RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/M/31 
6 October 2009 
 
 (09-4786) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session  
 
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 29 JUNE 2009 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
 
1. The Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services held a formal meeting on 29 June 
2009, chaired by Ambassador Fernando de Mateo of Mexico.  The agenda for the meeting, contained 
in document WTO/AIR/3393, was adopted. 
A. REVIEW OF PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATIONS , INCLUDING PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 15 OF THE 
GUIDELINES FOR NEGOTIATIONS ; AND ORGANIZATION OF FUTURE WORK 
2. The Chair  said that since the last meeting in early April there had been hopeful signs that the 
DDA talks might be gaining momentum.  Cairns Group Ministers meeting in Bali on 9 June had 
recognized "good progress" in the agriculture negotia tions, and had urged Members to "build on that 
work, based on the draft modalities text".  In Pari s the preceding week, OECD Ministers had said that 
"an ambitious, balanced, comprehens ive conclusion of the Doha Deve lopment Agenda negotiations is 
urgently needed."2  However, there was still much to be done in setting out a specific roadmap for the 
negotiations in the months ahead.  That roadmap woul d need to take account of the principle elements 
of the negotiations: a satisfactory set of revised  offers, results from the rules negotiations, and 
modalities for LDCs.  It would also depend on progr ess achieved in agriculture and NAMA.  At this 
point, the Chair wanted to hear the thoughts of de legations on the status of the negotiations, where 
priorities should lie in the coming months, and what sort of roadmap needed to be drawn up to guide 
future work.  
3. The delegate for Canada  said that he had participated in bilaterals and friends group meetings 
during the preceding week, as well as attending the usual slate of subsidiary bodies and regular 
Council work.  As was the case in the previous cl uster, discussions between delegations combined 
institutional GATS work with some DDA negotiations.  That seemed to be the most that delegations 
could achieve under the current circumstances.  There had been some discussion on whether the 
Services negotiations were ahead or behind the stat e of play in agriculture and NAMA.  Canada's 
conclusion was that it was difficult and not partic ularly productive to make such comparisons.  
Services, like other aspects of the DDA, had been in a holding pattern for much of the previous year.  
Some very general contours of the services package were visible, but precise outcomes had yet to be 
determined.  The technical and s ubstantial challenges of getting delegations from where they were at 
present (a prolonged period of treading water) to where they wanted to be (a services deal containing 
a satisfactory set of revised offers) were substantial. 
                                                      
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. 
2 The statement was made by Ministers from 40 co untries, representing 80% of the world economy. 
They included the 30 OECD member countries plus five  countries that are candida tes for membership, Chile, 
Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia, and five major economies with which the OECD has a policy of ‘enhanced 
engagement’  -- Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. TN/S/M/31 
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  4. The best way forward would depend on the circumstances.  At a minimum, there was a 
technical work plan in the regular Council.  In a ddition, Members had given subsidiary body chairs 
useful direction.  Demandeurs were continuing w ith technical work on market access.  Proponents of 
LDC modalities could also convey to Members in the Special Session at an appropriate moment their 
latest thinking on this topic.  With respect to the LDC issue, Canada continued to examine the issue in 
light of the Secretariat's 2008 options pa per (JOB(08)/8 of 22 February 2008). 
5. The experience of the previous year had demons trated, for Canada, that services could not be 
negotiated in a vacuum.  If some momentum were to be gained, then Members had to keep their 
options open.  Tabling of revised offers would be an important mi lestone.  That needed to be preceded 
by a period of bilateral and plurilateral request offer engagement.  The request-offer approach in 
services did not require any major surgery.  What was needed was activity in place of abstinence.  
Given the work of previous years, most Members were quite familiar with the various objectives of 
the negotiations which were contai ned in bilateral and plurilateral requests, Annex C and the Chair's 
text from July 2008.  When the time came, Members ha d to be prepared to return to more intensive 
work – to start putting in text the specific outcomes of what would be inscribed in the revised offers, 
and what would be written and drafted into the fina l schedules of specific commitments.  It was to be 
hoped that this occasion would come sooner rather than later. 
6. Canada looked forward to examining in detail at  what might be contained in market access 
offers, just as it had welcomed the opportunity duri ng the previous week to start looking in detail at 
the development section of the domestic regulation text. Canada recognized the importance of the 
domestic regulation negotiations to many of its tr ading partners and were of course willing to work 
with them to ensure that these ta lks advanced in tandem with services market access and other rule-
making aspects of the DDA. The Chair could dete rmine the most appropriate timing for the next 
round of talks. 
7. The delegations of Hong Kong, China
, recalled that the previous week, a group of Ministers 
from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong China, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, 
Peru, Switzerland and Uruguay issued a communiqué  urging for the conclusion of the Doha Round 
and vigilance against protectionism.  These ministers said that ‘the Doha Round has a crucial role to 
play at this time. Concluding the negotiations will contribute to economic recovery and reinforce the 
benefits of the multilateral trading system. Re forms resulting from the Round will also provide 
valuable insurance against the threat of protectioni sm’.  To this end, the communiqué called on WTO 
Members to show political will to act on two leve ls.  They said that ‘building on progress already 
made, senior negotiators must reconve ne in Geneva to agree on a path towards the conclusion of the 
negotiations so as to start down that path before the European summer break.  At the same time, WTO 
Members must take advantage of every opportunity to engage at the political level to drive progress 
over the coming weeks and months.’  For Hong Kong, China it appeared that this sentiment of re-
engagement and the need for putting words into action were shared themes coming out of recent 
important gatherings, notably in Bali and the preceding week in Paris. 
8. For Hong Kong, China, services are an important pillar of the DDA negotiations. It attached 
great importance to having an ambitious and bala nced outcome in the services negotiations, in both 
the market access and rules components.  Of cour se, services should not and could not proceed in a 
vacuum outside of the other areas of the DDA.  The present services cluster had been held up while more clarity was sought on the way forward in othe r tracks of the negotiations.  Nonetheless, it was a 
fairly intensive week of work, with lively discussions on the sectoral papers on tourism, 
telecommunications and computer-related services prep ared by the Secretariat.  These papers were 
particularly useful in terms of an update on the recent development and trends in the various sectors. 
