complexity of national government procurement regimes in its proposal , pointing out , for instance,  
that the GPA's non-discrimination obligations applied only with respect to measures regarding each 
party's covered  procurement  (thus only to procurement contracts  above specified thresholds 
undertaken by specified agencies  in defined "covered" sectors ).2 Having summarised the gist of 
previous discussions , the Chairman  opened the floor for Members' comments . 
3.3.  The r epresentative of the European Union  stated that government procurement remained a  
very important issue for his delegation , who valued the comments received so far on their 
proposal.  On the basis of these  comments, his delegation was currently reflecting o n the best way 
forward regarding work on government procurement in services at the WTO – including through an 
exchange of information on existing practices as outlined in the ir proposal (JOB/SERV/215) .  His 
delegation recognized that some adaptations of their initial proposal would be necessary to make 
Members more comfortable with an exchange of i nformation , including the exten sion of the scope 
of the information exchange to all modes of supply , and a redrafting of the proposal's reference to 
good practice s (paragraph 3.c of the initial proposal).  He indicated that his delegation was still 
reflecting on the comments received and would revert to Members once its assessment was 
finalized.  
3.4.  The Chairman thanked the delegation of the European Union for its intervention. He invited 
the W orking Party to take note of the statement made  and to revert to this item at its next 
meeting .  
3.5.  It was so agreed . 
4  ITEM D  – NEGOTIATIONS ON SUBS IDIES UNDER ARTICLE XV OF THE GATS  
4.1.  The Chairman  observed that the Working Party had not conducted  any substantive 
discussions on this topic  for some time.  Furthermore, no new ideas had emerged  from the 
Chairman's informal outreach to delegations prior to the meeting  on how to carry the work forward 
in this area . Following these introductory  remarks, he opened the floor for Members ' comments . 
No delegation asked for the floor.  
4.2.  The Chairma n invited the Working Party to revert to this  item at its next meeting.  
4.3.  It was so agreed . 
                                                
2 For further details, see the r eport of the WPGR meeting held on 17 March 2016  contained in  
document  S/WPGR/M/89  (paras. 2.2 to 2.5).  S/WPGR/M/90  
 
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  5  ITEM E – OTHER BUSINESS  
5.1.  No matter s were raised under this agenda i tem. 
5.2.  The meeting was adjourned . 
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