World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/25
2 November 1999 (99-4741) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 8 OCTOBER 1999

Note by the Secretariat

The Working Party on GATS Rules held its twenty-fifth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr.
It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
Concepts of injury and causality
The Chairman proposed to focus the discussion on potential injury and causality indicators which might be used in any sort of safeguard mechanism, irrespective of whether it was sector-specific or horizontal, or any other variant under consideration.
While the United States remained prepared to engage in a general discussion, he wished to reiterate that delegations should attempt to describe real-life situations, which could assist the Working Party in reaching some kind of common understanding on appropriate indicators or criteria.
Her authorities were asking for more concrete examples so as to better understand the desirability and scope of various criteria when applied to specific situations.
Although it was likely that, if there were such examples, they might already have been raised in the GATS Council under Article X.
In summing up the discussion, the Chairman noted that Members acknowledged the particular importance of trade and injury indicators, irrespective of what safeguard mechanism would be in place.
He noted that it might be difficult to arrive at an early consensus on indicators until the Working Party started examining their use in concrete - real-life or hypothetical - situations.
Horizontal versus sector-specific safeguards
The Chairman noted that the Working Party had agreed, at its last meeting, to focus on the criteria and principles which would need to govern any type of safeguard action, regardless of the basic mechanism (sector-specific, horizontal or other) which might ultimately be chosen.
Would foreign-owned suppliers, which were already established under mode 3, continue to have exactly the same rights as any other domestically established supplier – including the right to expand their market shares through take-overs, mergers, new investment, etc.
With respect to the proposed clear specification of the measure, the US paper was more specific than the Hong Kong, China paper; in ASEAN's view, rules in services might go a step further than those in the goods sector by specifying the particular safeguard measures that might be applied if the investigation established injury caused by increased consumption of foreign services.
The history in the goods area, predating the existence of the AS, showed that when governments were faced with requests from industries to provide relief, they would look at the various options available to them, including GATT Article XIX and Article XXVIII.
The representative of Hong Kong, China said that the objective of the paper previously presented by his delegation was to see whether a mechanism not open to abuse could be set up and be workable.
With respect to degressivity, there was a need to examine the relationship with the principle of temporary application: if a safeguard action was temporary and short, degressivity might not be relevant.
while many Members had expressed the view that it should be possible in safeguard cases to suspend commitments under Article XVIII, others had raised doubts as to whether this should include the suspension of regulatory principles (e.
He thought it would be useful to have more background information and suggested that the Secretariat look at other papers, for instance in the area of investment, where services subsidies might have been discussed.
Entities having some exclusive rights, without being directly controlled by the government, might be an obstacle to market access, but should not raise procurement-related issues, especially if there was no government ownership.
The representative of New Zealand recalled that the paper presented by his delegation was an attempt to explore possible areas of common understanding in the application of fundamental WTO principles to government procurement in services.
In this regard, New Zealand acknowledged that Members, whilst seeking the best price or the economically most advantageous tender, might wish to ensure that domestic suppliers were not overlooked and had a full and fair opportunity to compete.
The representative of Canada agreed that the Working Party should proceed on parallel tracks and, in doing so, examine the questions raised in the New Zealand paper as well as any other pertinent issues.
At this stage, the Working Party should be focusing on more general procurement disciplines rather than pursuing the type of sectoral approach adopted in the Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services.
Date of the next meeting
The Chairman proposed that, in view of the preparation of the Seattle Ministerial Conference, the Working Party should hold its next meeting early next year, at a date to be announced in due course.
other business
The Chairman said that the decision not to schedule an additional meeting this year had implications for the Annual Report which had to be submitted to the Council for Trade in Services.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/24
8 September 1999 (99-3731) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 27 JULY 1999
Note by the Secretariat

The twenty-fourth meeting of the Working Party of GATS Rules was chaired by Mr.
It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
speaking on behalf of ASEAN, said that a safeguard measure should be applied only after an investigation looking into all relevant factors of an objective and quantifiable nature.
The representative of Japan expressed reservation about the emphasis that some other Members had placed on the need for flexibility; clear procedures and criteria were required to arrive at objective and transparent decisions.

The representative of the United States said that the Venezuelan paper was useful in identifying how a possible emergency safeguard mechanism could be structured; concepts like increased imports, injury and causality were essential.
For example, should it matter if macroeconomic problems had played a role or an industry's capacity to adjust had been affected by government regulation rather than own weaknesses?
The representative of the United States noted that, depending on the relevant causality standard, the responsibility to prove that injury had been caused by increased imports, rather than by a change in government regulation, might rest on the invoking party.
These included the requirement to give adequate advance notice before invocation; use safeguards only temporarily and with a specified maximum period of duration; limit access to a given safeguards-type provision – for example, once during the course of a specified period of time – and prevent re-invocation during the specified period; apply safeguards on a degressive basis; clearly specify the envisaged action by mode and sector or sub-sector; respect "established rights" (although a different term was used in the paper) if limits were imposed on mode 3; and waive compensation if the rules are respected.
He sought further clarification on the "hybrid" approach proposed by the United States delegation, in particular on the question whether general framework rules would apply across all sectors while the measures would be sector-specific.
Several elements listed in the United States' paper should be used, such as adequate advance notice; degressive and temporary application; maximum duration (with special treatment for developing countries); MFN application; and objective and identifiable criteria.
A safeguard mechanism would be in place to respond speedily to emergency cases, which could be addressed and solved within a relatively short period of time, whereas Article XXI modifications dealt with longer-term changes in competitive conditions of a systemic nature.
Their application might prove more transparent, more predictable and less distortive from a supplier's perspective than, for example, quotas, while quotas might be deemed less costly and more efficient from the invoking country's perspective.
While its Article 5 prescribed the level at which any quantitative restrictions should be set, Article 6 provided that provisional safeguard measures be price-based.
he added that, given that the main purpose was to remedy injury (or threat thereof) caused by increased imports, quota-type restrictions tended to have shorter implementation periods and produce immediate results.
ITEM B: NEGOTIATIONS ON SUBSIDIES UNDER ARTICLE XV OF THE GATS
The Chairman drew the Working Party's attention to a recent submission from Hong Kong, China under the information exchange programme pursuant to Article XV.
This could help to clarify the meaning of national treatment under modes 1 and 2 and, in turn, might enable Members to schedule more significant commitments for national treatment especially under these modes.
Government procurement was thus considered to include all three categories in the hierarchy Australia had originally suggested: first, government purchases of services for consumption by the government; second, government purchases of services for consumption by the public; and, third, contracts between the government and private companies for the commercial provision of services to the public or to industry.
At previous meetings, it had been said that, in principle, entities at all government level should be covered, and that government ownership and control were important criteria.

