WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
S/CSC/M/63 
13 July 2012 
 (12-3763) 
Committee on Specific Commitments   
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 25 JUNE 2012 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
1. The Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) he ld a meeting on 25 June 2012, chaired by 
Mr. Rodrigo Bardoneschi from Argentina.   
2. The Chairman said that, under Other Business, he would inform the Committee that at the 
next meeting, the International Trade Statistics Section of the WTO would make a presentation on 
important changes brought into the new IMF Balan ce of Payments Manual (BPM6) with a focus on 
manufacturing services.  
3. The representative of Australia said that her delegation would propose that the Committee 
undertake a review of the effectiveness of the procedures under Article XXI of the GATS.    
4. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/3960, was adopted as modified.  
A. C LASSIFICATION ISSUES  
1. Presentation by the Corporate Secreta riat International Association (CSIA) 
5. The Chairman noted that the CSIA was an in ternational organization representing corporate 
secretaries and governance professionals; its members were national/geographical bodies of 
governance professionals.  The CSIA had been contacting the WTO since last year proposing that 
"Corporate Governance, Compliance and Secretarial Advisory Services" be added to the list of 
professional services in W/120, as these services were not explicitly mentioned therein.  Knowing that the WTO was a Member-driven organization, the CS IA had requested an opportunity to present its 
proposal at the Committee's meeting.  At the last me eting, Members had been consulted on this matter 
and there had been no objection to this request.  The CSIA proposal had been circulated to Members 
before this meeting.   He then  invited the representative of the CSIA to make the presentation.  
6. The representative of the CSIA thanked WTO Members for giving his association the 
opportunity to make the presentation.  Launched at  the World Bank Paris headquarters on 22 March 
2010, the CSIA was an internati onal federation of professional bodies promoting best practices in 
corporate governance, compliance and secretarial advi sory services.  The CSIA membership currently 
consisted of 18 national representative organisations and continued to gr ow rapidly.  It was recognised 
by the OECD as the global voice of corporate secretaries and governance professionals and its 
representatives sit on the OECD corporate govern ance roundtables. The OECD and the Global 
Corporate Governance Forum (a World Bank/Intern ational Finance Corporation initiative) were 
supporting organisations of the CSIA. He noted that  the corporate secretarial profession shared many 
characteristics with the secretary bird ( sagittarius serpentarius ), such as alertness (to potential 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. S/CSC/M/63 
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  problems); ability to spot and successfully prey on sn akes (bad governance); be ing vigilant; mates for 
life (loyalty); and fiercely protective of its territory (high ethical standards).  Corporate secretaries and governance were not a new profession, but could be tr aced back to centuries ago.   It was estimated 
that there were more than 250,000 people, in over 100 countries, currently employed in this proposed new sector, and that the services provided by these i ndividuals represented (conservatively) more than 
US$36 billion of the world’s annual revenues.   
7. The CSIA proposed to introduce a separate head ing for this profession in the GATS services 
classification - the Services Sectoral Classification List (W/120).  This would facilitate the official recognition of the governance professional and enc ourage a free flow of corporate governance 
practices, processes and ideas.  It would be ai ded by the movement of governance professionals 
between jurisdictions which, in turn, would help  standardise best governance practices and services 
via increased competition.  The transfer of knowle dge between countries and jurisdictions would be 
enhanced as governance professionals exported and imported their services. Best practices and 
standards could be shared among countries.  An increase in the import and export of corporate 
secretarial and governance services would promote trade in services internationally.  Using historical 
data, one could predict that business volume in th e corporate governance, compliance and secretarial 
services sector could increase between 5% and 10%, especially in the trust and company services 
sectors. Using the conservative global gross revenue figures given for the sector, a 5% rise in business 
volume for such services would equate to an annua l increase of US$1.5 billion in revenues produced 
by the sector the first year after its recognition.   Creating the proposed new sector heading would 
provide a broader range of choices and more oppor tunities for both importers and exporters of 
services in this sector.  Increasing demand for the services of corporate secretaries and governance 
professionals would boost employment, create opportun ities for international tie-ups and partnerships, 
fix the fragmented governance, and bring corporate governance services up to the same standards as 
expected of other global services.    
