WORLD TRADE  
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S/WPDR/M/51 
27 October 2011  
 
(11-5393) 
Working Party on Domestic Regulation  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 27 SEPTEMBER 2011 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
  
1. The Working Party on Domestic Regulation (WPD R) held a meeting on 27 September 2011.  
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Ahmad Mukhtar (Pakistan).  The agenda for the meeting was 
contained in Airgram WTO/AIR/3800, dated 16 September 2011.  The agenda was adopted. 
A. D
EVELOPMENT OF REGULATORY DISCIPLINES UNDER GATS ARTICLE VI:4 
2. The Chairman recalled that he had held in formal consultations on 12 September 2011 to 
discuss the resumption of work under Article VI.4.  Following that meeting and based on the feedback 
received from the delegations, he had proposed some  topics for further discussion.  These topics had 
been circulated to Members and were contained in the informal note RD/SERV/59.  He reiterated that 
these suggestions were not intended to be exhaustive and Members were invited to propose other 
issues or topics for discussion.  The Chairman explained that topics proposed could help clarify conceptual and technical issues in the Chair's draft text.  He also welcomed the proposal tabled by 
Canada on a list of potential technical issues for di scussion, as contained in RD/SERV/60.  He sought 
the view of Members on the ideas contained in the respective notes and urged them to provide 
additional inputs.  
3. The representative of Canada reiterated her delegation's position on items A and B of the 
agenda, and supported the continuation of work on domestic regulation disciplines, recognizing that 
the mandate to do so was independent of the D oha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.  The 
representative indicated that the current lull in the overall services negotiations was an opportunity to 
focus work on technical issues relating to domestic  regulation disciplines.  Canada fundamentally 
agreed with the Chairman's suggestion that such  a discussion could improve understanding of the 
subject matter and help put Members in a better positi on to evaluate the various available options.  In 
Canada's view, the disciplines under development would be linked to services sectors where Members 
have undertaken commitments.  Given the overall situation with the DDA negotiations, it would be 
imprudent for Members to try to advance drafting work on the horizontal disciplines.  Canada supported any effort to identify and further examine relevant technical issues in order to achieve the 
objective outlined in the Chairman's informal note (RD/SERV/59).  The representative considered 
that the note provided a good starting point by identifyi ng potential technical issu es in three chapters 
of the text.  In the communication submitted by Canada (RD/SERV/60) some additional topics had 
been proposed: technical standards, universal servi ce, simplicity of procedures in licensing procedures 
and qualification procedures, impartiality of deci sion-making in licensing, authenticated and/or 
electronic copies in licensing and qualification procedures, rejection of a licensing and/or qualification application, reasonable licensing a nd/or qualification application fees,  verification and assessment of a 
qualification application, requirements for meeting deficiencies in an application.  She indicated that 
                                                      
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/51 
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  this was just an initial list of areas that her delega tion considered ripe for discussion, and views of 
other Member's on other areas that could be discussed were welcomed.  
4. The representative of Argentina supported the appr oach proposed by Canada to focus future 
work on technical issues and believed that this woul d be the best way to continue discussions in the 
current context.  The representative indicated that  although the negotiations on domestic regulation 
disciplines had their own mandate in GATS Article VI:4,  the lack of clarity on the DDA made  it 
difficult for Members to have the necessary flexib ility to negotiate text.  That being the case, 
Argentina considered that certain technical issues w ith regard to technical standards and simplicity of 
procedures might be discussed in the Working Party.  It was noted by Argentina that some of the 
issues which it had in mind, coincided with those liste d in the Canadian proposal. In this connection, 
it was suggested that the Chairman might want to un dertake informal consultations on the subjects for 
discussion, including the role to be played by the S ecretariat, in the preparation of studies and factual 
analysis of the issues. 
5. The representative of Hong Kong, China welcom ed the Chairman's informal note and the 
communication from Canada.  The representative indicat ed that his authorities were still studying the 
Canadian communication.  As a preliminary observa tion, he noted that a wide range of technical 
issues had been suggested.  This might provide a useful building block for Members to organize 
future work and to continue negotiations in the Working Party.  