ITEM D: DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is scheduled to take place in the vicinity of the October meetings of the Committee on Government Procurement and the Transparency Working Group, possibly on Friday, October 8, 1999.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/23
6 July 1999 (99-2785) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 21 JUNE 1999

Note by the Secretariat


The twenty-third meeting of the Working Party of GATS Rules was chaired by Mr. Siva Somasundram of Singapore. The agenda of the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1110. It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS, including the extension of the deadline for the negotiations; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
2. The Chairman indicated that he had circulated a Note, Job No. 3432 dated 14 June 1999, to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting. The Note recapitulated where the Working Party stood on its three negotiating issues and proposed a certain structure for the discussion.


ITEM

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/21
7 May 1999 (99-1882) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 16 APRIL 1999

Note by the Secretariat

The twenty-first meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Mr.
It consisted of six items: installation of new chairman; negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
He gave a brief summary of points raised during the informal discussion held on 24 March in the Working Party: First, it was generally agreed that work should continue on the basis of the "List of issues for future discussion" contained in a Secretariat Note of November 1998 (S/WPGR/W/27).

Second, the notions of temporariness and degressivity of safeguard actions appeared to be broadly accepted as well; Article 7 of the Agreement on Safeguards (AS) might provide a model.
the delegation of Japan had proposed at the previous meeting a distinction between three principal approaches for safeguards: (i) horizontal (available to all Members in standard format across all sectors); (ii) sector-specific (available to all Members in sector-specific format); and (iii) sector-specific/scheduled safeguards (available only if included in schedules).
The representative of the European Communities observed that ex-ante safeguards required reasonably precise information on the situation to be addressed, while an ex-post mechanism could be more general and, thus, cater for unforeseen circumstances.
(ii) Situations justifying the application of safeguards measures
The representative of Thailand, on behalf of ASEAN, mentioned a situation where, as a result of unforeseen developments and of GATS obligations, a Member's market was inundated by foreign services supplied via commercial presence and/or presence of natural persons.
Those terms suggested that the mechanism was meant to cope with situations that were unexpected when the commitments were made; there was no need to repeat this notion in the Safeguards Agreement.
rapid technological changes might permit developed countries to supply services electronically through mode 1 although such supplies had not been considered feasible at the time of scheduling.
The Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT (Antidumping Agreement) thus provided for flexibility and allowed injury determinations to be based, for instance, on concepts such as constructed value, best information available, and even consultations with affected Members during an investigation.
The representative of Venezuela gave examples of indicators that could be used in establishing injury: losses experienced by domestic suppliers; decline in capacity utilisation; capacity reductions; decline in sales in a sector; reduction in productivity; reduction in prices or changes in the structure of prices; declining number of domestic suppliers; and decreasing employment in the sector concerned.
The representatives of Canada and the United States reiterated their delegations' basic position concerning the desirability of safeguards; however, the discussion of feasibility issues might provide helpful insights in this context.
The representative of Thailand, on behalf of ASEAN, noted that special and differential treatment for developing countries was consistent with the objectives of the GATS; Article 9 of the AS would be of relevance.
ITEM C: NEGOTIATIONS ON SUBSIDIES UNDER ARTICLE XV OF THE GATS
The Chairman recalled the two issues which had been raised in the preparatory Notes for previous meetings: the applicability of current GATS disciplines to either "import-substituting" or "export-enhancing" subsidies.
Without prejudging Japan's position, he noted the different forms that they might take: (a) a contract between a government agency and a private company for the purpose of developing natural resources; (b) a government contract with a private company for the purpose of constructing and managing industrial sites,
Examining the question of what constituted "governmental purposes" would help to clarify which concessions could be considered government procurement and which would be subject to normal GATS disciplines.
A footnote to the Guidelines stated that the terms property and services covered all goods and services, including: consultancies and professional services of all types; real property activities; construction and related services; financial and operating leases for equipment and real property; individual and collective training and educational programmes; services obtained from public utility suppliers; and outsourcing or contracting,
The representative of the European Communities mentioned a recent draft document on the treatment of concession under Community law which could be of interest to other delegations (Draft Interpretative Document on Treatment of Concessions under Community Law; Official Journal of the EC, C94, 7 April 1999).
The representative of the United States said that it was apparent from the Secretariat's Note that the existing precedents (negotiating history or dispute panels) did not provide sufficient guidance for the interpretation of the relevant terms in GATS.
He observed that there was no authoritative WTO interpretation of the term; the existing interpretations by various GATT/WTO bodies of Articles III:8 and XVII:2 of GATT were, however, useful.
The representative of the United States emphasised that, although the panel arrived at a questionable conclusion, its report illustrated some of the difficulties implied in defining government procurement of services, as in many cases government contracts combine the supply of goods and services.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/20
17 March 1999 (99-1072) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 19 FEBRUARY 1999

