RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/W/37 
S/CSC/W/46 24 February 2005 
 
(05-0771) 
Council for Trade in Services 
Special Session Committee on Specific Commitments Original:   English 
 
  
COMMUNICATION FROM AUSTRALIA, CANADA, CHILE, THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES, JAPAN, KOREA, NEW ZEALAND, SINGAPORE, SWITZERLAND, THE 
SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU 
AND THE UNITED STATES 
 
Joint Statement on Legal Services
 
  
 The following communication, dated 22 February  2005, from the delegations of Australia, 
Canada, Chile, the European Communities, Japan, Ko rea, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the 
Separate Customs Territory of Ta iwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the United States is being 
circulated to the Members of th e Council for Trade in Services. 
 
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 1. We, the co-sponsors, wish to convey to the wider membership points of convergence on 
issues discussed in the informal Frie nds group on legal services.  It is  noted that Members participated 
in discussions in the group without prejudice to the position of their respective governments on the 
use of the Central Product Classification or the questi on of whether and how they  intend to liberalise 
trade in legal services in the Doha Round. 
2. Taking into consideration that WTO Members have used a number of different 
 approaches to schedule specific commitments on legal services, we believe that: 
 
(a) The use of different approaches is linked to the fact that the disaggregation of 
provisional UN CPC 861 codes, to which th e W/120 refers, into lower-digit levels 
fails to accommodate the practical nature of  international trade in legal services. 
(b) Provided that the nature and scope of Memb ers' commitments are made clear by the 
use of well-defined and underst ood terminology, the lack of uniformity in approaches 
to scheduling commitments should not, in and of itself, undermine the value of GATS 
commitments on legal services. 
(c) Two resolutions of the International Bar Association (IBA), on General Principles 
for the Establishment and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers  (June 1998) and the 
resolution in Support of a System of Terminology for Legal Services for the Purposes 
of International Trade Negotiations (September 2003) provide useful reference points 
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 - the regulation of foreign lawyers through the adoption of either a Full 
Licensing  approach or a Limited Licensing  approach or an appropriate 
combination of both, and 
- terminology  commonly used and understood in the context of international 
trade in legal services. 
(d) Members undertaking commitments for legal services maintain the right to require 
that suppliers of a specific legal service fulfil qualification and/or licensing requirements to provide that specific legal service. 
(e) Noting the principle of progressive liberalisation, we recognise the right of Members 
to make full use of the flexibility provid ed by the GATS to schedule commitments on 
legal services in a manner that appropria tely reflects their domestic situation. 
(f) The practice of domestic law (host country la w) and the practice of international and 
foreign law, in addition to being often s ubject to different regulatory requirements 
such as either a Full Licence or a Limited Licence regime in terms of qualification 
and licensing requirements, also tend to be s ubject to different levels of liberalisation 
in terms of market access and national treatment limitations. 
(g) Where a Limited Licence regime is applied, transparency can be enhanced by a clear 
indication in the schedules of the scope of the services that are allowed for holders of a Limited Licence. 
(h) Where possible, the capacity for foreign lawy ers or law firms to either employ or 
form commercial association with host country lawyers or law firms should be 
considered so as to facilitate the provision of legal services sought by clients covering multiple (domestic, foreign and international) jurisdictions. 
 
3. To provide maximum flexibility to Memb ers in scheduling commitments on legal 
 services, we suggest that:  
A. WTO Members use the following terminol ogy to identify specific legal services: 
 
(i) Legal advisory services : includes provision of advice to and consultation with 
clients in matters, including transac tions, relationships and disputes, 
involving the application or interpretati on of law; participation with or on 
behalf of clients in negotiations and othe r dealings with third parties in such 
matters; and preparation of documents governed in whole or in part by law, 
and the verification of documents of any kind for purposes of and in accordance with the requirements of law. Does not include advice, 
consultation and documentation servi ces performed by service suppliers 
entrusted with public functions, such as notary services. 
(ii) Legal representational services : includes preparation of documents intended 
to be submitted to courts, administra tive agencies, and other duly constituted 
official tribunals in matters involving  the application and interpretation of 
law; and appearance before courts, administrative agencies, and other duly 
constituted official tribunals in matters involving the application and  TN/S/W/37 
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 interpretation of the specified body of law.1 Does not include documentation 
services performed by service suppliers en trusted with public functions, such 
as notary services. 
(iii) Legal arbitration and conciliation/mediation services : preparation of 
documents to be submitted to, prep aration for and appearance before, 
arbitrators, or mediators in any dispute involving the application and interpretation of law. Does not include  arbitration and conciliation/mediation 
services in disputes for which law has not a bearing which fall under services incidental to management consulting. As a sub-category, International legal 
arbitration and conciliation/mediation services refers to the same services 
when the dispute involves parties from two or more countries. 
(iv) Legal services: includes "legal advisory services" as defined in (i), "legal 
representational services" as defined in (ii), "arbitration and conciliation/mediation services" as define d in (iii) and legal advisory and 
legal documentation and certification se rvices performed by service suppliers 
entrusted with public functions, such as notary services. 
B. Members retaining different levels of liber alisation for the practice of domestic law (host 
 country law) and for the practice of intern ational and/or foreign law use the following 
 terminology to qualify the scope of their commi tments in the sectoral coverage column of 
 their schedules and/or to list specific limitations in the market access and/or national 
 treatment columns: 
 
(i) Domestic law (host country law) : in the context of a WTO Member 
scheduling commitments, the law of th e territory of the specific Member 
scheduling those commitments. 
(ii) Foreign law : in the context of a WTO Member scheduling commitments, the 
law of the territories of WTO Members and other countries other than the law of the territory of the specific Member scheduling those commitments. 
(iii) International law : includes law established by international treaties and 
conventions, as well as customary law. 
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1  The inclusion of representational services before administrative agencies and other duly constituted official 
tribunals within the context of legal services does not necessarily mean that a li censed lawyer must supply 
such services in all cases. The precise  scope of services subject to licensing requirements is subject to the 
discretion of the relevant regulatory authority.