6. However, the representative expressed some concer n with the statements made by Canada on 
the need to address "real-life" issues and not on the draf ting of text.  In particular, he did not share the 
view that it would be imprudent to advance work on developing horizontal disciplines.  The Working 
Party had a specific mandate to fulfil under GATS Article VI.4 and improving understanding of 
concepts, practices and facts relevant to domest ic regulations could be a useful input to the 
negotiation.  However, Members still needed to negotiate disciplines based on a text.  He found 
Canada's proposed separation of technical issu es from the draft text puzzling, and requested 
clarification on whether the intention was to put the text aside for an indefinite period.  He stressed 
that Members did not share the view that years of textual negotiation should be abandoned.  The 
representative recalled that at the informal meeting many Members had indicated their preference to continue the negotiation of horizontal disciplin es without pre-empting the possibility of having 
discussions in a different manner.  He noted that t echnical discussions could be useful if it provided 
fresh input to the negotiations.  Therefore, he f ound troubling Canada's statement at the end of the 
second paragraph: "[…] Members main attention will be in "real-life" regulatory issues and solutions 
but not drafting text."  
7. Negotiators were meant to negotiate rules a nd disciplines and not to negotiate facts or 
practices or concepts.  He noted that  the Annotated  Text produced by the former Chairman of this 
Working Party, as well  the Chairman's Consultativ e Notes  already contained many of the issues 
highlighted by Canada.  They have also been me ntioned one way or the ot her in previous textual 
negotiations.  The "texts" that Members have be en working with provide the context and the 
negotiating history for those technical issues.  T hus, the discussions on any such technical issues 
would only useful if they can feedback positivel y to the negotiation process.  A linkage between 
"technical discussions" and "text" would be needed; otherwise the work would be aimless and futile. 
8. He further noted that the Canadian communication included essential areas of the domestic 
regulation negotiation but the list was not exhaustive.  It would be up to other Members to contribute 
additional issues, with a view to developing a comp rehensive list of topics for future discussion.  He 
emphasized that the discussion on technical issues  should aim to achieve better mutual understanding 
in the areas where Members had not  yet reached consensus.  He hoped that with inputs from other 
Members, the Working Party would come up with a comprehensive coverage of important technical 
issues that would help move the negotiations forward.   S/WPDR/M/51 
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  9. Whilst Hong Kong, China found many usef ul ideas were contained in Canada’s 
communication, it was not sure how they would be  connected to the future work of the Working 
Party.  It was not apparent how a discussion of c onceptual issues and real life regulatory practices 
would relate to the negotiations.  Hong Kong, Ch ina would be open to any formats that would be 
conducive to useful discussions.  This required a stru ctured approach with clarity on what Members 
would be doing and for what purpose.  A discussion of technical issues in a "non-negotiation" mode 
or "non-textual" mode must be complementary to  the main thrust of textual discussion on domestic 
regulation disciplines.  This would allow that any fruitful outcome from the technical discussion to be taken up in the negotiations.  Hong Kong, China was reflecting on how to map out the future work of 
the domestic regulation negotiation and hoped to share its thinking with Members at the next Working 
Party meeting. 
10. The representative of New Zealand expressed fru stration that the Working Party was for the 
third time since the issuance of the Chair's Progr ess report in Easter, still discussing possible working 
approaches towards the eventual development of  disciplines.  She acknowledged the concerns 
expressed by some delegations on the changes in the overall operating cont ext.  Her delegation 
remained open on approaches, as long as the Worki ng Party continued to preserve and build-upon the 
progress made thus far.  New Zealand was among th e Members who supported the suggestion that to 
move forward, it would be useful to conclude th e 'unfinished business' on the draft text appended to 
the Chair's Progress Report.  This would, for instan ce, entail focussing on the provisions contained in 
the introduction, technical standards and developm ent chapters.  New Zealand was not tied to any 
particular approach, as long as the process continued to build on the progress made.   