Note by the Secretariat


The twentieth meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Mr. Harald Fries of Sweden. The agenda of the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1009. It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
The Chairman indicated that in order to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting he had circulated a Note, Job. No. 772 dated 10 February 1999. The Note recapitulated where the Working Party stood on the three issues and proposed a certain structure for the discussion.
ITEM A: NEGOTIATIONS ON SAFEGUARDS UNDER ARTICLE X OF THE GATS

The Chairma

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/19
21 January 1999 (99-0216) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 1 DECEMBER 1998

Note by the Secretariat

The nineteenth meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Mr.
It consisted of six items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; report on the activities of the Working Party to the Council for Trade in Services; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
The representative of Egypt indicated that any safeguard mechanism should combine elements contained in Article XIX of GATT 1994, Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture, and Article 6 of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
The policy background was very different in agriculture and while there was no injury requirement, invocation of the Article relied on a considerable amount of empirical information which was lacking in the case of services.
The representative of Japan voiced concerns regarding the non-MFN basis of this mechanism but regarded as positive that the burden of proof was placed on the country imposing safeguards.
Definition and scope of safeguards in services
The representatives of Australia and the European Communities said that safeguard measures should be applied by the Members themselves, whether via government regulation or delegated powers.
The representative of Brazil felt that no distinction should be made between national and foreign own investment, and action should affect only new entrants.
While it could be argued that foreign suppliers might then focus on unrestricted modes, this possibility should not be overestimated, given the costs involved in switching between modes.
Type of injury
The representative of the European Communities noted that the Members arguing in favour of safeguards had failed so far to give compelling examples of situations calling for emergency protection.
The representative of Thailand, on behalf of ASEAN, pointed out that the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing contained provisions on the attribution of damage which should be taken into account; the burden of proof rested with the invoking Member.
The representative of Australia noted that while safeguard actions would involve the suspension of market access and national treatment commitments, it was doubtful whether they should affect additional commitments under Article XVIII.
Special and differential treatment
The representative of Australia, recognizing the importance of special and differential treatment, felt it premature to discuss details at that stage.
while the national treatment obligation does not impose any restraint on the level of subsidies that may be granted by Members, it is nevertheless a potentially powerful discipline with respect to the non-discriminatory use of subsidies.
The limitations scheduled with regard to subsidies compiled in document S/WPGR/W/13, suggested that other Members shared this interpretation; otherwise they would not have exempted subsidies from national treatment under Modes 1 and 2
Regarding import-substituting subsidies effects, it was useful to distinguish between services of national and of domestic origin.
In the context of the first question regarding what transactions constitute procurement, delegations had recognized that more information was needed on how concessions were defined and treated within national legislations.
The representative of Canada said that the EU paper suggested that the transaction for the service itself (as distinguished from the buying or hiring of the service) did not appear to be covered by the Agreement on Government Procurement.
On how to proceed with the work, he suggested requesting the Secretariat to prepare a note listing the types of policies that are applied to government procurement and may not be consistent with non-discrimination, both MFN and national treatment, with a brief explanation of each.
ITEM D: REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE WORKING PARTY TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES
The Chairman noted that the draft report of the Working Party to the Council for Trade in Services had been circulated as S/WPGR/W/28.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/28
4 August 2000 (00-3240) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 7 JULY 2000

Note by the Secretariat


The Working Party on GATS Rules held is twenty-eighth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Tony Sims, from the United Kingdom. The agenda for the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1343. It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiation on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business. The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
The Chairperson drew attention to an informal Note (Job No. 4058, 27 June 2000), he had circulated to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting.
negotiations on safeguards under article x of the gats
The Chairperson said that good progress had been made since the beginning of this year on the question of an emergency safeg

It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
Since delegations were already familiar with each others basic positions, and these had been reflected in the Note, he suggested that the discussion should focus on possible solutions to problems and on how the Working Party's work should be structured over the period before the end-June 1999 deadline.
Such an outline could include: a) definition and scope of safeguards in services; b) situations justifying its application and the type of injury; c) temporary or provisional measures; d) applicable procedures and investigation of injury; e) applicable measures; f) periods of application or time-limits; g) transparency; h) notifications; i) special and differential treatment.
His delegation had already argued that focusing on what a safeguard mechanism would look like, without prejudice to the outcome of the discussion on whether such a mechanism was merited, would be the most efficient way of taking forward the discussion.
Such a draft should reflect all possible options for a safeguard mechanism including the approaches followed in Article V of the Agreement on Agriculture and Article VI of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
In light of the various options that had been put forward as basis for a draft, namely, Article XIX of the GATT, the sector-specific approach, the safeguards provisions of the Agreements on Agriculture and the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, Members needed to decide how to proceed.
In summing up the discussion, the Chairman indicated that the proposal of requesting the Secretariat to draft an outline of an emergency safeguard mechanism had attracted ample support; however, some delegations had not been in a position to agree.
However, it might need to be clarified whether it was also ensured that such subsidy schemes did not disadvantage foreign services imported under mode 1 or consumed abroad under mode 2.
For instance, in the absence of further responses to the questionnaire and submissions from Members, would it be preferable to set this agenda item aside and concentrate on safeguards and government procurement?
One approach would cover procurement at all levels of government, including entities governed by public law and under the influence of government, while the second approach was based on market structure rather than on public ownership or influence per se - every case would be examined on its own merits, the ultimate criterion being whether the entity was subject to competition.
For instance, the case of a concession granted for operating a motorway, where the government was not buying something for itself, but rather granting the right to operate a public service to a private operator, was a clear case of a service provided in the exercise of governmental authority.
She asked whether the case of a contract providing a license to a private sector contractor to distribute government procurement data on an electronic tendering service, generating revenues from the purchaser of the data, would be considered to be a transaction for the service itself.
He indicated that at the following meeting, the Working Party would revert to the question of how to proceed with the second step in the work programme, which concerned the application of the basic discipline of non-discrimination.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/26
20 April 2000 (00-1623) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 24 MARCH 2000

