RESTRICTED  
  
S/C/W/364  
29 September 2015  
(15-5007)  Page: 1/4  
Council for Trade in Services    
 
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES 
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL (2015) 
Since its Annual Report of 2014 to the General Council1, the Council for Trade in Services held four 
formal meetings, respectively on 28 November 2014, 5 February 2015, 18 March 2015 and 
3 June 2015.2 During the period covered by this report, the Council addressed the following 
matters. 
1  NOTIFICATIONS MADE TO THE COUNCIL PU RSUANT TO GATS ARTICLES III:3 AND V:7  
1.1.  The Council for Trade in Services took no te, altogether, of the following notifications: 
(a) Notifications pursuant to Article III:3 of the GATS 
South Africa S/C/N/766-770, 788 
Mauritius S/C/N/772 
The Republic of Guinea S/C/N/775-784 
Switzerland S/C/N/793 The European Union S/C/N/794-802 
Honduras S/C/N/803-804 
 (b) Notifications pursuant to Article V:7 of the GATS 
China and Hong Kong, China S/C/N/264/Add.7 and Add.8 
China and Macao, China S/C/N/265/Add.7 and Add.8 
The European Union and the Repu blic of Moldova S/C/N/743/Add.1 
The European Union and Georgia S/C/N/745/Add.1 
Iceland and China S/C/N/771 
Hong Kong, China and Chile S/C/N/773 Costa Rica, Panama, Iceland, Liechtenstein, 
  Norway and Switzerland  S/C/N/774 
The Russian Federation S/C/N/785 The Republic of Korea and Australia S/C/N/786 Japan and Australia S/C/N/787 
Canada and the Republic of Korea S/C/N/789 
Armenia and the Russian Federation S/C/N/790 Canada and Honduras S/C/N/791 
 
1.2.  The agreements notified in these documents were referred to the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements for consideration. 
1.3.  At the meeting held in March 2015, the Council also took note of the updated annual 
Secretariat Note containing a statistical account of the notifications made under relevant GATS provisions.
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1 S/C/44, dated 28 November 2014. 
2 Reports of these meetings are contained in documents S/C/M/120 to 123, and should be read in 
conjunction with this report. 
3 Document JOB(09)/10/Rev.5. S/C/W/364 
 
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  2  OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE LDC SERVICES WAIVER 
2.1.  The Council discussed the operationalization of the LDC services waiver during the entire 
reporting period.  
2.2.  The Bali Decision on the operationalization  of the LDC services waiver mandates the Council 
to convene, six months after the submission of an LDC collective request identifying the sectors 
and modes of particular export interest to them, a High-Level Meeting where developed and 
developing Member, in a position to do so, would indicate the preferences they intend to grant to 
LDCs services and service suppliers. 
2.3.  Pursuant to that Decision, on 21 July th e LDC Group had submitted its collective request.4 At 
the Council meeting held in November 2014, Members continued their deliberations on the content of collective request, while stressing the importance  of the early operationalization of the waiver. 
At that meeting, views were also expresse d regarding the procedural and substantive 
arrangements for the High-Level Meeting. It was agreed that the Chairman would engage in a consultative process to finalise those arrangements. 
2.4.  At the informal meeting held on 15 Decemb er 2014, Members concurred that the High-Level 
Meeting would be held on 5-6 February, organise d as a formal Council meeting, with a formal 
record in the form of minutes in line with the Co uncil's Rules of Procedure and convened at "high-
level", with an indication in the airgram that high-level representation at Ministerial level would be 
welcome. The proposed agenda for the meeting was also established.
5 
2.5.  Accordingly, on 5 February the Council held a High-Level Meeting on the operationalisation of 
the waiver. A significant level of engagement em erged from the meeting. Over 25 Members, both 
developed and developing ones, indicated services  sectors and modes of supply where they were 
considering providing preferential treatment to se rvices and service suppliers from LDCs. In their 
indications, Members addressed most of the 74 services sectors in which LDCs had requested 
preferences. Some preferences would include: expanding access for mode 4 trade from LDCs for a 
range of services professions and occupations; wa iving fees for business and employment visas for 
LDC persons; not imposing economic needs and labour market tests for LDC Members; and 
extending the duration of stay of LDC profe ssionals in the markets of preference-granting 
Members. Many delegations also mentioned various technical assistance initiatives to improve LDC services export capacity, including training programmes for LDC service suppliers and support to upgrade infrastructure.  
2.6.  Two elements were agreed in terms of next steps. First, it was decided that a sub-item would 
be included on the agenda of the following m eeting of the Council, on the "Assessment of the 
results of the LDC services waiver High-Level M eeting". Second, it was agreed that Members would 
endeavour to submit notifications of preferential treatment for services and services suppliers of 
LDCs at the earliest possible date, and no later than 31 July 2015.  
2.7.  At the meeting held in March, Members conducted an assessment of the results of the High-
Level Meeting, which was, overall, very positive. The Council received its first notification with 
respect to the waiver Decision from Canada, with respect to which some clarifications were sought by the LDC Group.
6 Several other delegations indicated that they were still working on their 
domestic processes, with the aim of meeting the in dicative time-frame of end July 2015 to submit 
their own notification. 
2.8.  At the June meeting, the Council received Au stralia's notification of preferential treatment to 
services and service suppliers of LDCs.7 The LDC Group expressed its appreciation for Australia's 
notification and encouraged other Members to no tify in due time. Several delegations indicated 
that, while they were still engaged in the necessary domestic processes, they were working towards the objective of submitting their respective notifications by the end of July.  
                                               
