. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/WPDR/M/39 
10 December 2008 
 (08-6082) 
Working Party on Domestic Regulation  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 26 NOVEMBER 2008 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
  
1. The Working Party on Domestic Regulati on (WPDR) held its 39th meeting on 
26 November 2008.  The meeting was chaired by Mr . Peter Govindasamy of Singapore.  The agenda 
for the meeting was contained in Airgra m WTO/AIR/3283, dated 13 November 2008. 
2. No points were raised under "Other Business". 
A. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN 
 SERVICES 
3. The Chairman
 drew Members' attention to the draf t annual report (document S/WPDR/W/41), 
which was factual in nature and referred only to ev ents that had taken place in formal session.   
4. The Working Party adopted the Annual Report. 
B. DEVELOPMENT OF REGULATORY DISCIPLINES UNDER GATS ARTICLE VI:4 
 - REPORT FROM THE CHAIRPERSON AND DISCUSSION OF FUTURE WORK 
5. The Chairman  reported that the Working Party had held  one round of informal consultations 
since its last formal meeting in June 2008.  Du ring these consultations, view s had been exchanged on 
issues raised by delegations with regard to the revised draft text; and a second round of discussions 
had taken place on several outstanding issues that the Chair ha d identified in March 2008.  His overall 
sense from these meetings was that there were a few critical issues on which delegations would 
ultimately need to make compromises, but that also a number of issues existed on which he had 
observed a good degree of convergence. 
6. After the summer break, he had consulted with several delegations on any work that might be 
done, but due to very limited appetite  for work, he had ultimately deci ded not to call any meetings.  
Looking ahead, he believed that there was a shared recognition that while the original mandate in Article VI:4 was not tied to the fate of the broade r trade negotiations, progress in the Working Party's 
development of horizontal disciplines was in reality  inextricably linked to progress in other areas of 
the Doha Development Agenda.  He recalled that se veral issues remained to be addressed:  firstly, 
Members had not taken a closer look at the developm ent section of the revised draft, and it was the 
Chairman's intention to provide for an opportunity to  do so in the near future; secondly, at the meeting 
in July, the issue of "architectural issues" relating to the legal form of the disciplines had been raised, 
and he had referred dele gations, as a starting point, to JOB document 1144 from 1998, which set out 
legal issues related to form and entry into force of  the Accountancy Disciplin es.  Another issue that 
some delegations had raised informally was the timing  of a possible further revision of the draft text.   
                                                     
 
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/WPDR/M/39 
Page 2  
 
  7. The representative from Hong Kong, China
 stated that disciplines on domestic regulation 
complemented the value of any outcome in the market access negotiations.  While negotiations on 
domestic regulation has started even before the Doha Development Agenda, they had become an 
important part of this round, and a mandate existed in Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration to conclude negotiations by the end of the round.  A lot of ground work had been carried 
out in the first half of 2008 on the revised draft by the Chairman, but little had happened over the last 
four months. She called for a swift resumption of real work on the remaining outstanding issues. 
8. The representative of Switzerland  supported the statement above and noted that there was 
further need to discuss outstanding issues, including the text proposal put forward by Switzerland in May 2008. 
9. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 stressed that  market access and domestic regulation 
negotiations were complimentary in nature, and was encouraged by the constructive informal 
consultations that had taken place in the first half  of the year.  He agreed with the Chairman's 
assessment of the linkages with othe r areas of work, and suggested that, in light of the substantive 
tasks still waiting for the Working Party to tack le, work should resume as soon as possible. 
10. The representative of India  noted that the revised Chairman's draft dated from January 2008, 
and that a lot of information and proposals existe d in other informal documents.  He suggested to 
consolidate the status of work in a revised dr aft text, to be issued as a Job document, and 
independently from movements in other areas of the negotiations.   
11. The representative of Korea  added his voice to those delegations who called for the 
resumption of the WPDR's work.  Especially given the difficulties of the global economy and the 
financial crisis, there was a need to continue w ith the development of transparent and rule-based 
disciplines on domestic regulation.  He called for deepened discussions and compromise proposals on 
outstanding issues. 
12. The representative of Mauritius  recalled the importance of S&D and development elements 
which had to be part of the disciplines. 
13. The Chairman asked the Working Party to take note of  the statements made and announced 
that he would consult with delegations over th e next few weeks on the issues raised in his 
introduction, as well as those raised by delegations.   
14. It was so agreed . 
C. OTHER BUSINESS 
15. No items were raised under this agenda item 
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