8. W/120 had been drawn up in 1991 with the caveat that it "could be subject to further 
modification in the light of develo pments in the services negotiati ons and ongoing work elsewhere".  
Corporate secretarial and governance services had e xpanded enormously since 1991.  They might 
overlap with certain services specified in W/12 0, such as legal services, taxation services, 
management consulting services or financial service s.  However, corporate secretarial and governance 
services had unique aspects that were not covered in other sectors, such as secretariat audit, 
compliance audit, corporate governance advisory servi ces, and could be listed as a separate heading in 
the classification, for example, under "Other" category of professional services in W/120.   Existing 
commitments could also be clarified to this e ffect.  The CSIA was willing to work with WTO 
Members on this issue in the future.     
9. The representative of Hong Kong, China noted from the CSIA presentation that corporate 
secretarial and governance services had undergon e significant development in the context of 
globalization.  He looked forward to future discussi on in order to have a better understanding of these 
services. He asked whether corporate secretaries were actually accredited and regulated in a way 
similar to other professionals, such as engineers,  accountants, and whether between CSIA member 
institutions there existed mutual recognition agreem ents or arrangements to recognize each other's 
corporate secretaries and governance professionals so as to facilitate international mobility for the 
supply of services.  He also wished to know more about how corporate secretarial and governance 
services were usually provided: through the moveme nt of individual professionals (mode 4), or 
through contractual services delivered cross-borde r (mode 1).  Being not  exhaustive, the GATS 
services classification scheme was intended to f acilitate the undertaking of specific commitments 
rather than limit Members' ability to do so.  Wh ether Members could agree to having a new category 
for corporate secretarial and governance services should not prevent regulators from acknowledging 
the existence of these services.    S/CSC/M/63 
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  10.  The representative of China thanked the CSIA for its presentation and appreciated the 
organization's persistent efforts in promoting go od corporate governance and enhancing the profile of 
relevant professions.  He noted that according to the CSIA’s analysis, services related to corporate governance provided 250,000 job opportunities all over th e world.  For example, by the end of 2011, 
2,342 companies were listed on China's domestic stoc k exchange market; and, in turn, a total of 166 
domestically incorporated Chinese companies had been listed in overseas market by the end of 2010.  
These attracted a lot of professionals specialized in  corporate governance, compliance and secretarial 
advisory services.  Recognizing the importance of lib eralization, recognition and cooperation in this 
important sector, China believed that the professionals  concerned, together with other intermediaries, 
facilitated the smooth operation of China’s securiti es market.  As a preliminary response, China 
thought the CSIA proposal to be relevant and a good reference for future work in this regard.  China 
was willing to work with other Members in exploring the way forward.   
11. While appreciating the interest in having a specific sectoral classification for corporate 
governance, compliance and secretarial advisory services,  the representative of Australia believed that 
the existing services sectoral classification was broad enough to include the elem ents contained in the 
CSIA proposal.  She referred in particular to "management consulting services" and "legal services".  
Australia already had commitments on a range of ser vices supplied by corporate secretaries, but it was 
open to further discussions on this issue, particul arly the identification of specific services that 
Members believed might not already be captured by  the W/120 and CPC.  If the objective of the CSIA 
was to raise the profile of the profession in the WTO,  perhaps there were other ways to do so without 
altering classification.  For example, Members who had not made commitments in services such as 
"management consulting services" might wish to make limited specific commitments on corporate 
governance, i.e. CPC86501 only in relation to corporate governance, should hose Members not feel comfortable with making broader commitm ents on management consulting services. 
