S/C/N/797
18 March 2015
(15-1557) Page: 1/2
Council for Trade in Services  Original: English
 
  NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE III:3 OF THE 
WTO AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES 
The following notification from the delegation of  the European Union, dated 16 March 2015, is 
being circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services. 
 
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The following notification is made pursuant to GATS Article III:3 and relates to measures adopted 
by the European Union in 2014. Given that th ere is no common understanding among WTO 
Members on when a measure "significantly affects trade in services" within the meaning of GATS 
Article III:3 and that the European Union cannot make a positive determination on this issue, it is 
therefore notifying measures that may be relevant  to trade in services without prejudice to the 
interpretation of the phrase "significantly affect trade in services" in Article III:3. 
1  MEMBER NOTIFYING 
The European Union 2  NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE(S) 
Article III, paragraph 3, of the General Agreement on Trade in Services 
3  DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE 
2 July 2014 4  AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE MEASURE 
Member States of the European Union 
 5  DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE
* 
a) Full title of the EU acts: 
 Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parl iament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on 
market abuse (market abuse regulation) and re pealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC (MAR).  
Directive 2014/57/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on criminal 
sanctions for market abuse (market abuse directive) (CSMAD).  
                                               
* Including international agreements, recognition measures or other types. S/C/N/797 
 
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  b) Brief summary of the content with a focu s on potential effect on services trade: 
 The new rules on market abuse - Regulation No 596/2014 on market abuse (Market Abuse Regulation) and Directive 2014/57/EU on criminal  sanctions for market abuse (Market Abuse 
Directive) - update and strengthen the existing fr amework to ensure market integrity and investor 
protection provided by the existing Market Ab use Directive (2003/6/EC) which will be repealed. 
The Market Abuse Regulation ensures that the re gulation keeps pace with market developments 
such as the growth of new trading platforms, ov er-the-counter (OTC) trading and new technology 
such as high frequency trading (HFT), streng thens the fight against market abuse across 
commodity and related derivative markets, explicit ly bans the manipulation of benchmarks (such 
as LIBOR), reinforces the investigative and administrative sanctioning powers of regulators and 
ensures a single rulebook while reducing, where possible, the administrative burdens on SME 
issuers. The Directive on criminal sanctions for market abuse (Market Abuse Directive) complements the Market Abuse Regulation by requiring all Member States to provide for 
harmonised criminal offences of insider dealing and market manipulation, and to impose maximum 
criminal penalties of not less than 4 and 2 years imprisonment for the most serious market abuse offences. Member States will have to make sure that such behaviour, including the manipulation of 
benchmarks, is a criminal offence, punishable  with effective, proportionate and dissuasive 
sanctions.  The new requirements will have no impact on market access. 
 
6  MEMBERS SPECIFICALLY AFFECTED 
None 
7  TEXTS AVAILABLE FROM 
 Other sources (address, fax and telephone of other body) 
 
EU Official Journal, available on line at: 
 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R0596  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-con tent/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014L0057  
 
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