Note by the Secretariat



The Working Party on GATS Rules held its twenty-sixth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Siva Somasundram of Singapore. The agenda for the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1242. It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting; and other business. The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
The Chairman drew attention to an informal Note (Job No. 782, 11 February 2000) he had circulated to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting.
negotiations on safeguards under article x of the gats
The Chairman thanked the ASEAN delegations for the effort they had made in tabling a so-called "Concept

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/30
22 December 2000 (00-5643) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 30 NOVEMBER 2000

Note by the Secretariat

The Working Party on GATS Rules held its thirtieth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr.
It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business.
negotiations on safeguards under article x of the gats
Discussion on substantive issues
The Chairperson recalled that, at the last formal meeting of the Working Party, most of the discussion on emergency safeguard measures had taken place in informal session (See Job No.
the records of the Working Party showed that a large majority of the Members were in favour of such a mechanism, as opposed to some kind of "automatic" mechanism, such as those existing in the areas of agriculture and textiles.
There was no "options" with regard to the definition of domestic industry because the progress achieved in the discussion has suggested that, first, the issue of domestic industry was closely linked to the question of acquired rights, and second, if "domestic industry" were to be defined only for injury determination purposes, the debate could now focus on how broad or how narrow these rights should be defined.
He stressed that, in preparing this Draft, ASEAN's objective was to strike a balance between, on the one hand, what they believed to be a legitimate right for Members to have recourse to emergency action in response to emergencies that resulted from specific commitments and, on the other, the need to ensure that there was no abuse in doing so.
The representative of Argentina said that his delegation remained flexible on the issue of emergency safeguard measures and was ready to examine any workable alternative which could be implemented within the current GATS framework.
Her delegation feared that an ESM would limit the growth of foreign participation (future foreign investments or the expansion of existing companies with additional foreign capital) in services activities in Colombia.
An ESM would create a favourable climate for developing countries to liberalise their services sectors, knowing that that they could rely on rules to protect themselves for a limited period and in a flexible manner.
The representative of Australia said her authorities were concerned about the definition of "domestic industry" proposed in the ASEAN Draft Agreement, particularly because it seemed to provide a narrow definition for the purpose of establishing injury and a broader one for applying the remedy.
The solution proposed by ASEAN was basically former Option 2 of the ASEAN Concept-paper, plus protection of acquired rights, or, said differently, former Option 1, minus injury caused by established foreign suppliers.
In his report, he indicated that, while all delegations seemed to feel that the deadline for safeguard negotiations should be extended and that work should be concluded some time before the end of the current round of negotiations, views regarding the length of the extension ranged from three months to the end of the services negotiations.
There was nothing in the GATS or in the WTO Agreement that would limit the power of the Council to take such decisions, except that in cases where formal interpretation or formal amendment of the GATS was in question, the formal procedures in the WTO Agreement might be invoked.
As regards the second point raised by the delegation of Pakistan, concerning the phrase in the Decision "having regard to the provisions of Article X" of the GATS, the representative of the Secretariat stated that this phrase did not contradict the essence of the Decision, which actually carried forward all the substantive elements of Article X.
His delegation was nevertheless still prepared to accept the text proposed by the Chairperson, on the understanding that there would be an opportunity to take stock of the progress made on the occasion of the next annual report of the Working Party.
With respect to data gathering, he recalled that, in their communication presented in March (S/WPGR/W/31, paragraph 9), Argentina and Hong Kong, China had made various suggestions to improve the data situation.
From an economic point of view, there should be no reason why a government practice which might distort trade in goods, would not distort services trade, if applied in the same manner.
For example, it was conceivable that subsidies for a very large aircraft or for building new headquarters could have a distortive effect on related trade in services.
The representative of Brazil said that his authorities were coordinating with the private sector and other pertinent government agencies in order to assess the types of subsidies having trade distortive effects.
The representative of the United States agreed with Argentina that, intuitively, there should be no economic reason why government action in the goods sector should be more likely to distort trade than the same type of action in services.
the effect of subsidies granted by the fifteen main exporters in the world, who captured 82 per cent of international trade in services, was different from a subsidy granted by a relatively marginal country.