12. The representative of Nigeria endorsed the need for future work in the Committee on the issue 
raised by the CSIA, in particular the adequacy  of the GATS classification scheme in addressing 
corporate secretarial and governance services.  A seminar would be helpful for Members to share 
experiences and get further information about these ser vices.  In some countries certain legal services 
could also be provided by corporate governance professionals.  Therefore, one way to address 
corporate governance services might be to see how  these were handled under various regulatory 
regimes.  
13. The representative of India noted that the CSIA presentation helped Members better 
understand the corporate governance profession.  Re cognizing its importance, India was examining 
the CSIA proposal and looked forward to exploring ways to work with Members on this subject.   
14. The representative of Zimbabwe, while supporting further discussion on the CSIA proposal, 
sought more information about sectoral regulations in this area.  
15. The representative of Malaysia said that as a member of the CSIA, the industry of corporate 
governance in her country had a keen interest in th is area.  Malaysia had undertaken commitments in 
legal, accountancy, taxation and management consu lting services.  The CSIA proposal merited further 
discussion in the Committee to have a better unders tanding of the overlap between these services and 
corporate governance. 
16. In responding to the question about how corporate governance was regulated, the 
representative of the CSIA said that this depended on the jurisdictions concerned.  Some jurisdictions 
(e.g. India) required specific qualifications for co rporate secretaries, while others (e.g. Hong Kong 
China) recognized qualifications obtained from ce rtain existing bodies.  In the United States, 
corporate secretaries tended to be lawyers specialized in that particular area.  Corporate secretarial and 
governance services could be supplied through both m ode 4 and mode 1.  I ndividuals who served as S/CSC/M/63 
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  corporate secretaries for large multinational organiza tions were recognized in different jurisdictions.  
Meanwhile some corporate governance services, whic h had been traditionally provided by corporate 
secretaries within a company, were outsourced.  As to how to address the overlap with certain existing services in the GATS classification, one option w as to clarify or expand those services.   
17. The Chairman thanked the CSIA for its presenta tion which had aroused the interest of some 
delegations.  He encouraged those Members who had suggested conducting further work in the 
Committee to submit specific proposals on how to continue the discussion. 
2. Chairman's Report on Informal Consulta tions Regarding the Classification of 
Computer and Related Services, Telecomm unications and Audiovisual Services. 
18. The Chairman said that his report, containe d in JOB/SERV/101, had been circulated to 
Members on 11 June 2012.  As indicated in the an notated agenda, the report had been prepared to 
ensure transparency of the exercise.  It theref ore attempted to be factual and faithfully reflect 
delegations' views expressed on various issues relevant  to the sectors.  Also, Members had agreed that 
the exercise was future-oriente d, with the assumption that a better understanding of services 
classifications would facilitate negotiations.  There was no intention to revise W/120 or to affect 
existing commitments.   The discussion on these three sectors sh ould not be considered conclusive 
since there were outstanding elements which might  benefit from further discussions.  Members might 
come back to these and any other i ssues at any time in the Committee. 
19. The representative of Japan noted that the Chairman's report was comprehensive and 
informative, covering various important aspects.  It was appropriate to finalize the discussion on 
classification issues in CRS, telecommunications and audiovisual services.  
20. The representative of Brazil stressed that the ongoing discussion on classification issues had 
no bearing on existing commitments and was not aimed at revising W/120.  The agreed objectives and 
boundaries were unambiguously reflected in the Chai rman's report. It also presented a balanced 
description of Members' various views, including those of his delegation.  
21. The representative of Turkey noted that the Committee's discussions on the classification 
issues regarding CRS, telecommunications and audi ovisual services had highlighted the question of 
whether W/120 was still relevant in reflecting mark et realities and technological changes in these 
sectors.  Due to technological developments some  services had become obsolete, “new” services or 
means of service supply had emerge d and certain services had increasingly converged.  In turn, these 
developments might have rendered W/ 120 less relevant in ensuring legal certainty about the scope of 
services.   
