WRITTEN QUESTION E-3656/98

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE) to the Commission

(7 December 1998)

Subject: EU-WTO multilateral negotiations

One issue in EU-WTO relations, which specifically affects the service sector, remains outstanding, in that thus far no agreement has been reached in the negotiations on maritime transport, air transport and the audiovisual sector.

In the Commission's view, what type of strategy should the EU employ in order to ensure that agreement is reached at the EU-WTO multilateral negotiations, due to begin within a year?

Answer given by Sir Leon Brittan on behalf of the Commission

(15 January 1999)

The Community aims at achieving a comprehensive negotiation, covering all issues and services sectors with no a priori exclusions. However, it would be premature to establish at this stage a precise set of priorities - in particular sectoral priorities - and the Commission is not yet in a position to assess in detail any negotiating objective for the forthcoming round of multilateral negotiations. In this respect, intensive consultations have recently been launched with Member States and industry, especially in the sectors of transport and audio-visual. In these sectors, an agreement was reached at the end of the Uruguay round, but of limited scope.

It must be acknowledged that transport services are currently not covered by the General agreement on trade in services (GATS) in an appropriate manner. More precisely, although maritime transport services are included in the scope of the GATS as a result of the Uruguay round, no agreement was reached on specific commitments which would guarantee a satisfactory degree of liberalisation in this services area. Therefore, at this stage, the GATS basic liberalisation principles (the market access and national treatment principles) are not effectively applied. There will be an opportunity for improvement in this situation since maritime transport services negotiations are expected to be resumed in the framework of the new round.

In air transport, the coverage of the GATS currently does not include traffic rights and services that are directly related to their exercise. Consequently, bilateral agreements still regulate the international supply of air transport services. During the Uruguay round, most World trade organisation (WTO) members only offered commitments on the auxiliary air transport services that are listed in the annex on air transport services to the GATS (aircraft repair and maintenance services, computer reservation system services, selling and marketing of air transport services).

The audio-visual sector is also covered by the GATS as a result of the Uruguay round. However, during the Uruguay round the Community and its Member States did not make any commitments on audio-visual services and made a number of exemptions from the GATS MFN (most-favoured nation) principle, in order to preserve their respective audio-visual policies. The same approach has been followed by a large majority of WTO members. Currently a consultation process has been launched for this sector and the results will be taken into account in preparation of the strategy for the forthcoming multilateral negotiations in WTO.