Hong Kong, China welcomed the reactivation of the work in the Committee on Specific 
Commitments and the Committee on Trade in Financial Services, and was prepared to participate in 
further discussions of the issues.  It supported the work plan of the Chair of the Working Party on  TN/S/M/31 
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  GATS rules to conduct informal thematic discussion on a no-prejudice basis, and thanked him for his 
initiative to continue the informal discussions in the area of subsidies.  On domestic regulation, Hong 
Kong, China was glad to proceed to the subs tantive discussion of the important section of 
development in the latest draft Chair’s text, as development was a main theme of the DDA negotiations.  The concrete exchange of ideas in th e latter part of last week’s WPDR meeting was 
particularly helpful, and was the way to go in intensifying the discussions on the draft text, and 
dealing with the gap with respect to the terms of Article VI.4. 
9. During the past week, with the participation of capital representatives, Hong Kong, China had 
participated in several bilateral meetings with individual delegations.  Although the cluster was not 
intended for full-fledged bilaterals , the meetings were nonetheless useful in exchanging views on 
issues of interest.  Hong Kong, China looked forward to further bilateral engagements in the coming 
months. 
10. The Chair was to be thanked for his report of July  2008 which, together with the results of the 
signalling conference, provided a workable basis for Members to move on.  Market access and sound rules were what Members sought to achieve in th e Round, as they complemented each other.  Hong 
Kong, China was also grateful for the Chair’s in itiative to re-energize the high-level process of the 
‘enchilada’ discussions.  It was important that wo rk continued at various  levels, as delegations 
approached the end-game scenario. 
11. The delegation of Turkey
 said that the current meeting was timely and useful, in light of 
recently-renewed political commitments to an early conclusion of the DDA negotiations.  Overcoming the current economic and financial cr ises would only be possible by open trade and 
global cooperation.  In this regard, delegations needed to continue si multaneous work in three areas in 
services trade: (1) advancing the DDA negotiations , (2) enforcing and improving the GATS system, 
and (3) preventing protectionism. 
12. Turkey was hopeful that negotiations on mark et access would soon regain momentum, in the 
face of increased political commitment.  Howeve r, it was obvious that positive developments in 
agriculture and NAMA negotiations were needed, as  well as a political impetus, in order to conduct 
meaningful market access negotiations in services trade. 
13. Multilateral rules such as the the GATS, ensured ope n and fair trade, particularly in times of 
crisis, and sound domestic regulation was complement ary to market liberalization. Turkey believed 
that domestic regulations should not function as dis guised restrictions, but to provide rules-based 
market access. Although negotiations for disciplin es on domestic regulation are interrelated with 
market access, delegations needed to continue th eir technical work to build consensus on various 
issues in the Chair’s second draft of the domestic regulation text. The recent discussion in the WPDR 
was promising in that respect. 
14. Economic crisis had increased the importance of the GATS and its proper implementation. 
Because of that, technical work relating to GA TS had also intensified. The ongoing work in the 
regular bodies and discussion of the Secretariat’s sectoral  papers were quite useful and also helpful to 
the negotiations, because they presented the state of pl ay in those sectors. A reality check exercise as 
proposed in the WPDR could be complementary to the sectoral analyses. 
15. Lastly, work on scheduling was also important and closely related to a successful conclusion 
of the DDA. The work program of the Chair of  Committee on Specific Commitments was well 
prepared, and Turkey fully supported it. TN/S/M/31 
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  16. The delegation of Chile
 said it was difficult to add anything to what has been said already by 
Canada, Hong Kong China and Turkey.  They all gave  a good diagnosis of the current situation, and 
their suggestions for moving forward were correct. 
17. Nevertheless, the delegate of Chile wished to refe r to some specific elements.  It was true that 
services throughout the long negotiations had to some ex tent been a victim of the lack of progress in 
agriculture and NAMA, and that this was the cu rrent situation – waiting once more to see what 
progress would take place in those two important areas of the negotiations.  The question was:  in the 
services negotiations, what could be done while waiti ng. In the last few weeks, delegations were 
doing what was necessary to be technically ready for a restart of substantive negotiations in services. The bilateral and multilateral meeti ngs held during the preceding week  had been important, and was a 
process that should continue in the near future. It  was important to be clear that negotiations on 
services were still very far from approaching a conc lusion, despite some delegations saying that 
services are almost done.  This was far from the reality.  Starting with what happened in the Signalling Conference last year, it was not possible to imagine that the services negotiations were 
nearing their conclusion.  This was not true – one could not compare this conference with an offer. 
18. In addition to the technical preparation/work th at had to be done in the near future, it would 
be a good thing for delegations to ask themselves, for example, whether the Hong Kong sequence was 
still appropriate.  Also, when would be the right tim e to hold a second round of revised offers?  The 
Canadian delegation had referred earlier to the impor tance of presenting these offers in the process of 
the negotiations. The work in subsidiary bodies was also beginning to acquire a certain importance, 
domestic regulations work had restar ted.  A process had been starte d in the current cluster. These 
negotiations were an essential part of the services package.  Like Canada, Chile had confidence in the 
guidance of the Chair and hoped that, when the ti me came again for substantive negotiations in 
services, delegations would be sufficiently prepared. 
19. The delegation of the Philippines
 said that the current meeting was not only important for 
transparency, but also to allow delegations to explor e a feasible way forward in the next few months.  
The Philippines was ready to engage, but that engageme nt had to be across-the- board and on all issues 
in the services negotiations.  While acknowledging the importance of services, it had also to be 
recognized that the fundamental obstacles to the DDA did not lie in the services negotiations.  In that 
respect, it would be very problematic to accept any s uggestion to revisit or rethink the sequencing that 
had been enshrined in the Hong Kong Ministerial Decl aration as well as affirmed in the Chair’s draft 
elements paper of 2008.  While some saw serv ices mainly in terms of market access opportunities 
with which to counterbalance sacrifices in agricu lture and NAMA, it was clear that Members could 
not focus on market access alone.  Progress on rules, both in domestic regulation and GATS rules – were vital both for informing the market access  package and as a complement thereto.  The 
Philippines was fully prepared to re-engage with its revised offer in services.  It was also fully 
prepared to participate in bilateral and plurilatera l discussions.  But this could only happen if greater 
vitality was given to the rules negotiations.  As st ated many times in the past, the delegation of the 
Philippines could not bring back any DDA package in services to its  constituents if there was no 
credible outcome in the rules negotiations, incl uding on an emergency safeguard mechanism. 