11. She welcomed the Chairman's informal note an d the contribution from Canada.  Both notes 
offered some constructive ideas on the way forward and identified specific issues outstanding in the 
current text.  They included some suggestions  on how to enhance/supplement the text-based 
discussion, for example, by bringing additional ex amples from the Members regulatory experience, or 
from bilateral and regional trade agr eements.  It would be useful to meld these two documents into a 
consolidated list of questions/topics to be addresse d in the course of refining the draft horizontal 
disciplines.  New Zealand would submit some issues for inclusion in such a list.  The representative 
agreed with Argentina on the need  to hold informal consultations for the further development of the 
list, and indicated that there were a number of i ssues in the Canadian communication that had been 
discussed quite extensively in 2010 and 2011, hence th e Working Party should find a way to prioritize 
them.  She shared Hong Kong, China's view to avoi d reverting to a conceptual discussion of issues 
which were reasonably well deve loped and had specific text.  While New Zealand was open to 
exploring technical issues with a view to improvi ng understanding of the subject matter, it would not 
be useful to proceed with such work  in isolation from text-based discussions. 
12. She recapitulated the recent history of the Wo rking Party indicating that throughout 2010 a 
range of similar issues, on the basis of a thematic  work plan, as contained in RD/SERV/15, had been 
discussed.  These issues made referen ce to the provisions contained in the Annotated Text of March 
2009, which was in turn based on the Chair's Marc h 2009 text as well as contributions from Members.  
The representative of New Zealand considered that reverting to a conceptual discussion divorced from 
textual drafting made little sense to her delegation.  It denied the progress that had been made over at 
least two and a half years, especially during the pe riod between January and April of this year.  She 
recalled that at the last informal consultation only one Member indicated that it was not prepared to 
enter back into discussions on the basis of the Ch air's Progress Report.  A number explicitly favoured 
a return to text-based discussions and a couple more , while expressing reservations or concerns about 
the current text, confirmed their willingn ess to work nonetheless on this basis.  
13. The representative noted that there was a clear acknowledgement of the mandate of this 
Working Party to develop among other things generally applicable/horizontal disciplines.  Even in the S/WPDR/M/51 
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  absence of on-going negotiations on new service mark et access, it would be important to bear in mind 
that disciplines still have an important role in reinforcing existing market  access commitments.  
14. She indicated that her delegation would be willing to work on the areas and questions 
identified in the proposals tabled for the meeting. Members should aim to evaluate the various options 
with the following question in mind: "if the answer to the conceptual question 1 is "x", then the 
corresponding text might read "y"; if the answer to conceptual question 1 is "a", the corresponding 
text would be "b"".  This approach would be si milar to the two track process suggested by Hong 
Kong, China.  Only by linking the two extremes together would Members be able to progress the horizontal disciplines and move towards fulfilmen t of the mandate of the Working Party.  
15. On the Chairman's question regarding possible a dditional work at the sectoral level, as well as 
on professional services, New Zealand was open, but considered that work on these elements of the 
Working Party mandate should complement and not supplant on-going work on draft horizontal 
disciplines.  
16. The representative of Brazil considered that the most productive approach would be to 
continue work along the lines of the proposal tabl ed by Canada.  He considered that the current 
negotiating context did not allow for more than what ha d already been given in the first quarter of this 
year.  Therefore, the wisest choice would be to engage  in a better understanding of the issues at stake. 
Brazil agreed with Argentina that it would be u seful to have some kind of contribution from the 
Secretariat in order to guide the discussions.  
17. The representative of Switzerland supported the positions expressed by the representatives of 
Hong Kong, China and New Zealand.  The mandate  of the Working Party was defined in GATS 
Article VI.4 and had been confirmed with the launc h of the services negotiation, preceding the DDA.  
