WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
S/CSC/M/62 
4 April 2012 
 (12-1797) 
Committee on Specific Commitments   
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 20 MARCH 2012 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
1. The Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) held a meeting on 20 March 2012, chaired 
by Mr. Robert Prochazka from Austria.   
2. The Chairman informed the Committee that, under Other Business, he would refer to the 
request made by the Corporate Secretariat International Association (CSIA) to present its 
classification proposal to the Committee.  The age nda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/3908, 
was adopted as modified.  
A. C LASSIFICATION ISSUES  
3. The Chairman first reported to the Committee on the consultations he had undertaken so far 
with a view to clarifying the broader context of the discussions under this item.   
4. The intention of the exercise was to identify possible gaps between W/120 and market 
realities, given technological developments a nd new business offerings since the introduction of 
W/120 in 1991.  The exercise was future-oriented with the assump tion that a better understanding of 
services classification would facilitate future negotia tions.  The idea was not to revise W/120, nor to 
affect the existing commitments. 
5. The actual purpose and focus of discussions varied from sector to sector given the diversity of 
services.  So far, discussions had been informative and stimulating, providing much food for thought.  
Nevertheless, a number of delegati ons had raised concerns about the process and possible outcome(s) 
of the current exercise.  Indeed, some issues we re technically highly complex and would require 
support from capital-based experts.  Delegations need ed to consider how to continue with this 
exercise and whether there were options to streamlin e and expedite the process.  In terms of possible 
outcomes, summaries of informal discussions had been  circulated under his responsibility.  He invited 
delegations to consider other forms of outcome that  might generate value-added.  For example, for a 
given sector, should delegations seek to develop co mmon understandings or clarifications concerning 
sectoral coverage or approaches to address inadequaci es of W/120?  If so, what would be the desirable 
form to capture the progress achieved?  Or would it be preferable, on concluding the sector-specific 
discussions, to keep track of elements of convergen ce that might have been reached?  Since various 
alternative classifications (e.g. ISIC, CPC version 2,  negotiating proposals, etc.) had been referred to, 
would it be desirable to establish corresponden ce, sector by sector, between W/120 and such 
alternative classifications ?   
6. Turning to energy services, the Chairman invite d the Secretariat to introduce the informal 
Note (JOB/SERV/94) which had been prepared  to assist delegations' considerations.   
                                                      
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/62 
Page 2  
 
  7. The representative of the Secretariat said that the Note was a condensed version of the 
classification issues raised in the 2010 Secretariat Background Note on Energy Services (S/C/W/311) 
with some new issues added.  W/120 did not contain a separate section for energy services, but there   were three sub-sectors exclusively related to ener gy, namely, services incidental to mining, services 
incidental to energy distribution, and pipeline tran sportation of fuels.  Dele gations were invited to 
examine the scope of these sectors.  In addition, other activities, which were not necessarily specific 
to the energy sector, could be found under various sections of W/120, in particular business services, 
construction, distribution and tran sport services.  The Note also suggested revisiting the notion of 
production on a fee or contract basis and services related to the production process, and addressing the issue of "clean energy" services.  Questions lis ted in the Note were only suggestive and Members 
were encouraged to raise any other points or issues. 
8. The Committee then informally  discussed energy services.  
9. Noting that delegations had expressed inter est in continuing the discussion on energy 
services, the Chairman suggested th at the Committee revert to this sector at its next meeting. 
Regarding the sectors to be covered in following  meetings, one idea was to examine postal and 
courier services, distribution services, transport services and logistics services as these were linked to 
the logistics chain in different ways.  Noting that there was no objection to this proposal, he suggested 
that the Secretariat prepare informal No tes to assist the Committee's discussions. 
10. Finally, he suggested that the Committee take not e of the statements made and revert to this 
agenda item at the next meeting . 
11. It was so agreed. 
B. SCHEDULING ISSUES  
12. The Chairman recalled that the Committee ha d examined scheduling issues related to 
economic needs tests (ENTs) for mode 4 in the p ast few meetings.  Members shared the observation 
that most ENT-related entries in schedules, in cluding most labour market tests scheduled under 
mode 4, were inconsistent with  the Scheduling Guidelines and need ed to be specified.  It was 
commonly understood that lack of transparency on the operation of ENTs undermined the 
predictability of commitments.     The Scheduli ng Guidelines provided that ENT-related entries in 
schedules should indicate the main criteria on which the test was based.  During previous discussions, 
one delegation had suggested that unnecessary in formation should be avoided when providing 
adequate specification of an ENT.  At the last meeting, 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.  In the annotated agenda , delegations were invited to consider whether the 
discussion on mode 4-related ENTs had been suffici ently exhaustive and wh ether delegations would 
wish to further explore particular aspects, for ex ample, the status of unspecified ENTs ("foggy" 
entries) such as "labour market test required" under Article XVI of the GATS.   
13. The representative of Canada recalled that her delegation had made de tailed interventions on 
ENTs at previous meetings.  She looked forward to h earing views from other Members in this regard.     
14. The representative of India noted that he had also  made detailed contributions to the past two 
meetings.  Believing that this was an important issu e and that discussions had not been exhaustive yet, 
he encouraged Members to engage.   
15. The Chairman suggested that the Committee take  note of the comments made and revert to 
this item at its next meeting.  S/CSC/M/62 
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  16. It was so agreed. 
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
17.  The Chairman said that the Corporate Secretar iat International Association (CSIA) was an 
international organization representing corporat e secretaries and governance professionals, whose 
members were national/geogra phical bodies of governance professionals.  CSIA was pr oposing 
that "Corporate Governance, Compliance and Secretar ial 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, CSIA ha d been contacting the Secretariat requesting to 
make a presentation at the Committee's meeting about the proposal. 
18. Noting that there was no objection to this requ est, he suggested that the Committee invite 
CSIA to make a presentation about its classi fication proposal at the meeting in June. 
D. APPOINTMENT  OF CHAIRPERSON  FOR  THE  COMMITTEE 
19. The Committee elected Mr. Rodrigo Bardoneschi from Argentina as its new Chairman by 
acclamation.  The new Chairman adjourned the meeting. 
 
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