. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/WPDR/M/37 
31 October 2007 
 (07-4730) 
Working Party on Domestic Regulation  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2007 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
  
1. The Working Party on Domestic Regulation (W PDR) held its thirty-seventh meeting on 
17 September 2007.  The meeting was chaired by Mr . Peter Govindasamy of Singapore.  The agenda 
for the meeting was contained in Airg ram WTO/AIR/3063, dated 5 September 2007. 
2. No points were raised under Other Business. 
A. DEVELOPMENT OF REGULATORY DISCIPLINES UNDER GATS ARTICLE VI:4 
3. The Chairman
 read a statement concerning the process of informal consultations he was 
conducting on the draft text of regulatory disciplin es pursuant to Article VI:4 of the GATS he had 
circulated on 18 April 2007. 
4. He recalled that this text was the outcome of extensive discussi ons that he had conducted with 
Members and that in addition to Members’ nego tiating proposals, this text was guided by the 
imperative of finding a balance between regulatory autonomy and meaningful Article VI:4 
disciplines.  He added that the elements in the te xt broadly represented his estimation of what WPDR 
Members would find acceptable as disciplines.  
5. He said that since April 2007, Members had co mpleted two readings of the text: a first 
general reading and a second one, which involved a para graph-by-paragraph consideration of the text.  
He stressed that the consultations on the text had been conducted through an open, transparent  and 
inclusive process.  While a broad cross-section of the membership, including coordinators of a 
number of developing country groupi ngs, had participated in his consultations, these remained open to 
any Member that wished to participate.  He added that, in addition to these c onsultations, he had also 
met with Members on several occasions, either indivi dually or in regional group settings.  He said that 
over the past few months he had found the cons ultations and the feedback by developing country 
groups particularly useful. 
6.  Regarding the matters addressed in the consu ltations, he said that Members had contributed 
with several ideas and drafting suggestions, which ha d been extensively discussed and debated.  He 
noted that views continued to differ on some paragraphs, and that he had suggested some 
improvements to the text to facilitate Members’ consideration, based on his estimation of what 
Members would find acceptable in these negotiations.  He said that while he expected Members to 
have taken good notes of the discussions held during th e consultations, he had nevertheless circulated 
hard copies of the drafting suggestions made for easier reference. 
                                                      
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/37 
Page 2  
 
  7.  He informed Members that he planned to continue the informal consultations on the 
remaining section relating to development immediately after this formal meeting.  He pointed out that 
this was a very important section and said that he looked forward to some good discussions on this 
section. 
8. Regarding the next steps, he said that in his view the WPDR was moving in the right 
direction, although more work still lay ahead.  He not ed that, like Members, he needed to reflect on 
the discussions and on drafting suggestions which ha d been made on the various sections.  In this 
regard, he suggested that he might prepare a revisi on of the text at an appropriate time, taking into 
account the discussions held during the consultations.  As indicated by some Members, he noted that 
such a revision might also be useful for the purpose of domestic consultations.   
9.  He concluded by saying that he was fully aw are of the need to appropriately pace the WPDR 
negotiations so that they were broadly in concert wi th the overall negotiations.  He pointed out that at 
this stage Members still faced a lot of technical work and strongly encouraged Members to discuss 
among themselves possible ways forward on the differ ent issues, based on the suggestions they had 
made in the consultations. 
 
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