Therefore the on-going work should be conducted and concluded independently of the Round.  This 
negotiation should improve the value of commitments already taken by Members.   He recognized that 
beyond the legal and institutional realities, the po litical climate had changed.  Negotiating ambitions 
were not necessarily the same as at the beginning of  the year.  Given those circumstances, the current 
reality did not allow Members to change positions  contained in the text and therefore textual 
negotiations should not be the priority at this moment.  
18. He did not share the view that the technical discussion on "real-life" issues should be 
separated from the text.  He welcomed technical  discussions, as long as it improved understanding of 
the substantive issues in the negotiations.  Technica l discussions would be useful but needed to be 
linked to the negotiations.  In the long-term such di scussions should provide usef ul inputs to conclude 
the negotiations, once the conditions allow for it.  
19. The representative of South Africa confirmed that work should continue on the basis of the 
GATS mandate, though for the time being it collided w ith political realities.  He noted that the 
environment had changed since April 2011 and th ere was no clear indication on how to move 
forward.  Therefore, whilst his delegation did not object to continuing with discussions, it would have 
difficulties linking them to outcomes at the next Eight Ministerial Meeting.  His delegation was still 
studying the communication from Canada.  On sectoral disciplines, including professional services, South Africa did not consider that the time was right to move in to such discussions and preferred to 
move one-step at a time.  
20. The representative of Turkey indicated that the work in WPDR should continue in line with 
the existing mandate to develop disciplines.  His de legation had taken note of the proposal by Canada 
and in principle welcomed the suggested topics an d was disposed to discussing them.  However, 
technical discussions should complement the text-bas ed negotiations and not ex clude it.  Additionally, 
Turkey was open to discussing regulatory issues at the sectoral level, without prejudice to their  S/WPDR/M/51 
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  outcome.  His delegation was ready to constructivel y engage in the continued work of the Working 
Party, as long as concrete textual propo sals remained the pillar of discussion.  
21. The representative of Mexico provided prelim inary comments on Canada's communication.  
She considered that some of the Canadian propos als could help the work of the Working Party, 
however like Hong Kong, China;  New Zealand;  Switzerland; and Turkey; Mexico shared the 
concern that discussion of "real-life" regulatory issues would leave  aside the main objective of 
developing a text on domestic regulation.  She c onsidered that departing from the achievements 
reached would not be the right path for the Working Party to take.  Her delegation preferred to focus 
on the draft text as the basis for discussion.  Mexi co would be open to choosing a work method that 
would help the Working Party, including the discussion  of technical issues, but that should not depart 
from the achievements already reached.  
22. The representative of Colombia thanked Canada for its proposal.  Colombia shared the view 
of Hong Kong, China; New Zealand; Switzerland; a nd Mexico and reiterated that there was a clear 
mandate in GATS Article VI.4 to negotiate disci plines on domestic regulation.  This mandate was 
independent of the DDA.  The representative reiterate d that the development of horizontal disciplines 
should continue through a process of negotiations which would eventually  materialize into a text.  As 
a preliminary comment, she noted that the Canadian proposal did not cover several sensitive and complex topics that had been discussed by the Worki ng Party.  These should be part of the technical 
discussions.  She highlighted the importance of de veloping domestic regulation disciplines so as to 
guarantee effective market access to service providers and reiterated that her delegation was willing to 
continue work with a view to obt aining a domestic regulation text.  
23. The representative of China noted that his delega tion considered domestic regulation to be an 
important subject for the services negotiations.  There was an independent mandate under GATS 
Article VI.4 and therefore the negotiations shoul d proceed in accordance wi th that mandate.  The 
representative expected negotiations to resume with the easier issues, or technical issues on which 
there was broad agreement to move forward.  He thanked the Chairman for his informal note, and 
considered that the points raised were very releva nt and should serve to direct the discussion.  In 
particular, he considered that issues such as purpos e and nature of the introductory section, meaning 
and scope of technical standards and transition periods in the de velopment chapter might deserve 
particular attention, as the discussion on domestic regulation resumes.  He would revert to the 
communication from Canada in following discussions.  
