RESTRICTED  
  
S/CSC/M/67  
 
2 July 2013  
(13-3437)  Page: 1/3  
 
Committee on Specific Commitments    
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 20 JUNE 2013 
Note by the Secretariat1 
The Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) held a meeting on 20 June 2013, chaired by 
Ms. Monica Nagelgaard from Norway. The represen tative of Brazil indicated that under Other 
Business, he would make a statement concerning an initially intended presentation on his 
government's integrated system of foreign trade in services. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/4143, was adopted as modified. 
 
1. ITEM A - CLASSIFICATION ISSUES  
1.1.  The Chairperson recalled that at the last meeting, the Secretariat had presented informal 
Notes covering classification issues related, respectively, to maritime transport and logistics 
services.   The Committee had held a preliminary discussion and the summary of the discussion had been circulated under the Chairperson's responsibility.  A number of delegations had indicated 
that they would make substantive comments at this meeting. 
1.2.  The Committee then discussed maritime transp ort and logistics services in informal mode. 
1.3.  After the informal discussion on the two sectors, the Chairperson referred to the Secretariat 
Note (S/CSC/W/61 and Corr.1) on services classi fication issues arising in WTO jurisprudence, 
including the interpretative approach adopted by panels and the Appellate Body. While the 
discussion at the last meeting had been prelimin ary, interventions had touched upon important 
issues such as legal certainty of existing commitm ents and the legal status of the Chairman's Note 
on Basic Telecom.  
1.4.  The representative of Australia noted that th e Secretariat Note provided a useful overview of 
the W/120 and WTO jurisprudence on the classifica tion of services, including an examination of 
classification issues and approaches to interpretation arising under this jurisprudence.  Australia 
took an active interest in WTO jurisprudence on services issues and valued the opportunity to participate as a third party to disputes.  This enab led Australia to contribute its expertise and help 
shape dispute settlement processes constructively through raising and clarifying points of 
difference.  Many panels had considered third pa rty submissions in their settlement of disputes, 
including submissions from Australia in the disputes considered in the Note.  Australia participated in the Panel proceedings as a third party thro ugh written submissions and oral statements, inter 
alia in Mexico - Measures Affecting Telecommunications Services , China - Publications and 
Audiovisual Products  and China - Electronic Payment Services .  Australia recognized the 
importance of promoting a consistent approach to the identification and interpretation of services 
issues to increase certainty and facilitate timely dispute resolution.  While the existing body of 
jurisprudence did not establish binding precedents , it provided useful insight into the various 
panels' and the Appellate Body's approaches to dispute settlement.   
1.5.  Australia acknowledged that Members were encouraged to use the W/120 and CPC 
references where practicable to enhance accuracy and clarity of commitments and promote a 
common understanding between negotiating partners.  These classification systems might constitute a supplementary means of interpretati on in the absence of any indication to the 
contrary.  Australia also noted that it was not obligatory for Members to use these classification 
                                               
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/CSC/M/67 
 
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  systems.  It appreciated the flexibility to sched ule outside this framework where necessary, such 
as in relation to new services sectors and sub-sectors.  Australia's approach to legal services demonstrated how this flexibility contributed to more accurate scheduling, as the W/120 did not adequately reflect industry practice.  The govern ment worked closely with industry bodies to 
develop specialized definitions based on the W/120 and utilized the legal services classification 
outlined in the Joint Statement prepared by the Fr iends of Legal Services, issued in February 2005 
(S/CSC/W/46).  This classification provided me aningful terminology, such as "domestic law", 
"foreign law" and "international law", which reflected the practical nature of international trade in 
legal services and provided maximum flexibility in scheduling commitments.  Australia had applied this terminology in its FTAs and ongoing trade negotiations with positive effects.  The notion of "foreign law" in particular had helped to simplify scheduling of commitments.  Australia believed 
that its classification of legal services was a natural corollary of the increasing globalization of 
commercial transactions as clients sought legal services covering multiple jurisdictions from their providers.   
1.6.  Supporting the Chairman's suggestion at th e last meeting that the Secretariat Note be a 
"living document", Australia encouraged the Secretariat to expand its consideration of 
jurisprudence, for example through reviewing pane l discussions and third party submissions, with 
a view to publication if appropriate.  This would further contribute to improving certainty and 
predictability in services trade agreements and enrich the body of jurisprudence.  
1.7.  With respect to future work under this agenda item, the Chairperson informed the Committee 
of the consultations she had undertaken on the sect ors to be examined next and on how to take 
stock, in a user-friendly way, of the work done so far.  It had been suggested that the Committee 
examine those outstanding sectors, namely educatio n, health, tourism, recreational and cultural 
services, so as to have a complete overview of classification issues.  There had also been support 
for the Secretariat to compile all documents prepared for the exercise, including the Secretariat 
Notes and the summaries of informal discussions, on the understanding that the compilation was factual, serves only the discussion in the Commi ttee and had no effect on existing commitments. 
1.8.  The representatives of Australia, the United States, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Hong 
Kong China supported these proposals.  The representative of Korea added that the envisaged 
compilation could include some useful and insightful factual points which would succinctly 
summarize and bring about 40 comprehensive documents together as the Secretariat usually did 
in this kind of exercise.  The compilation itself would not dictate any guidance for future 
discussions in the Committee.   
1.9.  The representative of the Secretariat conf irmed that all the existing documents would be 
compiled with a cover note to reflect the caveats mentioned. 
1.10.  The Chairperson noted that there was broad support for having a complete overview of 
classification issues as well as a compilation of all documents prepared for the exercise.  She 
suggested that the Committee examine outstandin g sectors at the next meeting and that the 
Secretariat start to prepare the compilation based on the understanding reached.  Finally, she proposed that the Committee take note of the statements made and revert to this item at its next meeting. 
1.11.  It was so agreed.  
2    ITEM B - SCHEDULING ISSUES 
2.1.  The Chairperson noted that there had been no discussion under this item for quite some 
time.  Before this meeting, she had consulted with delegations on how to move forward. One 
suggestion made in this context was that the Co mmittee look into scheduling experiences outside 
the WTO.  Members could all benefit from frank and serious discussions on technical issues in this 
Committee, as they had done in the past.  She invited any views or proposals. 
2.2.  The representative of Hong Kong, China noted that the Committee had been inactive under 
this agenda item for quite some time.  The last  round of active discussions on scheduling issues 
had been five or six years ago when Members had been actively preparing their initial offers and 
revised offers in the Doha services negotiations  and when there had been attempts to achieve S/CSC/M/67 
 