4 Document S/C/W/356 and Corrigenda 1 and 2. 
5 See document S/C/46. 
6 Document S/C/N/792. 
7 Document S/C/N/805. S/C/W/364 
 
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  3  WORK PROGRAMME ON  ELECTRONIC COMMERCE 
3.1.  Discussions under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce continued throughout the 
reporting period. At the November meeting, the European Union introduced a submission on electronic authentication and trust services
8, and also delivered an extensive presentation of the 
new EU Regulation on cross-border elec tronic identification and e-signatures.9 Taking up the 
suggestion in the EU submission, several other Members shared information about their own regulations on electronic authentication, as well as any relevant provisions that had been included 
in their Preferential Trade Agreements. 
3.2.  The United States also introduced a new submission in November, addressing cross-border 
information flows, localization requirements, privacy protection, as well as cloud computing.
10 The 
submission was taken up again at the March meeting of the Council. The United States indicated 
that it was not proposing that new rules be developed or new commitments negotiated under the 
e-commerce Work Programme. Rather, the US submission was designed to engage Members in a dialogue and information-sharing exercise with regard to the issues it addressed, possibly via a 
dedicated discussion or a seminar. While several delegations underscored that no new 
commitments or disciplines could be negotiated under the e-commerce Work Programme, Members were generally amenable to engaging in an experience-sharing discussion, so long as 
this implied no normative or prescriptive content.  
3.3.  At the June meeting, two proposals were put forward. Chinese Taipei suggested that a 
workshop on trade policy issues related to e-co mmerce be organised under the auspices of the 
Council, and China suggested that Members embark on a structured information-sharing exercise, 
and add a standing sub-item to that effect on the Council's agenda. While stressing that the 
exercise it was proposing should be open-ended with respect to content and format, China suggested that challenges and implications for the participation of SMEs in e-commerce could be 
one topic of interest. Members generally welcomed both suggestions. One delegation reiterated 
that the Work Programme did not include a negotiat ing mandate. It was agreed that the Chairman 
would hold open-ended consultations to determine next steps on the two proposals made. 
3.4.  Chinese Taipei also submitted a communication  on the protection of personal information and 
the development of e-commerce in June.
11 Delegations generally welcomed the information 
provided, with many indicating that they were still analysing it. Nevertheless, a few Members sought further clarifications about the privacy pr otection framework adopted by Chinese Taipei.  
3.5.  Pursuant to the mandate, in the Bali Ministerial Decision, that the General Council periodically 
review progress with the Work Programme based on the reports submitted by the WTO bodies 
entrusted with its implementation, in November 2014 and in June 2015 the Council agreed that 
the Chairman would produce, under his own responsi bility, a factual report of the essence of the 
Council's discussion under that agenda item.
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4  RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADE IN SERVICES 
4.1.  Discussions under this agenda item continued at the November, March and June meetings of 
the Council, with TISA-participating Members keeping the Council updated on progress with their negotiations. Both TISA and non-TISA Members reiterated their earlier and unchanged positions about the initiative.
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8 Document S/C/W/358. 
9 The presentation was subsequently circulated in document JOB/SERV/197. 
10 Document JOB/SERV/196, subsequently re-issued as S/C/W/359. 
11 Document S/C/W/360. 
12 The reports are contained, respectively, in documents S/C/43 and S/C/45. 
13 While generally appreciative of the transparency  element of the updates, some Members expressed 
concerns about the TISA initiative, relating, inter alia, to its non-inclusive nature, its impact on multilateralism and the successful conclusions of the DDA negotiations. Furthermore, a few delegations questioned the relevance of this agenda item. TISA participants saw no contradiction between the TISA talks and the DDA 
negotiations. They noted that the two could be mutu ally supportive, that the TISA was developed to be 
compatible with the GATS, was intended to attract broad participation and could be multilateralized in the future. TISA participants continued to welcome the participation of all WTO Members who shared their S/C/W/364 
 
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  5  CERTAIN MEASURES RELATED TO THE REFORM OF THE UNIFIED GAS 
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM OF UKRAINE – STATEMENT BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION 
5.1.  At its November, March and June meetings, the Council addressed certain measures related 
to the reform of the Unified Gas Transportation Sy stem of Ukraine, at the request of the Russian 
Federation. The Council took note of the statements made by the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the 
Plurinational State of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Arge ntina and Cuba at the November meeting; the 
Russian Federation, Ukraine and Argentina at th e March meeting; and the Russian Federation, 
Ukraine, Argentina and Cuba at the June meeting. 
6  WORK OF THE SU BSIDIARY BODIES 
6.1.  The activities of the subsidiary bodies in 2015 are reflected in their respective reports, which 
are annexed to this report, as follows:  
 Annex I Report of the Committee on Trade in Financial Services (S/FIN/XX) 
 Annex II Report of the Committee on Specific Commitments (S/CSC/XX)  Annex III Report of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation (S/WPDR/XX) 
 Annex IV Report of the Working Party on GATS Rules (S/WPGR/XX). 
  
 
 
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objectives, and expressed their readiness to meet with any Member interested in obtaining more information 
about their initiative.