20. The delegation of Australia
 agreed with the Chair that, follo wing the previous week's OECD 
Ministerial and the recent Cairns Group ministerial,  there are positive signals that the negotiations 
were gathering a new momentum.  In the previous week’s meeting, ministers had affirmed that they 
were ready to intensify political and technical work  and to provide negotiators with the flexibility to 
bring these negotiations to a conclusion.  Bilateral an d plurilateral negotiations would be part of that 
multilateral process.  The take-home message for delegations in the Council was that services 
negotiators needed to be ready for a rapid increase in the pace of negotiations.  TN/S/M/31 
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  21. As delegations were aware, Australia was l ooking for a strong and ambitious outcome on 
services.  It was committed to working towards achieving that outcome across the board in the 
bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral process.  To that end, Australia welcomed the improved quality 
of engagement in services negotiations across the whol e agenda during the previous week.  All of the 
subsidiary bodies had a better level and quality of discussion, including notably in the Working Party 
on Domestic Regulation.  The delegation of Aust ralia also welcomed the enhanced informal 
engagement that it experienced in reaching out to others. 
22. As coordinator of friends of legal services, Australia led discussion on how to address a range 
of issues in that sector, including market access barriers.  Reflecting on the World Bank seminar, Australia thought that it gave an interesting pictur e of services liberalization world-wide, and raised 
some interesting questions for ne gotiators.  These included how Memb ers could replicate the level of 
liberalization elsewhere in international trade in  the WTO multilateral negotiations.  The seminar 
showed that there was a lot more that many Memb ers had already shown they could do in terms of 
market access, and it was important to think abou t how to apply that progress within the current 
negotiations.  Finally, in the Committee on Specific Co mmitments, it remained clear that a lot of work 
needed to be done in advance of concluding the Ro und. Some progress had been made in clarifying 
the issues and in establishing common ground on how Members should attempt to approach these issues in that Committee.  Given the increased momentum in the Round, it would be important to 
resolve these difficult issues s ooner rather than later. 
23.  The delegation of Korea
 reiterated the need for an early,  ambitious and balanced conclusion 
of the stalled DDA negotiations, given the curre nt global economic downturn and a growing trend 
towards protectionism.  Political commitments to this  important task had been reconfirmed in a series 
of recent ministerial meetings, including the OE CD ministerial meeting the preceding week, and 
Korea hoped that the negotiations in agricultu re and NAMA would regain momentum and be 
intensified in the near future.  Korea remained  fully committed to working together with other 
Members to achieve this urgent goal. 
24. Turning to the services negotiations, Korea belie ved that the current services cluster oriented 
toward technical discussions was useful and productiv e for Members, in that it provided a strong basis 
for the future negotiations in this Round.   In particular, the Secretar iat’s analytical papers on the three 
services sectors were a good basis for future market  access negotiations.  Such technical discussions 
on other major sectors and modes of supply would c ontinue to be conducted in the coming services 
clusters.   In addition, Friends groups in so me sectors in which Korea, as a demandeur, had 
participated had held very fruitful discu ssions about how to advance their work.  
25.  With regard to the way forward, Korea joined other colleagues in encouraging the 
continuation of technical work for the time being.  Services could not proceed in a vacuum, separately 
from other areas in the Round.  However, once th e agriculture and NAMA negotiations had matured 
through the backing of political engagements, the se rvices negotiations needed to be resumed without 
delay.  At that point, delegations needed to clarif y the signals given by Ministers in July 2008, and 
pursue further market opening through bilateral and plurilateral meetings. In the face of the global 
economic crisis, it was important to keep mark ets open and to avoid slipping backwards into 
protectionism.  
26. For Korea, another important task in the ser vices negotiations was to create a new stronger 
disciplines on domestic regulation.  While the mark et access negotiations in services were on pause, 
more efforts needed to go into the rule-maki ng negotiations in services, including in domestic 
regulation, in order to reach convergence on the re maining substantive issues.  Korea looked forward 
to working with Members and the Chair on outstanding issues. TN/S/M/31 
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  27. With regard to the LDC modalities, which was an  important part of the single undertaking, 
Korea looked forward to proposals being made by pr oponents.  Korea hoped to engage in substantial 
discussions on those in formal or in formal mode in the near future. 
28. The delegation of Chinese Taipei, on behalf of the group of recently-acceded Members 
(RAMs
), said that the efforts of the Chair in guiding the negotiating process thus far were appreciated.  
The services negotiations needed to proceed at  the same pace as the agriculture and NAMA 
negotiations.  At this juncture , while awaiting the breakthrough on agriculture and NAMA modalities, 
there needed to be a continuation of technical wo rk in the Council. Technical work would not only 
keep up the momentum in the services negotiations , but would also allow Members to be better 
prepared to engage in the end-game of th e DDA negotiations, when the much-needed political 
momentum finally arrived.  The RAMs remained fully committed to working together with other 
Members toward an early, ambitious and balanced outcome for the DDA negotiations. 
29. The delegate of Chinese Taipei , on its own behalf, noted that some two dozen Members had 
met at the margin of the OECD Ministerial mee ting the preceding week.  It welcomed the steady 
increase in the political will of major Members to intensify negotiations and bridge differences, and 
hoped that this kind of “new dynamic” in the nego tiations would translate into the Geneva process 
with all Members as soon as possible.   
30. As a demandeur in services, Chinese Taipei had participated in three services sector Friends 
meetings, in addition to five formal meetings in  this Council the preceding week.  It felt that these 
technical meetings were useful in making delegati ons ready for the final stage of the negotiations.  
Certain questions arose.  For example, how to tran slate market-opening signals into real offers?  How 
to prevent possible “rollback” in new schedules?  How to advance three areas of the GATS rules 
negotiations?  How to bridge gaps among Members in  the important issue of domestic regulations?  
All this technical work took time.  There should not be a rush to the finishing line without the necessary preparedness.  Members therefore needed to continue technical work on all fronts of the 
services negotiations while awaiting a breakthr ough in the agriculture and NAMA negotiations. 
31.  The delegation of Japan
 observed that it went without sayin g that the services negotiations 
constituted an important and crucial part of the overall DDA negotiations for Japan.  Bearing this in 
mind, Japan’s main objective of the services cluste r the preceding week was to keep and strengthen 
momentum in the services negotiations.  In this re gard, the delegation of Ja pan together with other 
demandeurs in services organized various friends m eetings, including sectoral friends meetings in 
telecom, and computer and related services.  Japan also engaged in several bilateral meetings with 
other Members to discuss the way to advance the se rvices negotiations.  Overall, Japan was of the 
view that the services cluster was helping to identif y urgent issues ahead.  One of these issues was to 
engage in technical discussions in order to be read y for any positive moves in other negotiating areas.  
