. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/L/229 
31 May 2005 
 
 (05-2208) 
Trade in Services Original:   Spanish 
  
 
MODIFICATION OF SCHEDULES 
 
Accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Est onia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of 
Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Re public of Hungary, the Republic of Malta,  
the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia,  
the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Finland and the  
Kingdom of Sweden to the  
European Communities  
 
Notification of Claim of Interest from Ecuador  
 
  The following communication from the delegati on of Ecuador, dated 25 May 2005, is being 
circulated to the members of th e Council for Trade in Services. 
 
_______________  
 
 1. Ecuador takes note of the communication from the European Communities and its member 
States circulated to the members of the Council for Trade in Services on 12 April 2005 as document 
S/SECRET/9, as corrected by S/SECRET/9/Corr.1 of 19 April 2005, notifying their intention to 
modify or withdraw certain specific services commitments as set out in the "List of Commitments 
Modified or Withdrawn" annexed thereto, in accordance with Articles V:5 and XXI:1(b) of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). 
2. In this respect, on the basis of paragraph 3 of the Procedures for the Implementation of 
Article XXI of the GATS - Modification of Schedul es (document S/L/80), Ecuador identifies itself as 
an affected Member and accordingly notifies its claim of interest for all relevant legal purposes.  As 
further contemplated by those Procedures, Ecuador is  willing to enter into negotiations with a view to 
reaching an agreement on the necessary compensatory adjustment, endeavouring to maintain a general 
level of mutually advantageous commitments not l ess favourable to trade than  that provided for in 
Schedules of specific commitments prior to such negotiations. 
3. Ecuador also wishes to state its understandi ng that under Article XXI:2(a) of the GATS and 
paragraph 3 of document S/L/80, any Member whic h considers that the proposed modification or 
withdrawal may affect its interests may communicate its claim of interest, and the modifying Member shall  enter into negotiations with the Member that has identified itself as affected without any 
condition or prior requirement. 
4. Regarding paragraph 5 of documen t S/SECRET/9, which states that "[t]herefore, with a view 
to complying with such deadlines, both the EC-25 consolidated schedule attached to the notification of 
28 May 2004 and the excerpts attached to this notification are intended to replace the current 
schedules of specific commitments as from 1 September 2005", Ecuador would like to note that it considers notification S/SECRET/9 to be a new process of notification of withdrawal and modification of commitments in connection with th e enlargement of the European Communities, and S/L/229 
Page 2  
 
 that the EC-25 consolidated schedule attached to notification S/SECRET/8 of 28 May 2004 in no way 
constitutes a replacement of the commitments in the current schedule of specific commitments of each 
Member, the Annex to document S/SECRET/8 bei ng the only document with legal value in that 
notification.  Moreover, according to paragraph 6 of document S/L/80, proposed modifications and 
withdrawals of commitments cannot replace the ex isting schedules until the negotiations have been 
concluded and an agreement reached, and until the cer tification procedure referred to in paragraphs 20 
to 22 of document S/L/80 has been completed. 
5. Ecuador would also like to state its understanding that its rights and interests under the current 
negotiations on Article XXI in relation to document S/SECRET/8 are not affected by document 
S/SECRET/9 or by any action, negotiations or r esults that may arise from this communication. 
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