. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/FIN/M/51 
24 February 2006 
 
 (06-0785) 
Committee on Trade in Financial Services  
  
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 7 FEBRUARY 2006 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
  1. The Committee on Trade in Financial Services held a meeting on 7 February 2006, under the 
Chairmanship of Mr. Guido Kemmerling (Germany ).  The agenda is contained in airgram 
WTO/AIR/2749.  
A. A
CCEPTANCE OF THE FIFTH PROTOCOL TO THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN 
SERVICES EMBODYING THE RESULTS OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS  
2. The Chairperson  recalled that three WTO Members had yet to accept the Fifth Protocol:  
Brazil, Jamaica, and the Philippines.  He invited these Members to provide information on the status 
of their domestic processes. 
3. The representatives of Brazil  and the Philippines  said that the ratification of the Protocol was 
still undergoing due legislative process and it was impossible to indicate at this stage a definite timeframe for the acceptance of the Protocol.   
4. The Chairperson
 encouraged the three Members con cerned to accelerate the internal 
procedures for the acceptance of the Protocol and to keep the Committee informed of any progress.   
5. The Committee took note  of the statements made and decided  to revert to this agenda item at 
the next meeting. 
B. TECHNICAL ISSUES  
6. The Chairperson  recalled that that at the previous meeting the Committee had continued its 
consideration of Brazil's communication on "Electronic commerce and financial services" 
(JOB(05)/103).  During the debate, the suggestion was made for the Chairperson to conduct informal 
consultations on the proposal to invite the inte rnational standard-setting organizations to share 
information with the Committee on their work in this ar ea.  As agreed at that time, if the Chairperson 
saw that there was an emerging consensus among the mo st interested delegations on this matter, then 
he would consider, as a second step, to have a broa der consultation with all Members with a view to 
taking a final decision and discussing organizati onal matters.  Following that mandate, the 
Chairperson had bilateral consultations with a numb er of delegations, in the course of which he got 
the impression that the proposal had substantial s upport, but a consensus was not possible at this 
stage.  As long as this situation did not change, it seemed premature to him – and not very productive 
– to organize a broader consultation.  He suggested that the Chairperson make another effort to seek 
consensus by holding bilateral consu ltations at an appropriate time. 
                                                      
1  This document has been prepared  under the Secretariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. S/FIN/M/51 
Page 2  
 
  7. The representative of Thailand
 agreed to the suggestion made by the Chairperson to consult 
further with various Members.  The agenda item on technical issues had been dormant for a while 
until Brazil submitted the paper on modes 1 and 2.  In her view, it was in the interest of Members to learn more about this issue.  The Basel Committe e on Banking Supervision, through its cross-border 
banking group, had conducted some work on cross- border e-banking supervision, and this included 
possible indicators that could help supervisor s distinguish between modes 1 and 2 in case the 
commitments in these two modes were different.  She said that market access in highly regulated sectors, such as financial services, could hard ly be separated from regulatory and supervisory 
considerations, especially when laws in the area of  cross-border e-banking we re still evolving in many 
countries.  The intention behind this proposal wa s to promote a better unde rstanding among Geneva-
based negotiators of cross-border trade in financ ial services.  A similar event had been organized 
outside the formal meeting of the Committee in 2001.  She was perplexed by the strong resistance to the idea shown by some Members, thereby creating the impression that getting more commitments in modes 1 and 2 was not a priority in this round of  negotiations.  Finally, she considered that the 
proposal to invite international standard setting organizations was highly relevant.  
8. The Committee took note
 of the statements made, and agreed that the Chairperson would hold 
another round of bilateral consultati ons on this issue, at an appropriate time, with the aim of reaching 
consensus.  The Committee decided  to revert to this agenda item at the next meeting.  
C. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES TRADE  
9. No interventions were made under this agenda item. 
10. The Committee decided  to revert to this item at the next meeting.  
D. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING  
11. The Committee agreed  to hold its next meeting during the next cluster of services meetings.  
The exact date would be announced in due course.   
E. APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW CHAIRPERSON  
12. The Chairman  said that according to the Rules of Procedures, the Committee should elect its 
Chairperson at the first meeting of the year, effectiv e at the end of the meeting.  However, given that 
the consultation on that matter by the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Services had not yet 
finished, he suggested that the formal election of  the Committee's Chair for this year and the hand-
over take place at the beginning of the next m eeting, right after the adoption of the agenda. 
13. The Committee so decided . 
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