Japan was open to ideas as long as they served to advance the negotiations, including sharing 
information about indicated signals at the Si gnalling Conference, or conducting bilateral or 
plurilateral meetings in an appropr iate format.  With regard to LD C modalities, Japan took the view 
that this issue had a great importance to all Memb ers of the WTO, and needed to be discussed in 
detail multilaterally.  Japan appreciated the work done in the small group format, but wanted to see 
greater inclusiveness and transparen cy in the subsequent stage of the negotiations.  Finally, Japan 
expressed its appreciation for Malaysia's recent liberalization in services.  It was worthwhile 
welcoming this news in the Special Session, as well as  the regular Council.  In this regard, it might be 
useful to exchange information about new lib eralization moves among Members in the future. 
32. The delegation of New Zealand  registered satisfaction with the current cluster.  Given the 
positive messages from Bali and more recently from  the Paris ministerial, it was important for 
services to maintain an appropriate level and releva nt programme of activity.  Specifically, technical  TN/S/M/31 
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  work relating to scheduling was welcome, and ongoi ng discussion, particularly in informals relating 
to GATS rules and domestic regula tion, would also be productive. 
33. However, the speed of overall progress in servi ces was tethered to that of agriculture and 
NAMA.  Following sufficient progress in those areas,  however, delegations needed to be ready for 
more intensive services work over the coming months  in whichever formats we re deemed appropriate 
– bilateral, plurilateral, or multilateral.  There was also useful technical work  in market access being 
conducted within Friends gr oups and this needed to continue.  New Zealand was interested to hear 
more on what others had in mind on LDC modalities. 
34. The delegation of the United States  believed that the past services week had been positive in 
many respects.  The United States had been able to discuss a number of important issues with other 
delegations.  In addition, the discussion in the re gular Council on the Secret ariat's updated background 
notes was quite useful, in particular on com puter-related services and telecommunications, 
highlighting the importance of those two key infr astructure services sectors.  Both of those sectors 
contributed greatly to the economic development in many countries.  The background notes would 
provide useful insights for future  negotiations in these sectors.  On the DDA in particular, it was 
important that friends of the various services sectors met to start planning for future market access 
negotiations when they resumed.  As the time widened between the Signalling Conference and the re-
engagement, these groups needed to advance furthe r their requests to Members at the appropriate 
moment, ensuring adequate time to negotiate a bala nced outcome.  Chile has mentioned that there is 
still a considerable amount of work that remains to  be done on services.  Delegations needed to be 
under no illusion that it would be an easy task to restar t the engine.  Delegations needed to continue to 
meet to engage in discussions, hear concerns, and identify ways to address them and advance 
technical work so that when the time came to ac tively re-engage, delegations  were ready to move 
forward.  Canada alluded to the other DDA negotia tions.  What was critical was that services did not 
become the anchor that sank everything (agricultu re and NAMA).  It was important to continue 
working, to keep the services machinery well- oiled and ready to go at the right time. 
35. The delegation of Switzerland  said that the previous week had been useful and interesting for 
all delegations.  There had been the opportunity to meet within the friends gr oup, and delegations had 
been able to cover a number of sectors in that way.   There had been the seminar with the World Bank, 
and the regular session of the Council, which was very  much appreciated.  He thanked the Secretariat 
for the papers that had been prepared, and appreciat ed in particular that the tourism sector had been 
presented, which was important for growth and de velopment within the economy.  This dimension 
was often under-estimated.  It was important to look at the figures more closely, but it was clear that 
the tourism sector was central to the world economy .  The Swiss delegation had raised the topic of 
transparency in the regular meeting of the Counc il.  Switzerland hoped that this would be a positive 
contribution within the broader framework of organi zation’s work in terms of transparency, and that 
work would continue in the same way as it h as done.  This however required some work by 
delegations. 
36. The four subsidiary bodies met during the clus ter, and here Switzerla nd concurred with the 
views of the previous delegations taking the floor.  The work had been very interesting in those 
groups, even though there had been no substantiv e progress.  But the work was committed, well-
founded, concrete and many dele gations had been ready and well-prepared for these meetings.  
37. The delegation of Switzerland welcomed the recent statement from a group of ministers 
indicating their desire to avoid protectionism.  Im plementation was now in the hands of delegations, 
who had to use the necessary instruments.  There were  three ways of looking at the situation:  the past, 
the present and the future.  Rega rding the past, there had not b een much progress because of the 
circumstances, particularly in agriculture.  If you looked at the present, this was encouraging.  
Looking to the future, however, there was still a lot of work to be done, which was worrisome.  TN/S/M/31 
Page 8  
 
  Substantial offers needed to be put on the table, be tter than those submitted so far.  This required a 
considerable amount of work.  The final phase of the negotiations were not clear at this stage.  There 
were important questions regarding specific commitmen ts.  This was work that needed to be done and 
which had been started by the Committee on Specific Commitments.  However, it had to be speeded 
up.  In the area of GATS rules, work also needed to  be done if substantive results were to be achieved, 
which was a requirement for certain delegations. 
38. With respect to the current situation, governme nt intervention of all sorts was clearly taking 
place, particularly with respect to subsidies.  It  had been recently announ ced, for example, that a 
certain WTO Member had accorded a US$9 billion subs idy in a particular sector.  This showed the 
phenomenal capacity of states to regulate and intervene.   Two years ago, many of the topics that were 
being discussed in the services negotiations we re dismissed as a non-issues of no practical 
significance.  Today, however, the assessment was quite different.  There was an increasing gap 
between the capacity of the state to intervene and th e tools available in the WTO.  This meant that in 
the Doha Round negotiations legal instruments had to  be agreed that were capable of coping with 
political or regulatory questions that were not alwa ys well understood.  This pointed to the need for 
further work in the area of domestic regulation.   
39.  The delegation of the European Communities
 said that the previous week had been devoted 
to regular activities of a technical nature, and had been useful.  The EC welcomed the discussion and 
praised the work done by the Secretariat on the sect oral review.  Technical work served to maintain 
activity, such as gaining a better knowledge of sectors.  Nevertheless, to the extent possible, it should 
also be geared towards facilitating the task  of Members once the negotiations resumed. 
40. With respect to the overall ne gotiating process, an OECD ministerial the previous week had 
resulted in an agreement to intensify work on multila teral and bilateral tracks.  It was now up to the 
Members in Geneva to define the way in which this intensification should take place.  It was clear that 
any progress on services was largely dependant on moveme nt in other areas of the negotiations.  That 
said, there should not be an exclusive focus on agriculture and NAMA.  As already said on many 
occasions, services needed to move in tandem with the two other market access pillars.  Progress in 
services would be necessary to allow Members to asse ss the value of any final package.  In this 
respect, Commissioner Ashton and the Australian Trade Minister Quinn had underlined the need to 
extend discussions on a wider range of topics than ag riculture and NAMA, and include in particular 
rules and services as the fastest growing sector of world trade.  Interestingly, the World Bank seminar held the previous week had presented a study showing that trade in services had been more resilient to 
the economic crisis than trade in goods. 
