S/C/N/722  
 
13 February 2014  
(14-0896)  Page: 1/2  
Council for Trade in Services  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE III:3 
OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT 
ON TRADE IN SERVICES 
The following notification, dated 12 February 2014, from the delegation of the European Union, 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 2012. 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 
EU 
 2  NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 
Article III, paragraph 3 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. 
 3  DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE 
21 December 2014 (Directive). 
 21 June 2013 (Regulation) but with transitional third country regime. 
 
4  AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE MEASURE 
Member States of the EU. 
 
5  DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE 
Directive 2013/14/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 amending 
Directive 2003/41/EC on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement 
provision, Directive 2009/65/EC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) and 
Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Funds Managers in respect of over-reliance on 
credit ratings.  Regulation (EU) No 462/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 
amending Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on credit rating agencies. 
 The Transparency Directive foresees a number of notification thresholds for acquirers when they 
reach a certain stake in a listed company. Existing notification gaps have been closed by this 
amendment, which requires disclosure of major holdings of all financial instruments that could be S/C/N/722 
 
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  used to acquire economic interest in listed companies. Furthermore, the amendment abolishes the 
requirement to publish quarterly financial information.  The Regulation and the Directive aim to reduce overreliance on external ratings, requiring financial 
institutions to strengthen their own credit risk assessment and not to rely solely and mechanically on 
external credit ratings. The third country regime provided by the existing CRA Regulation remains unchanged. The concepts of equivalence and endorsement will continue to apply. To be equivalent, it 
is not necessary to have the same rules in place, only to have rules which achieve the same 
objectives. However, as these new rules strengthen the regulatory framework for CRAs, a transitional period has been introduced until 2018 to allow third countries to accommodate the new rules. If third countries do not strengthen their regimes, cross border provision of rating services 
may be not possible any more as of 2018.  
 6  MEMBERS SPECIFICALLY AFFECTED, IF ANY 
None 
 7  TEXT AVAILABLE FROM 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUri Serv.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:145:0001:0003:EN:PDF  
 
 
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