24. The representative of the European Union s upported the continuation of work on domestic 
regulation.  He declared that there was a clear  mandate to negotiate and the Working Party had 
specific terms of reference.  Despite the DDA diffi culties it would be a pity not to complete the huge 
work achieved so far.  He emphasized that the Eur opean Union was in favour of continuing text-based 
work on horizontal disciplines and considered this to be a priority.  He indicated that his delegation 
was open in terms of the approach to be followed provided that it continued to make progress towards 
the elaboration of disciplines.  With regard to text-based discussion, it w ould be easier and more 
logical to start with paragraphs subject to multip le alternatives and to seek to reduce them.  For 
instance, paragraph 43 had five alternative proposals on the reduction of fees.  In reality, each of the options was substantively very close.  
25. On the non-direct text based discussions, the re presentative of the European Union saw merit 
in addressing issues which had not been examined in  detail.  In this respect he welcomed and 
supported the Chairman's suggestion to address tec hnical aspects in the introductory chapter and on 
technical standards, amongst others.  His delega tion was open to discussing the development chapter 
but considered the issue to be more politically sensitive.  S/WPDR/M/51 
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  26. With respect to the Canadian contribution, cl arification of technical aspects could contribute 
to alleviating misunderstandi ng and help narrow positions, as long as it was focused on those 
technical issues which really constituted problems for developing domestic regulations disciplines.  
The European Union suggested iden tifying these issues in light of problems encountered in the text.  
He shared the concern, expressed by other delega tions, with the Canadian suggestion to disconnect 
technical discussions from the text.  He agreed w ith Hong Kong, China and insisted that technical 
work should not be detrimental to progress on horizontal disciplines.  
27. The European Union also supported the developm ent of sectoral disciplines as a complement 
to horizontal disciplines.  In his view, horizontal disciplines should be seen as the common platform to develop specific disciplines, which would be tailo r-made to address specific needs.  The European 
Union had no problem in discussing sectoral elements, as long as it was not an alternative to 
horizontal disciplines.  
28. The representative of Australia thanked the Chairman and Canada for their respective 
contributions.  She recognized that work was being conducted in a different context.  However, even 
without a deadline and the same incentives, to gi ve and take, the discussion should not move away 
from the text.  It was important to continue th e linkage between discussions on technical issues and 
the text.  Given the current context there was an opportunity to deepen understanding of the issues unresolved in the text.  With respect to the Canadi an proposal, some prioritisation of technical issues 
might be required.  Her delegation would like more time to examine whether there were other issues 
that should be considered for discussion.  She ag reed with Hong Kong, China that the Secretariat 
would be tasked with extracting issues relating to domestic regulation issues from the sectoral notes.  
This would help identify issues common across sector s and those which were specific to particular 
sectors. She invited other Members to continue bringing specific experiences to the discussion.  
29. The representative of Chile recognized the curre nt difficulties and uncertainties in the DDA 
negotiations.  That being the case, there were nevert heless a few certainties.  First, no one questioned 
the existence of the domestic regul ation mandate as independent of DDA. Second, he declared that 
there was a text which reflected at least two years and a half of work by Members.  The representative 
considered that the challenge was how to advan ce in this negotiation given the difficult overall 
context.  He noted that the Canadian proposal brou ght more uncertainty to the table because the final 
objective of the proposal was not clear.  
30. The representative of Korea welcomed the Chai rman's informal note and the communication 
submitted by Canada.  On a preliminary basis, sh e expressed concern with the idea that Members 
should be focusing on "real life" issues and solutions rather than drafting a text.  She recalled that at 
the last informal meeting on 12 September 2011 several delegations, including Korea, clearly mentioned that there should be a direct link be tween the technical discussion and the text.  She 
elaborated that the technical discussion should focu s on issues where Members could not agree in past 
negotiations.  She recalled the aim of drafting horizontal disciplines on domestic regulation under the 
mandate of GATS Article VI.4, and expressed concern w ith arguments that in light of the changes of 
the negotiating context it might not now be prudent to  carry on with text negotiations.  Korea would 
be proposing concrete ideas for future work at the next meeting.  Whilst Korea preferred to continue 
work on horizontal disciplines, it was open to di scussing proposals for the development of sectoral 
disciplines.  