41. The work in trade in services was far from done .  Delegations needed time to conclude the 
negotiations and review schedules.  In this context, technical work could be useful to clarify aspects 
of the functioning of the GATS, and to create a mood propitious to re-engagement on services once 
the Doha Round was revitalized.  The EC was ready to engage in a negotiation sooner rather than 
later. 
42. The delegation of India
 remained committed to an ambitious  outcome in services.  Services 
was one of the three pillars of the market access negotiations, a nd it was to be hoped that other 
demandeurs continued to think the same. 
43. Along with market access, India believed that rule making was an area where an outcome was 
essential.  In particular, disciplines on domestic re gulation had been mandated and needed to be 
completed before the end of the Round.  India s uggested that the Chair of the Working Party on 
Domestic Regulation work out a tentative time-table , keeping the best case scenario in mind.  India 
also urged the Chair to issue a Job document for th e current text on the table.  In addition, India  TN/S/M/31 
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  wished to see a set of disciplines on subsidies in  services before the end of the Round.  Such 
disciplines had become essential to guard against major state intervention in the services sectors. 
44. The meetings during the previous week had been  fruitful and covered im portant ground.  The 
sectoral discussions on telecom, computers and tourism were productive and threw up a number of issues for consideration.  In particular, there was a need for a new schema of classification for telecom 
and computer-related services.  In telecom, Member s needed to explore why high rates, and high 
mobile rates in particular, persis ted in many developed countries in spite of their subscribing to the 
Telecom Reference Paper, which calls for cost-based interconnection. 
45. In the area of financial services, India noted the contribution made by Members.  Special 
mention had to be made of the proposal by South Africa and there was a need to discuss the 
implications of the financial crisis and the bailouts for developing countries.  Members also needed to 
consider whether there were potential violations of  market access commitments in financial services 
in the guise of meeting prudential requirements. 
46. India remained constructively engaged, and was open to discuss any ideas and proposals that 
were within the mandate and the negotiating modalities. 
47. The delegation of Singapore
 wished to make two points.  First, it shared the overall 
assessment of the services cluster.  There had been good engagement at the various committees and in 
the plurilateral groups.  For Singapore, services was an integral part of the final DDA package in 
terms of both the market access and rules, and it wa s keen to support further work on this.  On the 
second point, Singapore recognized that for a successful  conclusion of the DDA there needed to be a 
good and balanced outcome across all three pilla rs – agriculture, NAMA and services.  Singapore 
supported what Australia had said about the need to  be ready, especially when agriculture and NAMA 
negotiations progressed.  There was much scope for wo rk in the area of GATS rules, especially in 
domestic regulation, and on offers.   Members needed  to reflect on their offers, as there would not be 
much time when the breakthrough occurred. 
48. The delegation of Brazil  recalled that at the last session of the General Council, the Director-
General had informed Members that the "political  atmosphere" in the DDA had evolved, and there 
was now greater commitment and willingness to conc lude the negotiations.  But Members had yet to 
see how the "greater commitment" would translate into  concrete gestures in the real negotiations.  So 
far, what had been heard were strange rumours a nd whispers about how there was no clarity in the 
negotiating package achieved so far, and about the need to pursue "novel and creative" approaches to 
conclude the negotiations. 
49. Brazil believed that if you wanted to change the process you had first to identify what the 
substantive problems were.  Change in the negotia ting process needed to be conceived to address 
specific negotiating problems.  Without knowing the problems, how could one adjust the process?  Certainly services negotiations were not, and had ne ver been, the problem in the Round.  Members 
were fully in compliance with the Doha Mandate and the Hong Kong Declaration, as well as with the 
principles of progressive liberalization enshrined in Article XIX of the GATS.  Brazil recalled that 
deadlines had been met, offers and revised offers tabled, a text on services negotiated, and a signalling 
conference held.  The offers substantially expa nded sectoral coverage of existing schedules and 
provided deeper commitments in various sectors.  The major flaw in the market access negotiations was the lack of progress in sectors and modes of suppl y of export interest to developing countries. 
50. Nevertheless Brazil still heard statements that  "services negotiations are lagging behind", 
"there is not enough ambition on the offers" and "we should move beyond the signals".  The only 
explanation for those statements was that they were delivered on tactical grounds.  For some Members, to acknowledge the truth would be rather  embarrassing, because it would further expose the TN/S/M/31 
Page 10  
 
  real causes of delays for concluding the Round:  th e lack of will to reform agriculture policy and the 
lack of respect for the principle of "less than full reciprocity" in the NAMA negotiations.  To conceal 
those flaws, services was chosen as an unlik ely "scapegoat" to the problems of the DDA. 
51. In July 2008, Members had achieved a negotia ting package that was far from ideal and not 
fully complete, but it was valuable nonetheless.  It  was what realistically could be achieved under the 
circumstances and it required major sacrifices fro m many Members.  Although not perfect, the 
commercial value of that package had since increased with the prot ectionist responses to the current 
global financial crisis, as evidenced by the resumpti on of export subsidies to dairy products.  When 
some delegations proposed the "selective reopening" of  that package, they needed to be careful about 
what they wished for, mindful of the unintended consequences of their actions.  Brazil recalled that 
the services signals presented in July 2008 were cond itional on the results of the Round as a whole.  
Some signals would not materialize in the case of less than satisfactory outcomes in other negotiating 
areas.  By reopening the package in a selective fashi on, chances were that the final offers in services 
would not resemble the indications given in the Signalling Conference. 
52. Members knew where the great hurdles remained to  finishing the Round.  More than technical 
work, those problems required great political will and flexibility.  It was important not to make the 
completion of the Round more burdensome than n ecessary by insisting on imaginary problems, such 
as in the services negotiations.  The services offers on  the table were more than commensurate with 
what was envisaged in terms of agricultural reform.  It was not advisable to have developing countries 
increasing beyond what they had already have offere d in agriculture, NAMA and services.  This was 
especially true since the development component of the Round, which was one of its core principles, 
remained elusive, such as progress in Mode 4.  For Members that still envisaged the Round as an 
opportunity to legalize "zeroing" in anti-dumping, or strengthening protection through geographical 
indications, it was also worth recalling that if you wanted to have more, you n eeded to be in a position 
to offer more.  Trade negotiations were about  "give and take" not about "take and take". 