The Chairperson said that the starting point for some delegations was that, in principle, government assistance for services should be no more trade-distortive than for goods.
Delegations were invited to address this Non-paper, as well as the Communication introduced by Hong Kong, China at the last meeting of the Working Party, Definition on subsidies in services (Job No.
For instance, a subsidy extended to a bank, in order to prevent it from going bankrupt and, thus, harming small-scale savers, could be said to be specific, but would in fact have wider economic policy implications.
Discussion of these issues should not be foreclosed, even though it might lead to the conclusion that these practices should be dealt with under Article VI:4 of the GATS.
Another issue was whether a subsidy in the area of goods could also affect services: if the good was not exported, it would probably be covered by GATT disciplines, but might nevertheless affect services trade.
The representative of the European Communities disagreed with the last sentence in paragraph 6 of the Argentinian paper because there were no disciplines yet on government procurement.
The representative of Argentina said that the distinction, in paragraph 6, between government procurement of goods and subsidy disciplines aimed at maintaining a distinction which already existed in goods trade, where it was recognized that public procurement as such did not fall under the ASCM.
negotiations on government procurement under article xiii of the gats
The Chairperson said that, as agreed at the July meeting, the Secretariat had circulated two documents under this agenda item: (i) a list of documents dealing with relevant activities in the Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement and the Committee on Government Procurement (Job No.

other business
The Chairperson recalled that, on 3 November 2000, the Secretariat had circulated draft annual reports from the Council for Trade in Services, the Special Session of the Council and the subsidiary bodies (see Job No.
In the absence of any comment, the report had been considered to be adopted on 17 November 2000; it had been issued in its final form on 23 November 2000 in document S/WPGR/5.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/22
15 June 1999 (99-2413) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 19 MAY 1999

Note by the Secretariat


The twenty-second meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Mr. Siva Somasundram of Singapore. The agenda of the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1086. It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
The Chairman indicated that in order to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting he had circulated a Note, Job No. 2803 dated 11 May 1999. The Note recapitulated where the Working Party stood on the three issues and proposed a certain structure for the discussion.
ITEM A: NEGOTIATIONS ON SAFEGUARDS UNDER ARTICLE X OF THE GATS
The Chairma

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/17
31 July 1998 (98-3041) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 23 JUNE 1998

Note by the Secretariat

The seventeenth meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Mr.
It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting of the Working Party; and other business.
With respect to the use of threshold values in determining the coverage of a transparency agreement, the view had been expressed that in principle all contracts should be covered, but that certain provisions might be more flexibly applied to smaller contracts.
Second, delegations might wish to clarify their understanding of the precise scope of existing GATS disciplines applying to subsidies; that might help to identify circumstances of trade distortion, if any, which are not satisfactorily covered in the existing framework.
The delegation of Australia gave examples of subsidies maintained in her country at the federal level, including an air services subsidy scheme providing assistance for regular air deliveries of educational material, general freight and passengers to remote areas; a Regional Telecommunications Infrastructures Fund; and tax concessions to companies establishing regional headquarters in Australia.
Several delegations had responded that action could be taken on behalf of all domestically established suppliers, regardless of ownership and control; while others had felt that it could be designed to protect only nationally owned suppliers.
Other delegations felt that the rules of origin contained in Article XXVIII of the GATS were not relevant for determining what "national industry" meant; in their view, the Article provided a legal definition of "service supplier of other Member" which was not a suitable concept for the purpose of a safeguard mechanism.
In relation to the fourth question, relating to the measures to be taken under the emergency safeguard mechanism, some delegations suggested that some measures could be temporarily applied in relation to all modes of supply, at both the pre-establishment and post-establishment stages.
One delegation emphasized that in the case of post-establishment acquired rights would not be affected; foreign services suppliers already established might not, however, qualify for new benefits which could be granted to national suppliers.
For example, only national banks could be offered subsidies in such cases, and market access could be suspended for new foreign banks.

World Trade
Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/27
6 June 2000 (00-2222) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 4 - 5 MAY 2000

Note by the Secretariat


The twenty-seventh meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was opened by Mr. Siva Somasundram, of Singapore, Chairperson of the Working Party. The agenda for the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1288. It consisted of six items: appointment of a new chairperson; negotiations on safeguards under Article X of the GATS; negotiations on subsidies under Article XV of the GATS; negotiations on government procurement under Article XIII of the GATS; date of the next meeting; and other business. The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
The Chairperson drew attention to an informal Note (Job No. 2598, 28 April 2000) he had prepared in cooperation with Mr. Tony Sims, designated new Chairperson, to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting.
appointment of the new chairperson
The Cha

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22 April 2004 (04-1806) Working Party on GATS Rules



Report of the meeting of 24 March 2004

Note by the Secretariat


The Working Party on GATS Rules held this meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Santiago Urbina, from Nicaragua. The agenda for the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/2271. It included the following items: emergency safeguard measures, government procurement, subsidies, date of the next meeting, other business, and election of the new chairperson. To assist delegations in the preparation of the meeting, the Chairperson had prepared an annotated agenda contained in JOB(04)/11. The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
NEGOTIATIONS ON EMERGENCY SAFEGUARD MEASURES (ARTICLE X)
The Chairperson recalled that the decision taken by the Council for Trade in Services on the extension of the negotiating mandate, pursuant to a recommendation from the Chairperson of the Working Party on GATS

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27 October 2004 (04-4567) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 20 SEPTEMBER 2004

Note by the Secretariat


The meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Ms. Clare Kelly, from New Zealand. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/2375, included the following items: government procurement, emergency safeguard measures, subsidies, date of the next meeting and other business. To assi

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Organization RESTRICTED S/WPGR/M/50
17 January 2005 (05-0194) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 24 NOVEMBER 2004

Note by the Secretariat


The meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Ms. Clare Kelly, from New Zealand. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/2443, included the following items: adoption of the annual report to the Council for Trade in Services, subsidies, emergency safeguard measures, government procurement, date of the next meeting and other business. To assist delegations in the preparation of the meeting, the Chairperson had prepared an annotated agenda, contained in JOB(04)/167. The agenda was adopted.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WORKING PARTY ON GATS RULES TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES (2004)
The Chairperson invited the Working Party to adopt the draft annual report contained in document S/WPGR/W/50 and transmit it to the Council for Trade in Services. It covered the meetings

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26 July 2002 (02-4172) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 15 JULY 2002