31. The representative of Japan thanked the Ch airman and Canada for their respective 
contributions.  She agreed with several delegations  that it would be important to link technical 
discussions with the text.  Japan continued to place importance on the development of domestic 
regulation disciplines in order to deal with the real  problems faced by the private sector.  From that 
point of view, Japan was in favour of advancing on th e progress, so far, achieved.  On the elaboration 
of sectoral disciplines, Japan preferred to have first, a solid and stable horizontal platform.  The  S/WPDR/M/51 
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  representative supported the Chairman's suggestion to discuss technical issues contained in the 
"introduction", "technical standards" and "devel opment".  She recalled Japan's contribution, as 
contained in room document RD/SERV/37, which ex plained the positions expressed by Members in a 
chart. Japan would like to have furt her discussions based on that chart.  
32. The representative of Chinese Taipei welcomed the Chairman's informal note on technical 
issues and believed it would help the continuation of work to complete the Article VI mandate.  She 
also thanked Canada for providing its list of technical issues for discussion and provided some 
preliminary observations.  The representative shared  the concern of Hong Kong, China and others 
regarding the linkage of discussions on technical issu es and the work already done.  She agreed that 
there were some technical issues that needed furthe r clarification; however she considered that they 
would have to be directly linked to the text.  Rega rding the coverage of issues, Chinese Taipei agreed 
with Australia that a very wide range of issues ha d been proposed and these needed to be prioritized.  
33. The representative of Norway expressed flexibilit y regarding the way forward in the Working 
Party.  She thanked the Chairman for his informal note and considered that the questions put forward 
as relevant and her delegation would be ready to discuss them further, as well as to explore other 
technical issues.  She also thanked Canada for its co ntribution, which it would revert to at the future 
meeting.  
34. The representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia expressed some difficulty with 
understanding where the negotiations on domestic re gulation disciplines were going.  There was a 
separate mandate in GATS Article VI.4 but this was evidently linked to the general context of DDA.  
A negotiation within the context of DDA implied a different evaluation by every Member, given the 
links and implications with other topics of the round .  He added that it would be difficult to focus the 
negotiations based on text in the absence of these linkag es with other topics of interest to his country.  
Each discipline and topic had to be evaluated on its  own merits.  Therefore, he agreed with Canada 
that it would be necessary to re-evaluate the merit of each discipline.  The negotiations should not 
continue under the same format of previous months.  
35. The representative of India welcomed the Canadian communicati on and offered only 
preliminary views whilst awaiting inputs from capita l.  He agreed with the comments of other 
delegations that any discussion should be linked with th e text so as to contribute to the negotiations.  
Additionally, he thanked the Chairman for his informal note which listed a number of important 
issues.  India was willing to engage constructively on  this list.  Since the list was not exhaustive, it 
could be used as a starting point. India preferred to continue working on a horizontal basis.   
36. The representative of Singapore took the floor on  behalf of the delega tion of Malaysia and 
Singapore.  She expressed their wish to continue working in accordance with the mandate and agreed 
with the Chairman's informal note that the next Ministerial should not necessarily be viewed as a 
deadline for a domestic regulation outcome.  Furthermore, the lack of a fixed deadline should not impair work.  She shared the view that the discu ssion of technical issues should not impair advances 
in the text.  She indicated thei r openness to discussing technical issues provided it was linked with the 
text under a clear work programme.  