53. During the great depression of the 1930s, many  of the economic problems were made worse 
by the obsession of many central bankers with remain ing on the gold standard of exchange rates.  
Nowadays, in the midst of a similar, very sever e crisis, problems could be made worse by the 
obsession of many trade negotiators in clinging to subs idies, vested interests and closed markets that 
benefited only very few people.  It  was important not to lose sight of the importance of the conclusion 
of the Doha Round to help the world economy as a whole to recover from its deep downturn. 
54.  The delegation of Argentina
 recalled that during the previous  week delegations had started 
working at the technical level.  It was very interesting work due to the strong support provided by the 
Secretariat, which Argentina hoped would contin ue.  In discussions in the Committee on Specific 
Commitments, work had begun on very important i ssues concerning schedules.  In the Working Party 
on Domestic Regulation, delegations had contin ued working on the text, more specifically on 
questions of development.  More work on the text  was still necessary to ensure that the treatment 
given to developing countries was included in all of  the disciplines.  In the Working Party on GATS 
Rules, Argentina believed more work needed to be  done.  The new chair deserved thanks for having 
given an impetus, like the previous chair, to the wo rk taking place in this group.  It is particularly 
important to develop disciplines in the field of services, especially with respect to emergency safeguards and subsidies.  Argentina believed that the work on disciplines was lagging behind 
somewhat.  Progress in this area would be difficult  to achieve without progress in agriculture and 
NAMA.  However, as had been expressed by other delegations, it was important  to continue working 
at the technical level. 
55. The delegation of Colombia
 agreed with statements at the recent OECD ministerial meeting 
emphasizing the fundamental role of the Doha Rou nd, especially in the curr ent economic context.  
From that meeting and the more recent Cairns gr oup ministerial meeting, Colombia had understood  TN/S/M/31 
 Page 11 
 
 
  that there was a high level of political consensus in  favour of concluding the negotiations of the Doha 
Round.  Colombia had confidence that ministers would continue supporting such a stance.  It hoped that delegations would soon be able to agree to the outline of the final path to the rapid conclusion of 
the negotiations, and that this path would receive  the political support that negotiators required to 
conclude their work in an ambitious and balanced  manner.  Market access for services, although much 
had yet to be done, benefited from the existi ng agreement on negotiation guidelines and the 
presentation by several Members of revised offers.  Because of the structure and content of the 
schedules on specific commitments, a lot remained to  be done, and Colombia hoped that delegations 
would be able to find ways of focusing on the techni cal aspects that still needed work.  The same held 
true for rules in services, including domestic regulati on.  For Colombia, the latter was part and parcel 
of the services package.  Although much time had already been spent discussing its components, there 
was still the technical part that needed more attenti on.  Colombia would continue enthusiastically to 
support the work in this field so that real progress  can be made and other areas of the negotiations 
move towards a very positive conclusion. 
56. The delegation of Malaysia
 thanked Japan for its kind words.  The liberalization efforts that 
Malaysia had taken during the present crisis had been captured in the TPRB report and would be 
reflected in the Director-General's report.  The ser vices cluster meetings the previous week had  been 
useful, especially the sectoral paper discussions, a nd had provided an avenue to identify issues that 
needed to be addressed for the next  steps in the services negotiations.  Malaysia shared the views of 
others that delegations should continue work and not lose momentum. Taking note of the importance 
attached to services, and the need to be ready once modalities had been achieved in agriculture and 
NAMA, Malaysia reiterated that the report prepared by the Chairman in July 2008 and the signals that 
were provided during the Signalling Conference shoul d be the basis for further work.  Malaysia 
further stated that other areas of the negotiations needed to be given equal importance with market 
access in order to achieve a balanced, successful conclusion in services that followed the agreed 
sequencing.  Lastly, Malaysia confirmed that it was committed to working with other Members to 
achieve the desired result in the services negotiations. 
57.  The delegation of China  was fully committed to a rapid c onclusion of the Doha Round with 
an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive outcome . China agreed with other delegations that 
services negotiations were not taking place in a vac uum. In that regard, China was aware that the 
signals given by Members in July 2008 were co nditioned not only on the signals given by their 
trading partners, but also on the outcome of othe r negotiating areas in the Doha Round. Therefore the 
sequence of negotiations agreed by Members needed to be observed. 
58. Market access was just one of the component s of services negotiations. There are other 
equally important issues to be addressed. China ther efore fully supported the work plans outlined by 
the chairs of the subsidiary bodies of the Committee  on Trade in Services.   China also supported the 
negotiations on the mechanism to implement LDC m odalities.  This was an important issue, and 
China looked forward to seeing the proposal from the LDC Group. 
59.  The delegation of South Africa  said that the delegation of Brazil had encapsulated everything 
it had wanted to say on this topic, and had no further comment at this point. 
60. The Chairman  proposed and the Council agreed that it take note of the statements made, and 
revert to the item at its next meeting. 
B. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODALITIES FOR THE SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR LEAST -
DEVELOPED COUNTRY MEMBERS IN THE TRADE IN SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS  
61.  The Chairman  said that at the last informal Special  Session held in April, little progress had 
been made on the implementation of LDC modalities.  It appeared that Members had been continuing TN/S/M/31 
Page 12  
 
  to consult on the matter.  In that  regard, the Chairman emphasized his continuing availability, and that 
of the Secretariat on the technical side, to assist in  advancing the discussions.  He wished now to hear 
from delegations on any progress made  on the implementation of LDC Modalities.  In particular, what 
further work was needed to implement these m odalities?  How delegations pace their work? 
62.  The delegation of Tanzania s poke on behalf of the LDC group
.  From the LDC perspective, 
the issue of LDC modalities was of critical importanc e.  The Group had been consulting with Norway, 
but there were other countries who were interested pa rties in the consultations and they had raised a 
number of questions.  At a recent LDC group ambassa dorial meeting a consensus had been reached on 
what needed to be taken back to the small group le d by Norway.  At this point, it was preferable to 
wait until the next meeting with Norway, after which the LDC group wo uld report through the 
Enchilada and then to the membership.  The LD C group appreciated the fact that WTO Members 
eagerly awaited the results of the consultations, but Members would understand that some issues 
needed to be resolved in the small group before results could be presented to the wider membership. 
