S/CSC/27  
 
19 Octob er 202 1 
(21-7906) Page: 1/2 
   
 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS  
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES (20 21) 
1.  Since its 20 20 annual report to the Council for Trade in Services1, the Committee on Specific 
Commitments (CSC) held three  formal meetings, on 2 December 2020, 10 March  2021 and 
29 June 2021 respectively.2 At these meetings, t he Committee consider ed three items: 
Implement ation of Specific Commitments, Classification Issues and Scheduling Issues . 
1  IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS  
2.  This item was included in the agenda upon a Communication from the United States dated 
5 March 2020.3 The United States proposed that the Committee examine conditional commitments 
containe d in the Schedules of Specific Commitments under the GATS with a view to improving 
transparency of commitments. The Committee agreed on a step -by-step approach whereby the 
Secretariat would first prepare  a factual compilation of conditional commitments contained in 
Members' Schedules and the Committee would then consider the next steps of the proposed 
exercise.  
3.  Accordingly, the Secretariat prepared and circulated the Compilation of Conditional Commitments  
dated 13 November 202 0, which was later revised upon the request of the Committee .4 The 
Compilation encompasses th ose entries in the Schedules of Specific Commitments under the GATS  
which make the  entry into force , implementation , or updating of specific  commitments conditional 
upon a domestic process  such as new legislation or policy review . Information related to the 
implementation of conditional commitments are also included in the Compilation, subject to the 
availability of information. Members were i nvited to verify and complement such information.  
4.  Engagement in the exercise on conditional commitments was on a voluntary basis. At the 
meetings during the reporting period, a number of Members provided updates on the implementation 
of their commitments i ncluded in the Compilation. Some Members indicated that they were holding 
internal consultations and would provide updates at a later stage.   
2  CLASSIFICATION ISSUES  
5.  At the meeting on 10 March 2021, the UN  Statistics Division  (UNSD) and the WTO Secretariat 
provide d a joint presentation on the new functionalities of the UN statistical classification  website 
helping Members navigate between the different CPC versions as well as  between the CPC and other 
classifications . The focus of the presentation was on  whether and how the correspondence  could be 
established  between the CPC Provisional  Version of 1991  and the later versions of the CPC , given 
that the Services Sectoral Classification List (MTN.GNS/W/120) created for scheduling  specific 
commitments under the GATS was based on the CPC Provisional  Version . 
 
1 Annual Report of the Committee on Specific Commitments to the Council for Trade in Services (20 20), 
contained in document S/CSC/2 6 dated 2  December 2020.  
2 The reports of these meetings are contained in documents S/CSC/M/8 4, S/CSC/M/85  and 
S/CSC/M/8 6, which should be read in conjunction with this report.  
3 The communication from the United States is contained in document S/CSC/W/69.  
4 The Compilation of Cond itional Commitments is contained in document S/CSC/70  and 
S/CSC/ 70/Rev.1 . S/CSC/27  
 
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  3  SCHEDULING ISSUES  
6.  The Committee did not engage in substantive discussions under this  item. 
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