./.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/19/Suppl.1 
9 May 2005  
 (05-1866) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session   
 
  
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES 
 
Report by the Chairman to th e Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
Supplement  
   The Council for Trade in Services in Special  Session reconvened its meeting, begun in 
February, on 27 April 2005.  Two points were open for discussion, namely, "Proposals Relating to the 
Negotiations under Article XIX" and "Review of Progress in Negotiations, Including Pursuant to 
Paragraph 15 of the Guidelines for Negotiations".  
I. STATUS OF WORK 
1. Under the item Proposals Relating to the Negotiations under Article XIX a discussion was 
held on the basis of a room document on Regulatory Issues and Mode 4.  A number of Members 
welcomed the detailed description of the regulatory barriers faced by mode 4 service suppliers, while 
others sought an opportunity to re flect further on the legal points it raised.  Substantive discussion was 
also held on the basis of a communication from Sw itzerland on its experience with commitments in 
education services.  A number of Members noted th e clear delineation between publicly and privately 
supplied education services, as well as the possible complementarities between the two.  A number of 
Members also echoed the comments made in an oral statement by the European Communities on the 
importance of increased commitments in mode 3 to development and the achievement of satisfactory 
progress in the negotiations.  A brief report was give n on an informal "energy services week" held on 
14-18 March.      
2. With respect to the Council's Review of Pr ogress in Negotiations, In cluding Pursuant to 
Paragraph 15 of the Guidelines for Negotiations, si nce February two new offers have been received 
from Honduras and Indonesia.  The total number of  initial offers tabled is 52 representing 76 
Members.
1  Some 40 offers remain outstanding not including least-developed country Members.   
3. On services rules negotiations, this process has been largely demand driven.  The Chairman 
of the WPDR reported on 27 April on the purposeful work that is being undertaken on disciplines on domestic regulation.  New proposals touching on horizontal disciplines on transparency, technical 
standards and qualification requireme nts and procedures have been recently submitted.  The Chairman 
indicated that Members appear willing to build on  the purposeful progress made to date.  The WPDR 
has met in informal mode outside of the scheduled fo rmal clusters in order to take up these proposals.  
Some Members continue to express dissatisfaction w ith the pace of progress with respect to GATS 
Rules.  More effort will be required if Members are to report progress to Ministers.  I will continue to 
remain apprised of work on rules through my coor dination with the subsidiary body Chairs.    
                                                 
1  The European Communities' offer is counted as representing 25 Member States. TN/S/19/Suppl.1 
Page 2 
  
II. OUTSTANDING ISSUES 
4. In comments related to the review of progress, Members indicated that they remain 
dissatisfied with the considerable number of outs tanding initial offers as well as the poor quality of 
offers overall.   A large number of Members expr essed their views on the critical importance of the 
May deadline for the submission of revised offers as  a key milestone on the road to the Ministerial 
Conference in Hong Kong.  Given the considerable amount of time delegations will require to assess 
revised offers and engage sub sequently in bilateral request-o ffer negotiations, the May deadline 
affords six short months to accomplish a tremendous  amount of work before Hong Kong.  In this 
context, delays could prove detrimental to the ov erall objectives we have set ourselves in the July 
Package.   
5. Members are aware that I will need to report to the TNC on their impressions about progress 
by July and again in the fall in the context of the TNC's preparations for Hong Kong.  The numbers 
and substance of revised and outstanding initial offe rs that will have been submitted will provide the 
input for a "reality check" and will largely determin e the work that can be pursued after the summer 
and subsequent to Hong K ong.  This reality check will have an incidence on the wider DDA.  At least 
one Member stated that, if the guidelines for the negotiations, which identify the request-offer process 
as the main method of negotiation, are yielding medi ocre results, then Member s may need to re-visit 
those guidelines.   
6. In an attempt to explore possible solutions to help overcome the lack of progress, I broached 
the rather undefined notion of "benchmarks" or "targets" in services with great prudence.  Some 
Members understandably expressed reticence to discuss this topic.  It is clear that by June Members will conduct their individual assessments of the o ffers on the table, and they will recognise a 
satisfactory result when they see it.  I want to reitera te clearly that my purpose in raising the notion of 
benchmarks or targets is not to divert attention fro m the market access negotiations or to suggest that 
Members begin an immediate discussion on any collec tive exercise.  Rather, one point that I have 
repeatedly heard in my consultations with dele gations in preceding weeks is that it could prove 
helpful to identify some type of marker, formal or  informal, to help focus attention on a level of 
ambition.  A number of Members also suggested possible tools that could help Members in conducting their individual assessments.  I will engage in consultations on these suggestions. 
7. With respect to the GATS-specific S&D proposals th at have been referred to the CTS, I have 
held consultations with a broad gr oup of Members.  Further consulta tions and an open-ended informal 
meeting are planned in the coming weeks, and I will report to the Chairman of the CTD-Special 
Session in due course. 
8. I have also engaged in consulta tions with LDCs and other Memb ers in order to explore ways 
to foster increased participation of LDCs in the ne gotiation, including through setting aside time in the 
June cluster to give preferred attention to LDC concerns and requests.  An open-ended informal 
meeting is planned in order to discuss implementa tion of the Modalities for the Special Treatment for 
LDCs. 
9. The next cluster of formal services meeti ngs will be held from 20 June to 1 July. 
__________