63. The LDC group wished to add to what it had alr eady said at the last Special Session in April, 
summarized in paragraphs 86-90 of document TN /S/M/30.  The group recalled that Members had 
long agreed that the implementation of the LDC modalities in the Doha Round negotiations would 
serve to boost the participation of least-devel oped countries in global trade in services.  The 
"modalities" for the special treatment of LDCs in  the services negotiations had been agreed since 
September 2003.  These modalities reaffirmed the commitment contained in GATS Art IV:3 for WTO Members to "give special priority to providing eff ective market access in sectors and modes of supply 
of export interest to LDCs".  The modalities also urged Members to help LDCs build internationally-
competitive domestic services capacity, and to improv e the poorest countries' access to international 
distribution channels and informa tion networks.  These principles were contained in the objectives 
stipulated in the GATS, the Hong Kong Ministerial D eclaration, the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the 
Guidelines and Procedures for the Negotiations on Tr ade in Services adopted by the Special Session 
of the Council for Trade in services on 28 March 2001, and Annex C of the Decision adopted by the 
General Council on 1 August 2004. 
64. The LDC group regretted the slow pace at whic h subsequent work had proceeded to make 
operational the LDC modalities.  Although minister s at the Signalling Conference in July 2008 
expressed satisfaction about the progress of the wo rk on the LDC modalities, movement since then 
had been very slow.  The LDC group therefore ca lled for developed countries (as well as developing 
countries declaring themselves able to do so) to implement the modalities and to accord "non-
reciprocal special priority" to LDCs.  Work was at  an advanced stage on a draft waiver, and the LDC 
group hoped to table a document very soon.  LDCs  wanted an outcome that resulted in security, 
stability and predictability.  As Article IV:3 alr eady existed in the GATS, the LDC group viewed the 
implementation of this provision as having a predicta ble nature within the context of the WTO.  The 
LDCs group would continue to carry out intensive technical consultations with Members, with the 
hope of seeing specific sectors of interest to LDCs in Members' revised offers and final schedules, 
allowing a successful conclusion of the negotiations. 
65. For LDCs, domestic regulation was a crucial el ement for developing their service sectors.  
This component of the GATS was important, since it facilitated trade in services by ensuring that 
measures relating to qualification requirements an d procedures, technical standards and licensing 
requirements were implemented in a transparent manne r, and that they did not constitute barriers to 
trade in services.  LDCs appreciated being exempted  from applying any future disciplines in domestic 
regulation, as well as being provided with technical  assistance and capacity building.  These actions 
helped to address LDC interests by deve loping their export regulatory capacity. 
66. In closing, the LDC group recalled that Annex C of the Hong Kong Declaration stated that all 
Members shared the same objective, namely "the bene ficial and meaningful integration of LDCs into  TN/S/M/31 
 Page 13 
 
 
  the multilateral trading system".  LDCs continued to engage positively and cons tructively on this very 
important matter. 
67. The delegation of the EC  found the presentation made by Tanzania on LDC modalities to be 
interesting and useful.  The EC recalled that it attached great importance to the development 
objectives of the DDA and to the specific issue of  developing LDC modalities in the services area.  
Paragraph 9 of the Chair's text of July 2008 set out a clear roadmap:  to complete negotiations on this 
matter before final offers were submitted.  It was worth recalling that the development of an 
appropriate mechanism was clearly a necessary part of  the services package.  This element could not 
be dissociated from the rest of the package, or a ddressed in isolation.  The EC supported the text of 
the Chairman and was ready to continue working to wards the achievement of its objectives.  The EC 
had also offered its assistance to LDCs in many occasions.  
68. The EC regretted, however, that the process so  far had lacked transp arency. This opacity 
might be detrimental to finding a consensual so lution to the LDC modalities, or might render the 
process unnecessarily complex.  At pr esent, nearly one year after July  2008, the EC had no access to 
any formal information on what the reflection group le d by Norway might be proposing.  If  and when 
information was made available, the EC would coope rate fully.    The EC would examine carefully 
the results, and contribute to improve it in a c onstructive manner.  However, there should be no 
expectation that the EC would accept the result from the Norway group as a" fait accompli".  The EC 
looked forward to seeing progress on the issue, and th e services negotiations in general, and Members 
could count on the EC to cont ribute actively to the process. 
69. The delegation of Colombia said that it was ready to continue contributing, including 
participating in the consultations, so as to move forward on the modalities for the special treatment of 
LDCs.  However, its final position could not be prejudged, and other countries should not be affected 
by any MFN exemption. 
70. Referring to the procedure of continued bilatera l and plurilateral consultations suggested by 
the delegation of Tanzania, the Chair  said he would be pleased to chai r any informal meeting in this 
context.  The Special Session could then come back to this  issue at its next formal meeting, in the 
hope that by then there would be a solution.  
71. The Chair suggested that the Council take note of  the statements made and revert to the item 
at the next meeting.  It was so agreed . 
C. WORK OF THE SUBSIDIARY BODIES – REPORTS BY THE CHAIRPERSONS  
72. The Chair  noted that the four subsidiary bodies had met the preceding week and, in the 
interests of transparency, he wished to call on any ch air of a subsidiary body who wished to do so to 
report on recent progress in their discussions. 
73. The Chair of the Committee on Specific Commitments , Jean-Marc Mignon, said that since his 
predecessor's report to the Special Session, the Comm ittee had met twice:  one informal meeting, and 
one formal meeting.  In addition, he had held exte nsive consultations with i ndividual delegations.  He 
was glad to say that the Committee had made enc ouraging progress, though more work needed to be 
done in the near future. 
74. The discussion in the Committee had focused on the relationship between old and new 
commitments.  This item had been identified by de legations as the priority of the Committee's current 
work as it concerned how commitments resulting from the current services negotiations should be 
incorporated into the GATS and therefore concerne d the legal certainty of the services schedules.  
Under this item, the Committee had addressed issues in three areas:  the role of the verification TN/S/M/31 
Page 14  
 
  exercise;  the method to incorporate new schedul es into the GATS; and possible language to be 
included in the final protocol.  Substantive discu ssion had led to a common understanding in certain 
aspects.  Delegations had shared the view that su fficient time should be guaranteed for the verification 
exercise, given its importance.  They admitted howev er that they needed to reflect further on when 
and how the exercise should be conducted.  On th e incorporating method, it was the consensus that 
Members should work based on the assumption that, at the end of the Round, each Member would 
have a single final schedule comprising all its co mmitments, the so-called replacement method.  A 
general view expressed was that under the replaceme nt method, commitments in old schedules would 
retain certain legal value when new schedules entered into force.  However, delegations differed as to  
whether and how this should be addressed in the fi nal protocol.  They also expressed different views 
as to whether certain language in the final protocol  was needed to stress that new commitments may 
not accord treatment less favourable than that accord ed by old commitments.  To facilitate future 
discussion on these issues, delegations supported the preparation by the Secretariat of a background 
note on relevant practice in the GATT, GATS a nd regional agreements.  On classification and 
scheduling issues, the Committee would continue to address them in a Member-driven manner.  