37. The representative of the United States thanked the Chairman for his informal note and the 
work done since April 2011.  His delegation was flex ible on the way to structure discussions so as to 
find a way to move forward and to keep the pr ogress going.  He welcomed the reminder of the 
domestic regulation mandate and considered that the best way to move forward would be to review 
what the Working Party should be doing.  He a ppreciated Canada's communication, and understood 
the concern of some Members to avoid an intellectua l exercise without ties to the text.  He did not see 
any particular reason not to undertake this exercise in a coordinated fashion.  It would be a good idea 
to urge other Members to put forward other issues for discussion in conjunction with the text, without S/WPDR/M/51 
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  converting the solicitation exercise into the object of consensus and thus avoid spending years 
discussing a list of topics.  He added that one possible approach would be to suggest to Members a timeframe for putting forward issues that they would like to add to the Canadian list and which were 
considered useful for the negotiations.  He consid ered this would help capitals to focus on work 
undertaken in Geneva, which was not an easy task at this particular stage.  The United States 
expressed flexibility but was at the same time cauti ous, and having seen periods of inactivity in the 
DDA before, these were times of particular danger for the existing text.  It would be important not to 
make matters worse.  
38. The representative of Indonesia thanked the Chairman and Canada for their respective 
contributions.  In accordance with the domestic regulation mandate his delegation was open to 
engaging in technical discussions, as long as it would allow progress to be made on the text.  
39. The Chairman in summarising the discussions noted  that it was not valid not to do anything.  
He urged Members to be flexible under the new ci rcumstances.  Domestic regulation had a separate 
mandate which was still valid regardless of the DDA.  He also recalled the existence of the 
accountancy disciplines, which were are not en tirely dependent on the DDA process.  On the 
continuation of work, he did not see a two track pr ocess.  He considered that the Canadian paper 
called for a complementary exercise to clarify issues in the text.  Thus, while this might not be the 
right time to go back to specific drafting any work undertaken under the domestic regulation negotiations would always be linked to the text.  More over, even if the text were to be finalized it did 
not mean it would be adopted and impl emented.  He also added that at this point the Eight Ministerial 
Conference was not a deadline to conclude the existing text.  
40. The Chairman highlighted the fact that no delegation had asked for work to stop and the 
Working Party would continue the discussion at its next meeting in November.  There might also be a need to hold informal consultations and he inv ited Members to submit in the coming week further 
issues to the list of topics proposed by Canada.  Following these additional inputs, he would consider 
the most appropriate course of action, including pos sibly circulating a consolidated list of technical 
issues for discussion.  
41. The representative of Hong Kong, China, agreed with the Chairman that the discussion would 
not be a two track process since all the technical i ssues came from the text.  He welcomed the idea of 
holding informal consultations to discuss the list of technical issues and also on the framework of the 
future work by the Working Party in light of its mandate.  He announced that his delegation would be 
submitting a contribution. 
42. The representative of Canada declared that its lis t of issues had been made on the basis of past 
discussions.  She reiterated that going back to text  negotiations would not be productive.  Therefore 
with better understanding of the problems and the op tions available there would be a better evaluation 
of the issues.  She recalled th e Chairman's informal note (RD/SERV/59) of September 2011 and 
indicated that Canada would like to improve unders tanding of the subject matter, so as to better 
evaluate the options.  She requested further clarifi cation on the informal consultations to be held by 
the Chairman.  
43. The representatives of India and Brazil requested a longer deadline to submit suggestions.  
44. The Chairman clarified that he gave only an indicative deadline of 11 October 2011 for the 
submission of additional issues and noted that he in tended to hold an open ended informal meeting so 
as to prepare for the formal meeting during the November cluster.  Therefore, he invited Members to 
submit their proposals as soon as possible.  On the issue of linkage between technical issues and the 
text, the Chairman clarified that Canada had not  proposed to abandon the text.  The Working Party  S/WPDR/M/51 
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  would have to come back to the text at some poi nt and he proposed to wait and see the result of the 
technical discussions before deciding on the timing and modalities for integrating them into the text.  
