RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/WPGR/M/34
10 October 2001
(01-4965)
Working Party on GATS Rules
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 3 OCTOBER 2001
Note by the Secretariat
1. The Working Party on GATS Rules held its thirty-fourth meeting under the chairmanship of
Mr. Hugo Cayrus, from Uruguay.  The agenda for the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1620.  It
consisted of six items:  negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X;  negotiations on subsidiesunder GATS Article XV;  negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII;  annual
report on the activities of the Working Party to the Council for Trade in Services;  date of the next
meeting;  and other business.  The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
A. NEGOTIATIONS ON SAFEGUARDS UNDER ARTICLE X OF THE GATS
2. The Chairperson drew attention to a Synopsis he had circulated on his own responsibility at
the beginning of August (JOB(01)/122).  The Synopsis was an attempt to provide a structured
overview of different options made with respect to core elements of a possible safeguard mechanism
which had been discussed by Members on the basis of the ten items proposed in the Chairperson's
Checklist, Job No. 1979/Rev.1.  He recalled that, dur ing the last informal meeting, on 25 September,
Members had had an extensive exchange of views on these topics listed, and had addressed in apreliminary manner an informal Communication from Mauritius on Emergency Safeguard Measures
(JOB(01)/143) as well as an informal Communication from Venezuela on Causality Link
(JOB(01)/101/Add.1).
1  He noted that three additional written contributions had been received since
the last informal meeting:  New Zealand on Situations justifying an Emergency Safeguard Action ,
(JOB(01)/146);  Argentina on Elementos para establecer una salvaguardia de emergencia en
servicios , (JOB(01)/148);  and the United States  had presented a formal communication on
Desirability of a Safeguard Mechanism for Services:  Promoting Liberalization of Trade in Services ,
(S/WPGR/W/37).  He suggested to turn to inform al mode to discuss these various contributions.
3. The Chairperson said that the next formal mee ting of the Working Party had been tentatively
scheduled on 3 December.  He recalled that, during the informal meeting on 2 July, he had mentioned
that, in view of the negotiating deadline of 15 March 2002, the Working Group should meet at the end
of November in order to discuss the organization of future work, including the possibility of workingon a text.  Therefore, he intended to hold an informal meeting on 23 November.  In the meantime, he
would welcome any suggestions from delegations.  On 23 November, an opportunity would also be
given to address substantive issues.  In his view , work would need to be very intensive between
November 2001 and the expiration of the deadline.
B. 
NEGOTIATIONS ON SUBSIDIES UNDER ARTICLE XV OF THE GATS
4. The Chairperson said that, in the absence of new contributions, delegations were invited to
address the issue of subsidies on the basis of the Chairperson's Checklist contained in Job
No. 4519/Rev.1 (6 October 2000).  Delegations coul d comment on any point of that list.  He also
invited comments on how to continue work under this agenda item in the coming months.
                                                     
1 See Note by the Secretariat, JOB(01)/150 dated 10 October.S/WPGR/M/34
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5. No delegation intervened under this agenda item.
C. NEGOTIATIONS ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT UNDER ARTICLE XIII OF THE GATS
6. The Chairperson proposed that delegations should continue their general exchange of views
on any aspect of government procurement of services.
7. The representative of the European Communitie s referred to the statement made by her
delegation at the last formal meeting of the Working Party.  Work on emergency safeguard measures
should not preclude progress on the other two items of the agenda.  With respect to government
procurement, this Working Party (WPGR) should not duplicate the work of the Working Group on
Transparency in Government Procurement (WGTGP),  but complement it.  She suggested that WPGR
could focus on issues directly linked to the procurement process, such as qualifications of bidders.
This issue was dealt with in WGTGP, but only to  ensure that transparency was achieved.  WPGR
could go further and examine, for instance, the foll owing questions:  what limitations, if any, should
there be to the criteria used?  To what extent could the purchaser require that a service supplier
demonstrate "technical capability"?  Should there be rules stating how technical capability could be
demonstrated?  Should the purchasing entity be able to require that a service supplier be established in
the country?  Are there any general grounds for excluding service suppliers from eligibility, e.g.
bankruptcy, severe professional misconduct?` She also  drew attention to two Notes by the Secretariat,
circulated in November 2000, which had never been really discussed and suggested that they be
examined in the Working Party (Job No. 7053 and Job No. 7072).
8. The representatives of Chile, Australia,  Switzerland , New Zealand , Hong Kong, China
concurred that government procurement was an important area and that the Working Party should
devote more time to it.  The representative of Chile sought further clarification regarding the
European Communities' suggestion to work on qualifications of bidders.  The representatives ofSwitzerland and Hong Kong, China
 were ready to explore the suggestion made by the European
Communities.  Replying to Chile, the representati ve of the European Communities said that the idea
was to examine what kind of additional rules would be necessary to assess the qualifications of
bidders and what kind of limitations could be put in place.
9. The representative of Mexico said that the Working Party should discuss the scope of the
mandate contained in GATS Article XIII.
D. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT
10. The Chairperson drew attention to the draft A nnual Report of the Working Party, which had
been circulated as document S/WPGR/W/36.  This document was mainly of a factual nature.
11. The representative of Venezuela said that paragraph 5 of the draft report did not really reflect
the real situation with respect to government proc urement.   The paragraph stated that "discussions
have continued on definitional as well as on possible multilateral disciplines".  In her recollection,
however, no such discussions had taken place during the last months.  Moreover, the Spanish versionreferred to "debates", while the word "discusiones" would be more correct.
12. The representative of the European Communities suggested that a sentence might be added to
paragraph 5 which would indicate that several delegations had stressed the importance of pursuing
work on the issue of government procurement.
13. The Working Party took note of the statements made and adopted  the Annual Report.S/WPGR/M/34
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E. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
14. The Chairperson indicated that the next formal meeting of the Working Party had been
tentatively scheduled for 3 November 2001.
F. OTHER BUSINESS
15. Nothing was raised under this agenda item.
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