22. Turkey agreed that technological advances mi ght create a degree of confusion about the 
boundaries of the activities falling under these specific sectors when different services were supplied 
in a converged manner.  For instance, both CRS and audiovisual services could be provided through 
telecommunication networks.  Turkey's appr oach in distinguishing these services from 
telecommunications was to consider the “transmi ssion” activity and the “content” being transmitted 
separately.  Turkey defined telecommunications (or electronic communications as referred to in 
Turkey's legislation) as the "transmission, exchange  and receiving of all kinds of signals, symbols, 
sounds, images and data which could be converted into electrical signals by means of cable, radio, 
optic, electric, magnetic, electromagnetic, electroch emical, electromechanical and other types of 
transmission systems".  Thus, whether the content w as a CRS, audiovisual service, financial service or 
else, the telecommunication activity involved solely the transmission of the content.  From the point 
of classification, while the delivery of such service s combined more than one service activity, these 
activities could be referred to under separate service sectors of W/120.  Therefore, Turkey agreed with 
the view that, when several services were combined  in delivery, a practical approach to ensuring  S/CSC/M/63 
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  market access depended on guarant eeing consistent commitments in Members' schedules across the 
relevant service sectors and modes of delivery.   
23. In addition, Turkey believed that, where the relevance of W/120 was under serious question, 
the scope of services could be clarified by a common understanding of Members on the sectoral 
coverage, as exemplified by the Understanding on the Scope  of Coverage of CPC 84.    
24. Although scheduling guidelines, interpretative not es or understandings on sectoral coverage 
helped clarify the scope of commitments and t hus increased legal certainty, the use of such 
supplementary approaches was at each country’s di scretion.  Ultimately, each Member had the right 
to define the sectoral coverage of a service that it scheduled as long as it was clearly defined.   
25. The Chairman’s Note on Scheduling Basic Telecom Services Commitments (Chairman's 
Note) had introduced the principle of technological neutrality in the supply of basic 
telecommunication services, among other important prin ciples.  Together with the W/120, it provided 
for a certain degree of flexibility in the interpreta tion of sectoral coverage of basic telecommunication 
services.  With respect to its applicability to a Me mber’s Schedule, it might be assumed that "unless 
otherwise specified, the Chairman’s Note applies to  a Member’s Schedule since it is attached to the 
Scheduling Guidelines".  However, given that th e Chairman's Note was not legally binding, a 
preferable approach would be, in a schedule, an e xplicit reference to this Note or to the categories 
mentioned therein. 
26. The representative of Indonesia congratulated  the Chairman on his comprehensive and 
balanced report.  He sought clarification, concerning paragraph 12, on the methodology of 
distinguishing between enabling and enabled services.   
27. The representative of India thanked the Chairman for his comprehensive and factual report, in 
particular for including the confirmative language th at the current exercise was future-oriented and 
did not affect existing commitments.  He also noted  the Chairman's statement that the discussion was 
not conclusive and that Members could come back  to any issue at any time in the Committee.  
28. The Chairman suggested that the Committ ee take note of statements made.  
3. Energy Services 
29. Turning to energy services, the Chairman recalled that the Committee had examined 
classification issues related to this sector at its last  meeting.  To assist the discussion, the Secretariat 
had presented an informal Note (JOB/SERV/94) which had raised specific questions, such as the coverage of energy-related sectors in W/120, the distinction between trade in goods and trade in 
services, and classification of clean energy service s.  The summary of the discussion at the last 
meeting, contained in JOB/SERV/96, had been circul ated under the Chairman's responsibility.  It had 
been agreed that the Committee would con tinue the discussion at this meeting.   
30. The Committee then informally discussed classification issues relevant to energy services. 
31. At the end of the discussion, noting that some Members had expressed their intention to come 
back with further comments, the Chairman suggest ed that the Committee continue to discuss this 
sector at its next meeting. S/CSC/M/63 
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  4. Climate-related Services 
32. The Chairman recalled that at the last meeting,  the Committee had requested the Secretariat to 
prepare a Note aiming at identifying climate-related services.  Pursuant to this request, an informal 
Note (JOB/SERV/100) had been prepared and circulated to facilitate discussion. 
