RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/W/61 
2 April 2007 
 
 (07-1344) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session Original:   English 
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM SWITZERLAND 
 
Temporary Admission of Installers and Maintainers under the GATS: A Case for  
Mode 4 Commitments  
 
  The following communication, dated 30 March 2007, from the delegation of Switzerland, is 
being circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services.  
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I. RATIONALE FOR EXPEDITED PROCEDURES UNDER MODE 4 FOR 
“INSTALLERS AND MAINTAINERS” 
1. The purpose of the present communication is to  enhance the understanding of the rationale 
and scope for undertaking horizontal commitments fo r the category of persons of "Installers and 
Maintainers" under mode 4. 
2. High-tech machinery is one of Switzerland's major export items representing close to one 
quarter of total exports in 2004. Machines and industry equipment are getting more and more 
sophisticated including elements of various technologies such as hydraulics, electronics, laser-techniques, etc. each of them calling for highly specialised knowledge. Hen ce, the installation of 
machines relies nowadays on interdisciplinary teams to  master complex and interrelated problems. It 
is not possible anymore for one single person to cope with all these fields of technological 
specialisation. Moreover, time is money: not only the ability to deliver just-in-time is an important 
factor to secure contracts, but wages and the ma chine utilisation rate are in many areas of production 
among the major cost-factors. Therefore, manufacturer s (industrial plants) strive to take any action 
that allows them to minimise stand-still times. Produc tion around the clock, seven days a week is not 
an exception but the rule. 
3. When industry buys these high-tech machines, it is currently not sufficient to convince the 
buyer of the performance of the machine itself; in addition, various services become an indispensable 
integral part of the deal. These are: installation a nd maintenance of the machine by the builder, repair 
within short notice as well as continuous improvement of the functioning. Given the high cost 
implications of machine breakdowns, manufacturers try to secure risk sharing with the machine 
builder. This implies that as long as the builder re pairs the machine within a contractually fixed time 
period – sometimes less than 24 hours – the manufact urer bears the costs of forgone production, but 
once this time is outrun, the builder is subject to penalties. 
4. Entry regimes for installers and maintainers of machinery and industrial equipment is liberal 
in many countries. Many national regimes provi de for facilitated entry conditions, often under a 
special category of persons. TN/S/W/61 
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  5. The Secretariat’s note JOB(03)/195 recognises “Installers and Maintainers” as a category of 
its own. From the discussions carried out in the Council for Trade in Services, Switzerland is aware 
that some Members have different views on whether "Installers and Maintainer s" require a category of 
their own. 
II. MEETING INDUSTRY NEEDS BY CREATING A (SUB-)CATEGORY OF PERSONS 
FOR "INSTALLERS AND MAINTAINERS" UNDER MODE 4 
6. With its request for "Installers and Maintainer s", Switzerland would like to ensure that above 
mentioned industry requirements can be met. This is why it has thoroughly worked on the definition and scope of this category of persons, keeping it deliberately narrow in order to allow a broadest 
possible acceptance of taking commitments in this  area taking into account the economic necessities 
as well as the immigration policies' view points. The proposed scheduling in paragraph 8 reflects a 
minimal common ground that can, of course, be e xpanded or fine-tuned to respond to individual 
Members' specificities. It shall also be highlighted that we are focusing on the provision of a service under mode 4 that is de-linked from mode 3. 
7. In order to ensure that the industry requirement for installers and maintainers  is met, 
Switzerland has come to the conclusion that this (sub-)category of persons needs a definition and 
conditions of its own .  
8. Another rationale for having a (s ub-)category for "Installers and Maintainers" of its own is 
that there is not a perfect correspondence between  installation and maintenance of machinery or 
industrial equipment and any single CPC category. This  is even more so if after-sales services and 
training of technical staff are included. Therefore,  securing appropriate Mode 4 specific commitments 
within specific sectoral commitments by Members do es not seem to be a promising avenue to address 
the issue. Moreover, conditions of admissions usua lly found for other categories of persons are not 
sufficiently straightforward to guarantee entry with in the required window of time. To overcome these 