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  greater uniformity and clarity in commitments.  At that time, the focus had been on how to 
schedule measures that had restrictive effects on trade.  While no agreement had been reached, this Committee had had useful exchange over some  of the typical restrictive measures including 
residency requirements and economic needs tests. Today, since the negotiation landscape in the 
WTO was completely different, there might not be a strong drive to settle scheduling issues.  
However, Members had to tackle them sooner or la ter in future negotiations. Therefore, it might 
be beneficial to share scheduling experience that had been gained outside the WTO on an 
intellectual basis.  Such an exercise would be ed ucational, especially in exploring options on how 
to schedule measures that might potentially restrict trade so as to ensure the uniformity and clarity of commitments.  Believing that the exercise would be useful for future negotiations, he strongly supported the Chairperson's intention to undertake consultations for this purpose.  
2.3.  The Chairperson indicated that she would hold consultations on concrete ideas to advance 
work under this item.  Finally, she suggested that the Committee take note of the statements 
made and reverted to this item at its next meeting. 
2.4.  It was so agreed.  
3    ITEM C - REVIEW OF THE OPERATION OF THE PROCEDURES UNDER ARTICLE XXI 
3.1.  The Chairperson recalled that the Council for Trade in Services had adopted the Procedures 
for the Implementation of GATS Article XXI in July 1999, contained in document S/L/80, and the 
Procedures for the Certification of Rectifications or Improvements to Schedules in April 2000, contained in document S/L/84. Both documents pr ovided that the operation of these procedures 
should be subject to review at the request of any Member (paragraph 24 of S/L/80 and 
paragraph 5 of S/L/84). At the request of Aust ralia, the review of the operation of these 
procedures had been included in the agenda. For the purpose of the review, Australia had submitted a communication (S/CSC/W/59) proposin g that Members share experience with using 
these procedures without re-opening them. Upon request, the Secretariat had also produced a 
factual report (JOB/SERV/123) on the application of  these procedures to facilitate discussions. At 
the meeting in December 2012, the Committee had held informal discussions during which a 
number of important issues had been raised.  A non-attributable summary had been circulated 
after that.  The interventions made had touched, inter alia, upon the invocation of Article XXI, timing of the negotiations, conclusion of the pr ocess, and consolidation and distribution of the 
results of negotiation.  
3.2.  There was no intervention from Members. 
3.3.  The Chairperson suggested that the Committee revert to this item at a following meeting. 
3.4.  It was so agreed.  
4    ITEM D - OTHER BUSINESS 4.1.  The representative of Brazil recalled that his delegation had intended to give a presentation 
at this meeting on the country's national integrated system of foreign trade in services, 
SISCOSERV.  Due to a conflicting schedule, the official from Brazil's Ministry of Trade and 
Development who was supposed to give the presentation could not come to Geneva for this meeting.  Nonetheless, the Ministry remained co mmitted to sharing its experience with services 
statistics and classifications and intended to make the presentation at the next meeting. 
4.2.  The meeting was then adjourned.  
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