33. The representative of the Secretariat noted that a broad range of services related, directly or 
indirectly, to the implementation of climate chan ge policies.  Some services might facilitate the 
implementation of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission reduction and other climate mitigation measures; 
other services might be needed to adapt to the soci etal and environmental effects of climate change.  
Classification instruments commonly used by Members did not contain a specific category for climate-related services.  The Secretariat Note provided an overview of the studies by some 
institutions (OECD, ICTSD and WMO) and raised qu estions in three aspects: (a) Services relate to 
climate change policies in many ways, and a firs t challenge might be to determine criteria to 
circumscribe and identify climate-related services th at Members want to focus on; (b) Once criteria 
were agreed upon and climate-related services iden tified, it might be necessary to determine where 
these services were classified in W/120 and the CPC Provisional; (c) Finally, there was the question 
of how to deal with services having different end- uses.  Questions raised were only suggestive and 
Members were encouraged to raise any other points or issues. 
34. While the discussion took place in informal m ode, the representative of Saudi Arabia 
requested that his intervention be reflected in this report.  In Saudi Arabia's view, there was a prior 
question which the Committee should address first: was it really worthwhile to embark on the 
classification of the so-called climate-related services when discussions on environmental services 
had made no progress, and when the overlap with these services – especially environmental services – 
was inevitably so large? Would it not be better to address seriously the recognized issues in the 
classification of environmental services than to invent another category? The Secretariat Note described the enormous range of services necess ary for the deployment of climate-mitigation 
technologies.  This suggested that a new category was not helpful in promoting clear and liberal 
GATS commitments, for which was already covered unde r environmental and other relevant services.  
Such work on the so-called clim ate change services was ill-invested and should be dropped in any 
future work of this Committee.  Members s hould focus on environmental services where no progress 
had been made. 
35. Noting that delegations had expressed interest in continuing the discussion on climate-related 
services, the Chairman suggested th at the Committee revert to this topic at its next meeting.  
36. Before concluding this agenda item, th e Chairman informed the Committee of the 
consultations he had held on how to organize the wo rk on classification issues for the rest of the year. 
In the Annotated Agenda, it was suggested that in  the following meetings the Committee examine 
services involved in the logistics chain.  The tentative plan was to start the consideration of postal and 
courier services as well as distribution services at the meeting in October, and add transport and 
logistics services to the agenda for the meeting in December.  He noted that the examination of CRS, 
telecommunication and audiovisual services had c onsisted of general di scussions in Committee 
meetings and more focused consid erations in small groups.  At Members' request, the small group 
consultations had taken place during th e cluster in order to facilitate the participation of capital-based 
sectoral experts.  With respect to energy and environment services, including climate-related services, Members also needed to consider  the need for further discussions in small groups and whether these 
should take place during a services cluster. 
37. The representative of Australia found the sectoral di scussions to date very useful and looked 
forward to future discussions on postal and cour ier services, distribution services, transport and 
logistics services.  Recognizing that there were many complex issues in relation to scheduling  S/CSC/M/63 
 Page 7 
 
 
  commitments in a range of sectors, Australia appreciated the work of the Secretariat in posing 
questions to generate discussion.  Those questi ons were thought-provoking and often sparked lengthy 
debates back in capital, so the timing of the sectoral  discussion should be driven by the availability of 
background papers well in advance of the meeting.  
38. The representative of Saudi Arabia reiterated that if there was any discussion on so-called 
climate-related services, it should be under environmental services.   
39. The representative of China supported the work programme outlined by the Chairman.  China 
was interested in taking part in the small-gr oup discussion which would facilitate capital-based 
officials' participation if scheduled during a services cluster.   