Note by the Secretariat

The Working Party on GATS Rules held its thirty-eighth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr.
It consisted of six items: work programme for the Working Party; negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business.
Work Programme for the Working Party
The Chairperson recalled that paragraph 2 of the Communication from the Chairperson of the Working Party on GATS Rules transmitting the Draft Fourth Decision on Negotiations on Emergency Safeguard Measures stipulated that, "the Chairman will carry out consultations to establish a programme structuring future work of the Working Party".
Second, benchmarks for submissions were indicative, with a view to encouraging Members to put forward submissions on the respective subjects as early as possible, and would be without prejudice to Members’ right to put forward further suggestions and raise relevant issues by way of submissions at any time, under any of the three subjects of negotiation.
Noting that there were some remaining concerns, he proposed that Members consider adopting the work programme in JOB(02)/82 with the following changes: (i) "work programme" would read "work programmes" throughout the text to reflect that separate work programmes were established for the respective subjects of negotiations, and the first paragraph should be read as referring to all three work programmes; (ii) a reference to paragraph 7 of the Negotiating Guidelines would be added in paragraph 2 of JOB(02)/82.
Moreover, it was not appropriate to repeat the first paragraph under each agenda item because the first sentence of paragraph 1 of JOB(02)/82 related only to emergency safeguard measures.
Her delegation would be prepared to look at the suggestions made by Mexico and India, but could not give any guarantee as to what it would do with them without having seen them in writing.
Moreover, in line with the suggestions he had made in the morning: (i) an "s" had been added to "work programme" (title, paragraphs 1(a) and 2), to make it clear that each item had a separate work programme, and to recognize the fact that they were at different stages of progress; and, (ii) a reference to paragraph 7 of the Negotiating Guidelines had been added to the work programme on emergency safeguard measures.
The representative of Switzerland said that, in spite of remaining concerns, his delegation had come prepared to support the work programme as contained in JOB(02)/82, which would have enabled the Working Party to proceed in a precise manner on the substantive issues.
the second and third sentences of that paragraph would be deleted, and the words "under each negotiating mandate" would be inserted at the end of the first sentence.
The ad referendum procedure provided a period of time during which those delegations which might still be in doubt as to whether they could join the consensus, could come back and notify the Secretariat that they were not able to join the consensus.
In this regard, delegations might give some thought to what they would see as possible outcomes from a broader perspective, taking into account not only their standpoints, but also the views and positions expressed by other Members.
After having reached some understanding on this issue as soon as possible, Members would be ready to move on to the next step, which was designing a mechanism or procedure governing Members' temporary suspension of their commitments.
The new informal paper suggested that the definition contained in the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement) be used as a working basis, but Members might use any other definition of subsidy, as long as it was specified.
At the last meeting, his delegation had suggested that the Secretariat update its note on information contained in WTO Trade Policy Reviews (S/WPGR/W/25), and undertake a compilation of subsidy-related information found in the various sectoral proposals.
A representative of the Secretariat said that the initial demand for this compilation had been triggered by the feeling that, as the information exchange under Article XV was not taking off, there was a need to find a substitute.
The representative of the Republic of Korea said that factual information provided by the Secretariat, such as updating information contained in TPR reports and compiling relevant elements in sectoral proposals, could be considered as part of the information exchange in Article XV, which concerned all subsidies.
The representative of the European Communities said that the communication in S/WPGR/W/39 underscored the size of government procurement markets, as well as the particular interest developing countries would have to liberalise this sector.
She enquired what the EC position was with respect to thresholds, since this issue was not mentioned in the EC communication; yet, it was an important one.
Japan had particular interest in the sectors of construction, engineering and architecture, and, in the light of further explanations from the EC, might want to submit an own contribution.
paragraph 1 of Article XIII exempted government procurement from the application of Articles II, XVI and XVII.
He enquired how the European Communities had selected the sectors mentioned in paragraph 13 and said that governments' participation in other sectors, such as energy, telecommunication or audiovisual services was still important in a number of countries.
Similarly, the raising of any relevant issues for discussion by Members should be without prejudice to the continued discussion already being undertaken by Members and vice versa.
1 reads as follows: "
to identify, elaborate and consolidate elements for ESM and to address the question of feasibility and desirability of ESM;"

See also Communication from Australia on Questions raised at the informal meeting of the Working Party on GATS rules held on 12 February 2002, JOB(02)/9, 13 February 2002.

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7 May 1999 (99-1867) Working Party on GATS Rules

issues for future discussions on emergency safeguards

Note by the Secretariat

Revision

The Secretariat has prepared this revision of an earlier Note, dated 20 November 1998, at the request of the Working Party on GATS Rules. The revision takes into account the discussion of safeguard-related issues which took place in the Working Party's meetings of 1 December 1998, 19 February 1999 and 16 April 1999. For ease of reference, any substantive changes over the initial version are indicated in italics.
The paper considers first, alternative forms that a safeguard mechanism under the GATS may take. It then elaborates on issues for further discussion, building on an outline submitted by Venezuela (Job No. 5412, dated 14 October 1998), contributions by Members in Working Party meetings, and the precedent in Article XIX of GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safegua

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9 October 2000 (00-4148) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 27 SEPTEMBER 2000

Note by the Secretariat


The Working Party on GATS Rules held is twenty-ninth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Tony Sims, from the United Kingdom. The agenda for the meeting was contained in WTO/AIR/1381. It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business. The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
The Chairperson drew attention to an informal Note (Job No. 5538, 15 September 2000) he had circulated to assist delegations in their preparation for the meeting.
negotiations on safeguards under article x of the gats
In the absence of new contributions from Members, the Chairperson proposed to revert to items 1 (definition of "d