75. The Chair of the Committee on Trade in Financial Services
, Sudhir Sooklal, said that the 
Committee had held an informal ope n-ended meeting on 3 June, and a  formal meeting on 24 June.  
Unfortunately, he had no news to report on the acce ptance of the Fifth Protocol to the GATS, which 
was still being awaited from Brazil, Jamaica, and th e Philippines.  However, several new suggestions 
for further work had been made by Members. 
76. Firstly, on the basis of suggestions made by developing-country delegations in informal 
consultations, the Committee would hold dedicated discussions on Islamic finance and microfinance, 
the purpose of which was not only to get better acquainted with these issues but also (and in 
particular) to discuss trade-related issues, such as classification, trade barriers, and scheduling of 
commitments.  Secondly, the United States had put  forward a proposal (in the form of a room 
document) to discuss the liberalization of trade in non-life insurance services.  Thirdly, South Africa 
had announced its intention to submit a proposal to addr ess three issues:  1) the effects of the financial 
bail-outs and other measures taken recently by several Members on the competitive conditions of 
financial institutions;  2) the scope of the prudentia l carve-out; and  3) the possible actions that the 
Committee could take to "mitigate" the effects of th e crisis on developing countries.  Finally, Pakistan 
announced that it would submit a proposal to discuss issues related to the development of e-banking.  
Further consultations would be necessary on both the US and the South African proposals, on which 
he planned to consult in due course.  
77. The Chair of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation , Misako XXX said that since the last 
report in April 2009, the Working Party had held one informal meeting, on 4 June 2009, and one 
formal meeting, on 26 June 2009.  Further to her election as Chair, she had held individual 
consultations with more than 20 Members and a ha ndful of groups of Memb ers, including regional 
groupings.  At an open-ended informal meeting on 4 June, and the formal meeting on 26 June, she had 
reported to the Working Party on the main points th at had transpired from these consultations.  The 
first main point, which was confirmed by interven tions at these meetings, was that there were big 
differences between delegations concerning the desired level of ambition of the disciplines.  Secondly, 
there was a shared understanding that the domestic re gulation negotiations were directly linked to the 
market access negotiations, with progress – or the l ack thereof - in one area directly affecting the 
chances of progress in the other.   
78. During the two meetings, ideas had been expressed  on future work.  One idea, to conduct a 
"reality check" on the current draft of the disciplin es, had been welcomed by many delegations, as a 
complementary element of work, but not as a replace ment for technical work on the basis of the 
Chairman's second revised draft, Room Document 2160 of 20 March 2009.  She was expecting 
further concrete input on the scope a nd mechanics of such a reality check.  TN/S/M/31 
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  79. While she noted that some delegations did not consider that genuine progress was possible at 
present, a majority believed that technical work c ould usefully help advance the text.  Given this 
demand she believed it to be her responsibility as  Chair to provide a platform upon which such 
technical work could take place.  On 26 June, delega tions had a long and eventually fruitful exchange 
on the development chapter of the text.  Some indi cations led her to believe that it was possible to 
advance work on several of the elements under discussion.   
80. Her suggestion was that delegations continue with technical work by taking up another 
chapter, or other elements of the draft disciplines, at the next meeting.  She would consult in this 
regard and welcomed input by delegations on issues on which you they thought progress was 
possible.  In light of the technical comments on the development chapter, she suggested that 
delegations also revert to the issues raised on that topic. 
81. As indicated previously, she encouraged discu ssion between Members with different views.  
In that regard, she was open to convening inform al small-group meetings as and when Members 
considered this to be useful.  Absent such indica tions, it was her intention to convene the next round 
of technical discussions after the summer-break in September. 
82. The Chair of the Working Party on GATS Rules , Felipe Lopeandia, said that since its last 
report to the Special Session, the Working Party ha d met on the 22 June 2009.  At that meeting he had 
reported to delegations on the info rmal consultations that he had been conducting on future work.   
From his consultations, he had sensed that delega tions would find it useful to have "space" to 
informally explore options from a range of different  perspectives, without prejudging their outcome.   
There was a general feeling that better use could be  made of the Working Party's time by undertaking 
focused technical discussions, without prejudice to well-known positions on the respective GATS 
Rules mandates.  
83.  To help focus discussions and move beyond the impasse of repeating positions of principle, 
he proposed that the Working Party undertake a series of "topic-based" informal meetings to go 
through the elements as contained in the propo sals on emergency safeguard measures, government 
procurement and subsidies.  Members had indicated  their willingness to engage in such informal 
discussions. On emergency safeguard measures, one key issue that had been highlighted in past 
discussions had been the meaning of "domestic indus try".  The first topic-based discussion would be 
on the definition of domestic industry as contained in  attachment A of JOB (07)/155.  This would be 
followed up by discussion on the issue of "a limited window for ESM" as contained in JOB (09)/56.  On government procurement, dele gations will be going through the ma in elements contained in the 
EC proposal, contained in S/WPGR/W/54, commencing with "scope and coverage".  In the area of 
subsidies, discussions had focused on the definition of the term.   He thought it fair to say that for a 
number of reasons, delegations had no t made much headway on this subject.   Therefore, it seemed to 
be necessary to consider focusing efforts beyond a c onceptual discussion on definition.   While some 
delegations had expressed concern with the use of subsides in the current economic crisis, no proposal 
had yet been tabled.  He would continue to c onduct consultations on how this subject could be 
addressed.   Through this focused work, he believed that the Working Party would be able to prepare 
itself better for the moment when, depending on th e overall situation of the Doha Round, potential 
compromise solutions might have to be addressed.  
84. The Chair
 suggested that the Council take note of the reports made, and it was so agreed . 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
85. The Chair  said that he wished to decide on the week during which the next meeting of the 
Special Session would be held.  He  would have preferred the week of 21 September, but this wasn't TN/S/M/31 
Page 16  
 
  possible because of a WTO holiday and, during th e following week the WTO Public Forum was being 
held.  That left the week of 5 October. 
86. Since no delegation wished to intervene under this item, the Chair
 adjourned the meeting. 
__________