40. The representative of New Zealand echoed the statement made by Australia on timely 
circulation of documents to allow for consultati ons.  Supporting the work programme suggested by 
the Chairman, she understood that environmental se rvices and climate-related services were intended 
to be taken together for further cons ideration in the small-group.     
41. The Chairman suggested that  the Committee proceed with the work programme he had 
outlined and revert to this agenda item at its next meeting.    
42. It was so agreed. 
B. SCHEDULING ISSUES  
43. The Chairman recalled that the Committee ha d examined scheduling issues related to 
economic needs tests (ENTs) for mode 4 in the past few meetings.  Members had shared the 
observation that most ENT-related entries in schedules, including most labour market tests under mode 4, were inconsistent with the Scheduling Guidelines and needed to be specified.  It had been 
commonly understood that lack of transparency on the operation of ENTs undermined the 
predictability of commitments.  Members had b een urged to follow the Scheduling Guidelines 
(S/L/92) which provided that ENT-related entries in schedules should indicate the main criteria on 
which the test was based.  In previous discussions, the Committee had also briefly addressed the distinction between measures in the form of ENTs and regulatory measures that fell within the scope 
of Article VI of the GATS.  It had been pointed out  that the legal status of unspecified ENT entries 
might need to be clarified in light of Article XVI of the GATS.  However, it appeared that the appetite 
for further exploring this topic was fading.  Member s were invited to consider how to move forward 
under this item  
44. The representative of India noted that his dele gation had made detailed contributions on this 
topic in the past meetings.  Believing that this w as an important issue and that discussion had not been 
exhaustive yet, he looked forward to Members' contribution.   
45. The Chairman suggested that the Committee take  note of the comments made and revert to 
this item at its next meeting. 
46. It was so agreed. 
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
47.  The Chairman said that it had been agreed  that the Committee should be informed on a 
regular basis of changes and developments in services classifications.  The WTO Statistics team 
would make a presentation to the Committee on the new IMF Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) 
on trade in services statistics and its implica tions.  Given that the new Manual brought along S/CSC/M/63 
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  important changes to the services classification, this  topic might need to be addressed over more than 
one Committee meeting. The first presentation w ould be made at the next meeting focusing on 
changes concerning manufacturing services on a contract basis as well as maintenance and repair services. 
48. The representative of Australia noted that the terms of reference for the Committee involved 
overseeing the application of the procedures for GAT S Article XXI on the modification of schedules. 
This Committee had been instrumental in drafting re levant procedures, namely the Procedures for the 
Implementation of Article XXI (S/L/80) which had been adopted in July 1999 and the Procedures for 
the Certification of Rectifications or Improveme nts to Schedules of Specific Commitments (S/L/84) 
adopted in April 2000.  When these procedures had initially been agreed, it had been foreseen that 
they should be reviewed after thr ee years.  Australia had a systemic interest in Article XXI procedures 
from both a legal and policy perspective.  It had notified its interest as an "affected Member" on a 
number of occasions, but had not invoked Article XXI on its behalf to date.  Indeed, the process had 
been used on only five occasions since 1995.  Memb ers' experiences on those occasions had revealed 
a number of potential flaws.  Uncertainty existe d regarding how compensation should be calculated 
and when the modifying Member was to implemen t the agreed compensati on.  Uncertainty also 
existed about the entry into force of negotiated commi tments.  There had been significant time lags at 
each stage of the process, concerning both negotiation and entry into force.  Several of the five cases 
remained open, years after Members had invoked th em.  Australia wanted to ensure the relevant 
Article XXI procedures were sufficiently robust to av oid the pitfalls it had experienced as an "affected 
Member" in negotiations utilising the procedures.  It was interested in hearing from Members who 
had experience in notifying modified schedules.  There might be value in the Committee undertaking 
a review of the effectiveness of the procedures now  after they had been utilised several times.   
49. The Chairman encouraged Australia to submit its  proposal in writing and suggested that the 
Committee take note of the statements made.  He then adjourned the meeting. 
 
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