. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/28 
31 July 2006 
 (06-3691) 
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  
 
 
Since my last report to the Trade Negotiating Committee in April, th e Council for Trade in 
Services in Special Session met informally on 8 May, and formally on 24 May and 23 June 2006.  
I. REVIEW OF PROGRESS 
1. Fifteen groups met for the second time from 15 – 23  May to continue plurilateral negotiations 
in accordance with Annex C of the Hong Kong Decl aration. Intensive bilateral talks took place during 
this period as well. While Members continued to disc uss technical issues and exchange information in 
a very positive spirit, they admitted that these mee tings were not as productive as the previous round 
in March and April. They noted that lack of pr ogress in other areas of negotiations (especially in 
agriculture and NAMA) had impact on the services  negotiations.  Although some Members stressed 
that the services negotiations were important in th eir own right and should go ahead in accordance 
with the Hong Kong mandate, others  made it clear that their ability to make services commitments 
would depend on progress outside of the services ne gotiations. Nevertheless, Members all agreed that 
the momentum generated in the services negotiati ons should be maintained. A number of Members 
indicated that they were holding domestic consulta tions with a view to submitting their revised offers 
by the end of July, as set out in the Hong Kong Declaration.   
2. Members noted that the implementation of the LDC Modalities was an important subject in 
the services negotiations. They particularly noted th at mechanisms for according special priority to 
LDCs under Article IV:3 of the GATS shall be devel oped and completed before 31 July of this year 
as set out in the Hong Kong Declaration. They recogni zed that if they were to  meet the deadline, they 
would need to agree on a text as soon as possible . While substantive discussions were held in both 
formal and informal meetings, based on the text  submitted by the LDC Group, Members still had 
divergent views on a number of important issues relating to the implementation of the LDC 
Modalities. In addition, the delegation of Zambia  on behalf of the LDC Group presented the group's 
collective request in Mode 4, contained in Job (06)/155. The LDC Group requested Members to make 
commitments in four categories of natural persons , with each category applying to a number of 
specified sectors of export interest to this group. 
3. With regard to the subsidiary bodies, the Chai r of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation 
(WPDR) reported that Members ha d continued to hold  substantive discussions on the proposals, 
including proposed legal texts, with regard to regulatory disciplines under Article VI:4 of the GATS 
with a view to fulfilling the Hong Kong minister ial mandate.  While the submission of new and 
revised proposed texts generated considerable mome ntum in negotiations, the Working Party was still 
facing the arduous task of bridging important gaps among delegations on the content of the 
disciplines.  The Working Party on GATS Rules (WPGR) continued its discussions on emergency 
safeguard measures, subsidies and government procur ement.  While a number of issues had been 
raised and discussed, overall, there was not much cha nge in the long-held positions on various issues.  TN/S/28 
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  The Committee on Specific Co mmitments (CSC) took note of the Chairman's suggestion of editorial 
conventions for the submission of the second round of revised offers. The Committee also held 
discussions on the relationship between old and new commitments, the scheduling issue of residency 
requirements, as well as classification issues.  
II. FUTURE WORK 
4.  The next formal meeting of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services is to take 
place on 14 July 2006. 
 
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