hurdles, Switzerland proposes to undertake a horizontal  commitment with a precise and limited scope 
that allows installers and maintainers to access the market even in  cases where no specific 
commitments have been undertaken in the relevant services sectors. 
III. PROPOSED HORIZONTAL COMMITMENT FOR THE (SUB-)CATEGORIES OF 
"INSTALLERS AND MAINTAINERS" 
9. Switzerland proposes to Members to undertake a commitment under the Mode 4 part of the 
schedule along the following lines : 
"Qualified specialists supplying installation or maintenance services for 
machinery or industrial equipment. Th e supply of that service has to occur 
on a fee or contractual basis (installation/ maintenance contract) between the builder of the machinery or equipm ent and the owner of that machinery 
or equipment, both of them being juridical persons. Temporary entry is granted for periods of stay of no more than 90 days." 
Such commitment should be undertaken under its  own category or, alternatively, under a sub-
category of a broader category, in order to allow for appropriate conditions of temporary entry and 
stay. 
10. The main elements of definition  are as follows:  
− the buyer (usually the manufacturer) and the seller (builder) are both juridical persons 
− the supply of the service occurs on a fee or contractual basis, and 
− the service provided (and the contract) are linked to an identifiable piece of machinery or 
industrial equipment.  TN/S/W/61 
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  11. The main thrust of the conditions  should be that entry should not be made conditional on 
fulfilling specific qualification requirements, pr ior employment requirements or experience . The 
builder should be in a position do decide upon th e composition of the team on a very short notice. 
12. Switzerland has made its own offer to introduce the category of "Installers and Maintainers" 
under its horizontal commitments under mode 4 (see Annex). For the sake of transparency, we 
provide Members with a list of services sectors containing either the word "installation", 
"maintenance" or "repair" that are not within th e scope of our offer: construction work (CPC 51); 
construction (CPC 52); sale, mainte nance and repair services of motor vehicles and motorcycles (CPC 
61); retail trade services; repair services of pers onal and household goods  (CPC 63); as well as 
architecture, engineering and other technical services (CPC 867). However, it is not our intention to 
suggest that other Members could not opt for a much broader scope in their of fers (e.g. general after 
sales/ after lease services). 
IV. PARTICULAR SITUATIONS OF BUYER-SELLER RELATIONSHIPS 
13. Builder/owner relationship is not always stra ightforward. Three situations may occur:  
(a) The physical transfer of the machine may not  necessarily coincide with the transfer of 
ownership. Often, indeed, the installation of the machine is taking place at a moment 
where the ownership is still with the builder. In many cases, the moment of transfer is 
fixed in the contract between the buyer and the seller.  
(b) Especially in developing countries enterp rises actually do not fully disburse their 
purchase but use financial leasing services from their banks. In this case, the owner would probably be the bank.  
(c) We have highlighted the importance for installe rs and maintainers to rapidly intervene on 
site. Export of machinery and industrial equipment is a global business and it may therefore be that the builder is established far away from the site. In this case, the builder 
will probably not sent his own personnel for the installation of the machinery or 
industrial equipment but will have to rely – esp ecially for repair – on other arrangements. 
These may be specialists of a regional bran ch, joint-venture or a separate company 
having close ties with the builder materialised  through the personnel being trained by the 
builder and a long-term contract. It may also be an agent on representation.  
At this juncture, it is worth recalling, that th e two main conditions mentioned in the proposal 
are 1) the involved parties must be juridical pers ons, and 2) the service supply (e.g. repair) must be 
based on the contract related to the sale of machin e. It is in the light of these two criteria that 
situations such as a) to c) above are addressed. 
V. CONCLUSION 
14. With this contribution, Switzerland strives to demonstrate that in order to respond to business 
needs, installers and maintainers need conditions th at allow them to be rapidly on the spot, and that 
such conditions indeed are being granted under sta ndard immigration practices. This requirement, 
strongly suggests a definition and conditions of their own, whether this be under a separate own 
category or with a separate heading unde r any other broader mode 4 category. 
15. To conclude, undertaking commitments for "I nstallers and Maintainers" as proposed by 
Switzerland should be a priority for Members. 
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