. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
S/WPDR/W/46 
10 October 2011 
 (11-4933) 
Working Party on Domestic Regulation  
  
 
- DRAFT - 
 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WORKING PARTY ON DOMESTIC REGULATION  
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES (2011) 
  
1. Since the Annual Report of 2010
1, the Working Party on Domestic Regulation (WPDR) held 
five formal meetings and several informal meetings.2 
2. In the period covered by this report, the Wo rking Party continued with its work on the 
development of a draft text of regulatory disciplines pursuant to GATS Article VI:4, as mandated by 
the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  Following the call by Members at the General Council 
meeting of December 2010 for renewed engageme nt across all areas of the Doha Development 
Agenda, the Working Party undertook an intensif ied phase of negotiations during the first quarter 
of 2011.  
3. A key point in the intensification of the pr ocess was the "sweeping exercise" of 10 and 
11 February 2011, in which Members undertook a pa ragraph by paragraph reading of the draft 
provisions contained in the Chair's March 2009 text3 and related proposals, with the aim of identifying 
parts of the draft that were stabilized, and those on  which further work would be required.  Following 
that exercise, which saw a reduction in the numb er of language options, three separate weeklong 
intensive drafting sessions were organised to furthe r resolve differences regarding the content and 
levels of ambition of the various  provisions.  The first session was held from 28 February to 4 March, 
the second was held from 7 to 10 March and the third from 4 to 8 April 2011. 
4. In these sessions, Members discussed and explored  language options for all the disciplines 
envisaged in the Chair's March 2009 text.  Proposals have also been submitted to add new paragraphs 
to the Chair's March 2009 text.   Considerable effort s were made in the intensive drafting sessions to 
identify areas where differences could be isolated by  introducing brackets into either the paragraphs 
of the Chair's March 2009 text or in an alte rnative language proposal.  All language proposals, 
submitted either in a written form or introduced or ally during the intensive phase of negotiations were 
contained in the Chairman's Consultative Note.4 
5. Members had constructive and engaged discussi ons during the intensified negotiations but 
were not in a position to agree on a revised text.  During the meeting of the Special Session of the 
Council for Trade in Services held on 15 April, th e Chairman of the Working Party on Domestic 
Regulation made a Progress Report under his own r esponsibility providing his assessment of the 
                                                      
1  S/WPDR/13 dated 8 November 2010. 
2 The reports of the meetings are contained in documents S/WPDR/M/47-51 and should be read in 
conjunction with this report.  Chair's summaries of informal meetings can be found in the RD/SERV/32, 45, 56 
and 57.  
3 Second Revision, Draft Disciplines on Domestic Regulation Pursuant to GATS Article VI.4, Informal 
Note by the Chairman, Room Document, 20 March 2009. 
4 RD/SERV/46/Rev.2.  This Note included language proposals up to 23 March 2011.  S/WPDR/W/46 
Page 2  
 
  overall situation.  Various views were expressed by Members on the Chairman's Progress Report.
5  
These views are reflected in the Report by the Chairman of the Special Session to the Trade 
Negotiations Committee and recorded in the minutes of that meeting.6 
6. Subsequent meetings of the Working Party in  July and September have focused on discussing 
how future work on domestic regulation disciplin es would be conducted, as well as the topics for 
discussion.   The Chairman has requested Member s to submit their ideas on this matter and will hold 
further consultations, as appropriate.  
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5 S/WPDR/W/45. 
6 TN/S/36 and TN/S/M/42.