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GATS & the Doha Agenda Negotiations on Services State of Play

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Services Negotiations:Two Dimensions

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Negotiating agenda: two dimensions

Liberalization

Improvement of specific commitments

(MA and NT)

Bilateral / Plurilateral

Rule-Making

- Domestic Regulation- Safeguards- Gov’t Procurement- Subsidies

Multilateral

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Starting point

Actual regimes tend to be far more liberal in many countries than the existing commitments

Widening gap between UR schedules and recent economic and sector reforms market access now negotiated under

some FTAs

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The Baseline:Existing Commitments

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Baseline: Current pattern of commitments

WTO Members

Average number of commitments per

Member

Range (Lowest/highest number of

sectors per schedule)

Least-developed countries 24 1 – 111

Developing countries 41 1 – 123

Developed countries 105 86 – 115

Accessions since 1995a 102 37 – 147

ALL MEMBERS (147) 50 1 -147

a Transition economies (11) and developing countries (9). They are not included in other groups. Total number of sectors: ~160

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Baseline:Sector pattern of commitments(Number of Members, March 2005)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160DevelopedDeveloping

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Baseline:Closing the gap?

Actual regimes now more liberal in many countries than the existing commitments

Widening gap between UR schedules and schedules of recently acceded countries access conditions negotiated under PTAs(?)

Mandate: “achieving a progressively higher level of liberalization” (Article XIX:1)

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Milestones thus far ...

Official starting date Jan 2000 (Art XIX) Initial offers March 2003

Revised offers May 2005 05 Plurilateral requests February 2006Plurilateral requests February 2006 Next meeting November 2007 Next meeting November 2007 A new deadline for revised offers?A new deadline for revised offers?

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INITIAL OFFERS: 72 Schedules (covering 96 Members*)

REVISED OFFERS: 30 Schedules (covering 54 Members*)

*Counting EC Members (EC 25) individually

Submission of Offers: State of play

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Offers: Sector by sector

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

% S

ched

ules

Commitments for First Time in SectorExisting Commitments: ImprovedExisting Commitments: Unaffected

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Offers: More sectors

010

2030

405060

7080

90100

% S

ched

ules

Commitments for First Time in SectorExisting Commitments: ImprovedExisting Commitments: Unaffected

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Sub-Sectors Committed: Before and After Offers (all Members)

0102030405060708090

100

All Developed Developing

Members

% o

f tot

al s

ub-s

ecto

rs

com

mitt

ed (a

vera

ge) With Offers

Existing Commitments

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• Modest achievements (number of sectors and substance)

• Uneven participation by developing economies • Little change in MFN Exemptions • Little progress in rules negotiations

Offers to date

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Guidance from the Hong KongDeclaration

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LDCs not expected to undertake new commitments

Implementation of LDC Modalities Timelines (28 Feb / 31 July / 31 Oct) Plurilateral request-offer negotiations Negotiating objectives (Modes/MFN

exemptions/scheduling principles) but ...

Hong Kong Declaration (WT/MIN(05)/DEC)

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No commercial presence requirements (Mode 1)

Commitments at existing levels of access (Modes 1 & 2)

Removal or substantial reduction of ENTs(Modes 2 & 3)

Higher foreign equity levels, more types of legal entity(Mode 3)

Negotiating Objectives Modes 1 - 3

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- Commitments on:

Contractual service suppliers & independent professionals, delinked from commercial presence

Intracorporate Transferees & Business Visitors

- Removal or substantial reduction of ENTs

- Indication of duration of stay and possibility of renewal

Negotiating Objectives Mode 4

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Laid out sector-by sector Reflect a compendium of articulated

negotiating objectives... not those of a consensus, or of any particular Member

Negotiating Objectives Sectoral Goals

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Removal or substantial reduction of exemptions

Clarification of remaining exemptions in terms of scope and duration

Negotiating Objectives MFN Exemptions

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Clarity, certainty, comparability & coherence (‘4Cs’) of commitments in line with Scheduling Guidelines

Clarification of any remaining ENTs in concordance with Scheduling Guidelines

Negotiating ObjectivesScheduling of Commitments

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Reasons for hope?

Experience with previous trade rounds Too much at stake No credible alternative to WTO – despite

negotiation of FTAs Domestic liberalization moving ahead Vocal pro-liberalization constituencies in

many countries

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... and a sense of realism ?

“You can’t always get what you wantBut if you try

Sometimes you might find You can get what you need ...”

(The Rolling Stones)

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Thank you for your attention!