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18 March 2005 (05-1118) Working Party on GATS Rules


REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 7 FEBRUARY 2005

Note by the Secretariat


The meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Ms. Clare Kelly, from New Zealand. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/2485, included the following items: subsidies, government procurement, emergency safeguard measures, date of the next meeting and other business. To assist delegations in the preparation of the meeting, the Chairperson had prepared an annotated agenda, contained in JOB(05)/7. The agenda was adopted.
NEGOTIATIONS ON SUBSIDIES (ARTICLE XV)
The Chairperson called attention to the three documents circulated since the last meeting. First, the Secretariat had prepared a synthesis Note on the definition of subsidies, contained in JOB(05)/4. Further, the delegation of Singapore had circulated an informal communication (JOB(04/180), which enumerated a nu

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6 April 2001 (01-1767) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 21 MARCH 2001

Note by the Secretariat

The Working Party on GATS Rules held its thirty-first meeting under the chairmanship of Mr.
It consisted of seven items: negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; organization of future work; date of the next meeting; other business; and appointment of a new chairperson.
1, 6 October 2000): (i) applicable measures (item 5); notification, consultation, transparency and surveillance mechanism (item 9); indicators and criteria (item 4); and compensation (item 6).
1 and any other substantive issues Members wish to raise; (2) have a process discussion which would (i) assess what the Working Party had achieved since the current phase of work started in April 2000, (ii) consider whether and to what extent any preliminary conclusions could be drawn on the issues of feasibility and, perhaps, also on desirability of any ESM, and (iii) consider whether work on a text would be useful.
The representative of Cuba asked whether the Secretariat could provide input for the next meeting in the form of concrete examples of applicable measures and how they could be applied.
She further noted that GATS disciplines did not apply vis-à-vis services suppliers established in another country and that there was a lack of jurisprudence concerning the likeness of services supplied under different modes.
The representative of Brazil recalled that, at the last meeting, his delegation had suggested that the Secretariat could use the OECD document on "Arrangement on Guidelines for Officially Supported Export Credits", the so-called "yellow book", as a source of information since it was a public document.
Different sets of rules for subsidies might be needed, depending on whether specific commitments existed or not.
It had been suggested that Members should consider how on-going work in the subsidiary bodies could be structured in the most efficient and productive way, in terms of issues which might need to take priority and of how to allocate time among them, while taking into account the concerns and constraints of small delegations.
Item 3 reads as follows: To what extent do WTO rules, in particular the GATS and its national treatment and most-favoured-nation disciplines, already discipline services subsidies or provide the means to do so?
Item 4 reads as follows: "(a) The wider role of subsidies, including to pursue public policy objectives; (b) the role of subsidies in relation to development, and the needs of developing country Members for flexibility, including special and differential treatment".

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7 September 2005 (05-3887) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 20 June 2005

Note by the Secretariat


The meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was opened by Ms. Clare Kelly, from New Zealand. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/2595, included the following items: election of the new chairperson, emergency safeguard measures, government procurement, subsidies, date of the next meeting, and other business. To assist delegations in the preparation of the meeting, the Chairperson had prepared an annotated agenda, contained in JOB(05)/115. The agenda was adopted.
The Chairperson recalled that at the last meeting she had asked delegations to reflect on what should be priorities for this year and how to implement them. In the annotated agenda circulated in preparation for the informal meeting of 13 June, she had shared her personal assessment of the situation in the light of con

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7 December 2001 (01-6241) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 28 NOVEMBER 2001

Note by the Secretariat

The Working Party on GATS Rules held its thirty-fifth meeting under the chairmanship of Mr.
It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business.
However, in view of the difficulty of implementing and withdrawing compensation, a short period of time should be determined during which no compensation was required.
In fact, the link between an ESM and increased liberalization worked the other way round: Members would feel comfortable having an ESM before making additional specific commitments.
Mexico's reading of the US contribution was that an ESM would be less undesirable if it were scheduled, but not that it was desirable per se.
It might then be better to develop a horizontal mechanism and let Members decide – if and when a safeguard action took place – whether such action was justified given the circumstances, without predefining in great detail what was justifiable, what were the right circumstances, etc.
He informed that, on 19 and 20 November, he had held informal consultations, which had allowed him to hear some thirty delegations on this issue, including on the question of whether or not work should start on a draft text.
On 23 November, he had made two suggestions that delegations could take into account in the preparation of future meetings: (i) with respect to the different elements contained in the Synopsis, delegations might want to examine where, in their views, there was possible common ground and where positions differed; (ii) delegations might also want to consider which elements might be common to both an horizontal and a scheduled safeguard.
At the very least, the Working Group should start examining areas of common ground, which would facilitate a platform for subsequent drafting.
negotiations on subsidies under article xv of the gats
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.
Members, especially those who had raised subsidy-related issues in their sectoral proposals, should share their experience in this field.
negotiations on government procurement under article xiii of the gats
The Chairperson proposed that delegations should continue their general exchange of views on any aspect of government procurement of services.

