S/CS C/22 
 
23 November  2016 
(16-6427) Page: 1/2 
  
 
 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE  COMMITTEE ON SPECIFI C COMMITMENTS  
TO THE COUNCIL FOR T RADE IN SERVICES (20 16) 
Since its Annual Report of 201 5 to the Council for Trade in Services1, the Committee on Specific 
Commitments  (CSC) held four formal meetings, respectively on 2 October  2015, 17 March 2016, 
16 June 2016, and 5 October 2016 .2 During the period covered by this report,  the Committee 
addressed two standing items  - classification issues and  scheduling issues  – and considered future 
work.  
1  CLASSIFICATION ISSUE S  
1.1.  At the meeting of 2 October 2015, a representative of the UN Statistics Division  made a 
presentation on services in the Central Product Classification (CPC) through video conference, with 
a focus on the evolution of CPC and its general application rules.  In the follow -up discussions, 
Members reiterated their divergent views on various issues related to  "new services" , including 
whether "new services" existed, whether a definition of "new services" was needed, and the 
implications of "new services" for existing  commitments under the GATS .  
1.2.  During the reporting period , a number of delegations indicated repeatedly that the 
Committee had exhausted the discussion  on "new services", while some others continued to 
express interest in further exploring  related issues .  
2  SCHEDULING ISSUES  
2.1.  At the meeting of 17 March 2016, the delegation of Turkey presented its communication on 
economic needs tests (ENTs) with a view to reinvigorating the discussion in the Committee.3 
Noting problems arising from vague and ambiguous ENT ent ries in Members' schedules, Turkey 
made a number of specific suggestions for future work in this regard, including: updating the 
Secretariat's Note on ENTs, examining tendencies in the scheduling of ENTs in FTAs, exchange of 
information among Members on th e application of ENTs, and identifying common elements of the 
criteria for ENTs by mode or by sector.  Turkey's proposals received general support from Members  
and a  shared view was expressed that ambiguous ENT entries in Members' schedules undermined 
the v alue of specific commitments under the GATS. Nevertheless,  the Committee only agreed to 
task the Secretariat to update its Note on ENTs by examining the schedules of newly acceded 
Members.  
2.2.  At the meeting of 16 June 2016, the Secretariat presented the upda te of its Note on 
economic needs tests , which  examined the schedules of the 11 Members that had acceded  to the 
WTO after 16 April 2010.4 The updated Note highlighted that many ENT -related  entries continued 
to be problematic, even in new Members' schedules.   
2.3.  At the meeting of 5 October 2016, the Committee continued its discussion on ENTs , but no 
progress was made on substance.  
                                                
1 S/CSC/ 21, dated 14 October 2015 . 
2 The reports of the formal meetings are contained in documents S/CSC /M/74 -77, and should be read  in 
conjunction with this report.   
3 JOB/SERV/224, dated 29 February 2016.  
4 S/CSS/W/118/Add.2, dated 25 May 2016.  S/CSC/ 22 
 
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  3  FUTURE WORK  
3.1.  The Chairman  held consultations on possible  future  work the Committee might undertake 
within its mandate . At the meeting  of 5 October 2016, a number of delegations expressed interest 
in discussing various scheduling and classification issues, in particular those related to e -
commerce. There were also questions about the purpose of the Committee's work in the absence 
of mark et access negotiations. The Chairman would continue to consult with Members on future 
work of the Committee.    
 
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