B. FUTURE WORK  
45. The Chairman recalled that at previous inform al meetings some delegations had suggested 
having a discussion of regulatory issues at the sectoral  level.  He had proposed some ideas on how to 
approach this work and had invited Members to  express their views on how this work might be 
developed.  He considered that such a discussion would be very useful to  improving knowledge of 
regulatory issues and could facilitate any possible fu rther consideration of the sectoral disciplines, 
which was in line with the Working Party mandate.  He indicated that this discussion did not reduce 
the relevance and importance on the draft text on horizontal disciplines.  
46. The representative of South Africa expressed willingness to learn more about regulatory 
aspects of different sectors, but reiterated that th is kind of exercise should not be a move towards 
sectoral negotiations.  
47. The representative of Canada cautioned against any effort to treat a broad category, like 
professional services as one entity.  Different professi ons had different reasons for regulations.  She 
suggested that the initial conversation could be on what exactly makes a specific service sector 
suitable and relevant for rules. 
48. The representative of Australia declared that her delegation was open to a discussion on 
sector disciplines, but warned about its sequencing with horizontal discussions.  She recalled 
Australia's suggestion to look into the sectoral notes  by the Secretariat and to see what issues would 
come out of that.  This might be a helpful way to start the discussions.  
49. The representative of New Zealand reiterated that her delegation was open to discussing 
sector and professional disciplines as long as they complemented on-going negotiations on horizontal 
disciplines.  She agreed with Cana da on the need to treat each of the professions individually.  She 
also agreed that a starting point might be to examine regulatory issues in the sectoral notes.   
50. The United States considered that a sectoral discussion could be a very useful area for 
additional work, both on its own right and to compleme nt other work by the Working Party.  He also 
agreed with Canada that the concept of professions was very broad, and recalled that the accountancy 
disciplines were successful becau se they had been focused on a group of service providers that 
considered themselves an industry.  He indicated, especially in professional services, there would be a 
very wide number sub-sectors involved and each of them used different licensing systems.  
51. The representative of India reiterated his delegati on's preference to work first on a horizontal 
basis.  He would consult with his capital on the issue of professional services.  
52. The representative of Switzerland indicated, in gene ral, there was a problem of sequencing.  It 
was not helpful to tackle sectoral disciplines before  horizontal disciplines were in place.  He agreed 
with Canada, New Zealand and United States on the is sue of professional services for the reasons they 
gave.  It was also difficult to disconnect the profession from the sector, and he gave a couple of 
examples like:  the architect and construction, and doctors and health.  Therefore, there was merit in 
developing horizontal disciplines, and then after th at to look deeper into the specific cases where it 
might be necessary to go further.  In this connec tion, he mentioned financial services as one such 
sector.  
53. The Secretariat clarified the three-fold mandate  of the Working Party and explained that the 
Council Decision on its terms of reference incl uded professional services as a carry-over from a S/WPDR/M/51 
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  previous Ministerial Decision and the Decision by the Council for Trade in Services on Professional 
Services.  He explained that the origin of pr ofessional services laid with the Working Party on 
Professional Services, which had been created to wo rk on disciplines for professional services, with 
priority given to the accountancy sector.  The Secret ariat added that there was no specificity at all 
regarding whether it should take a sectoral appro ach for each profession or to deal with professional 
services in general.  This was a matter that was left completely to be decided by Members.  There was 
no presumption on whether a general approach, or a sector by sector approach, would be taken by 
Members.  
54. The Chairman clarified that he was not proposi ng to develop sectoral disciplines but rather to 
discuss sectoral elements and considered that a good starting point would be the regulatory issues 
mentioned in the Secretariat notes which had been pr epared for the sectoral and modal discussions in 
the Council for Trade in Services.  He proposed to st art exploring this issue as an additional item, but 
keeping as a first priority the development of horizon tal disciplines.  In this connection, the Chairman 
requested the Secretariat to start looking at the re gulatory issues contained in the Secretariat sectoral 
notes, with a view to producing a note for discussion by Members in the early part of 2012.   
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
55. No items where discussed and the meeting was adjourned.  
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