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17 May 2001 (01-2533) Working Party on GATS Rules

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 10 MAY 2001

Note by the Secretariat

The Working Party on GATS Rules held its thirty-second meeting under the chairmanship of Mr.
It consisted of five items: negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business.
He drew attention to the following documents, which had been circulated since the last meeting: communication by Venezuela on Indicators and Criteria for the Determination of Serious Injury or Threat Thereof, JOB(01)/48 (18 April 2001); non-paper by Brazil on Compensation, JOB(01)/50 (19 April 2001); communication by Mexico on Emergency Safeguard Measures; Note by the Secretariat on WTO Members' Practice Relating to Article 8 of the Agreement on Safeguards, JOB(01)/61 (3 May 2001).
The second part of the June meeting would be a process discussion to assess what had been achieved since April 2000 and to determine what the next steps should be, including whether it might be useful to work on a text.
An alternative solution to consider could be a mechanism which would be quick, automatic and of short duration (18-20 months); the invoking country would not need to grant compensation and, should the measure need to be prolonged, the procedures of Article XXI should be invoked.
With respect to future work, his delegation supported the approach reflected in the minutes of the last formal meeting (S/WPGR/M/31) and outlined in the April Annotated Agenda (JOB(01)/47).
1, 6 October 2000), which reads as follows: (a) The wider role of subsidies, including to pursue public policy objectives; (b) The role of subsidies in relation to development, and the needs of developing country Members for flexibility, including special and differential treatment.
He noted that paragraph 8 of the Secretariat Note JOB(01)/66 indicated that the Arrangement contained "a set of procedural rules, including notification, consultation and information exchange" and paragraph 9 related to special sectoral guidelines applying to ships, nuclear power plants and aircraft.
the representative of the United States said that subsidies in services seemed to exist mainly in so-called public-good sectors, such as education, health, post and transport.
The representative of Australia asked the United States whether, in its view, state-funded education, provided as a result of a public policy choice, could be considered to have trade-distortive effects and, if so, how such effects did arise.
At the next meeting, he would like, therefore, to invite views on how delegations intended to continue work under this agenda item in order to move forward.
negotiations on government procurement under article xiii of the gats
The Chairperson proposed that delegations should continue their general exchange of views on any aspect of government procurement of services.

It consisted of six items: appointment of a new chairperson; negotiations on safeguards under GATS Article X; negotiations on subsidies under GATS Article XV; negotiations on government procurement under GATS Article XIII; date of the next meeting; and other business.
However, as the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Services had not finalized his consultations on the chairmanships of the subsidiary bodies at that time, it had been decided that the hand-over would take place at the beginning of the following meeting.
Members had expressed support for these guiding principles and had indicated that they agreed on, or had flexibility to accept many of the suggested elements.

Discussion on substantive issues
The Chairperson invited delegations to continue their examination of the Communication from the European Communities and Their Member States on Modal Application of an Emergency Safeguard Measure (S/WPGR/W/38, 21 January 2002), as well as the Communication from Australia on Elements for a Possible "Core Mechanism" for Temporary Suspension or Modification of Commitments (JOB(02)/8, 13 February 2002).
negotiations on subsidies (article xv of the gats)
The Chairperson said that, in the course of his consultations on a work programme, some Members had indicated an intention or willingness to discuss a programme structuring future work on subsidies.
The Secretariat could do some background work, including an update of its Note on information contained in Trade Policy Reviews and a compilation of subsidy-related information found in the various sectoral proposals submitted to the Special Session.
He agreed with Chile that the Checklist should be revised and recalled that Article XV provided for an information exchange concerning all subsidies related to trade in services.
She drew attention to the fourth sentence of Article XV:1, which stipulated that negotiations should recognize "the role of subsidies in relation to development programmes of developing countries and take into account the needs of Members, particularly developing country Members, for flexibility in this area".
In the past, the Working Party had already addressed various interesting issues under this agenda item and it might be useful to refer to reports of past discussions.
He further suggested that the Secretariat update the background note on information contained in WTO Trade Policy Reviews (S/WPGR/W/25 and Addenda) and undertake to compile subsidy-related information contained in the sectoral proposals presented by Members to the Special Session.
Since these reports were not meant to address specifically subsidy issues, TPR-based information did not necessarily provide a comprehensive picture, nor allow judgement on whether those subsidies had trade-distortive effects or not.
The representative of Brazil noted that the background note on TPR-related information had already been updated twice and asked why it was problematic to undertake a third update.
The representative of the European Communities recalled that the Negotiating Guidelines provided that negotiations on government procurement in services should be completed prior to the conclusion of negotiations on specific commitments.
The European Communities intended to work actively on this issue in the Working Party and was ready to discuss with interested delegations their specific interests.
XVI and XVII did not apply pending the entry into force of negotiated disciplines, which did not mean that these provisions were excluded from the scope of the negotiating mandate.
Should the Secretariat be asked to undertake background work, it could only be a list of documents containing relevant contributions and discussions.
While paragraph 1 of Article XIII exempted government procurement from the application of Articles II, XVI and XVII, other GATS provisions did apply to government procurement.
Since some progress had already been made in the discussions for a work programme on emergency safeguard measures, it might not necessarily be helpful to pursue one single work programme for the three issues.
Date of the Next Meeting
The Chairperson indicated that the next formal meeting of the Working Party was expected to take place during the week of 15 July The definitive date would be communicated in due time.
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This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.

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20 July 2004
(04-3131) Working Party on GATS Rules


Report of the meeting of 23 June 2004

Note by the Secretariat


The meeting of the Working Party on GATS Rules was chaired by Ms. Clare Kelly, from New Zealand. The agenda for the meeting, contained in WTO/AIR/2337, included the following items: subsidies, government procurement, emergency safeguard measures, date of the next meeting and other business. To assist delegations in the preparation of the meeting, the Chairperson had prepared an annotated agenda contained in JOB(04)/74.
The Chairperson noted that the order of the items on the agenda had been modified and indicated her intent to continue to do so, taking into account a variety of factors. She did not think that the order of the items should have any substantive bearing. Delegations needed to discipline themselves, including regarding the length of their interventions, so that all issues coul