RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/CSC/M/2
13November 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-4800)
Committee onSpecific Commitments
REPORT OFTHE MEETING HELD ON10OCTOBER 1996
Note bytheSecretariat
TheCommittee onSpecific Commitments held itssecond meeting on10October 1996 under
thechairmanship ofMsAnnie Tang ofHong Kong. Theagenda forthemeeting wascontained in
Airgram WTO/AIR/436.
Regarding thefirstitem, Rules ofProcedure ,thechairperson recalled thatshehadproposed
atthelastmeeting thattheCommittee should usethesame rules ofprocedure astheCouncil forTrade
inServices ascontained indocument S/L/15. Itwassoagreed. Onthesecond item, thechairperson 's
proposal wasaccepted thattheCommittee should continue toinvite theUN, UNCTAD, theIMF and
theWorld Bank asobservers pending theoutcome ofconsultations intheCouncil forTrade inServices
onthequestion ofwhich international intergovernmental organizations should begranted permanent
observer status.
With respect tothethird item -Developments inInternational Services Classification Systems
-theChairperson recalled thattheSecretariat hadcarried outafact-finding exercise, contained in
document S/CSC/W/2 entitled Developments inInternational Services Classifications Systems and
Implications forNegotiations under theGATS ,onwhat hadbeen going oninvarious international and
regional foraconcerning possible improvements inservices nomenclatures. Inparticular, thepaper
described efforts underway intheVoorburg Group, aUNgroup ofstatistical experts, torevise and
develop theUNprovisional Central Product Classification (CPC) forgoods andservices.
There waswide agreement thattheobjective oftheCommittee 'swork wastoarrive ataclear,
accurate andcomprehensive description oftheuniverse ofservices activities bysector andsub-sector
sothatallparticipants could understand which services activities hadbeen scheduled. Onedelegation
saidthattheGATS classification cross-referenced with CPC descriptions ofeach service wasnolonger
sufficient tomeet theneeds ofnegotiators orbusiness users. There wasgeneral agreement thatwork
toimprove theclassification ofservices wasnecessary. Most delegations thatspoke considered that
aproduct-based classification system such astheCPC wasmost appropriate forthepurposes ofservices
negotiations under theGATS, thefurther work should therefore bebased ontheCPC andimprovements
toit.There wasbroad interest inbeing kept informed oftheactivities oftheVoorburg Group, which
wasintheprocess offinalising itsrecommendations forchanges totheCPC. Some delegations
considered thatitwasstilltooearly tomake anydecisions about introducing aharmonised classification
system foruseinfuture negotiations.
After thediscussion, theChairperson proposed thattheCommittee should look deeper into
thework oftheVoorburg Group which hadshown considerable readiness tocooperate with the
Committee. Inorder todothis, itwasagreed thattheSecretariat takeupcontact with theVoorburg
Group with aview toinforming theCommittee inthenear future ofanyproposed changes totheCPC
which could beofinterest intheCommittee 'sdeliberations.S/CSC/M/2
Page 2
Thenextagenda itemwasissues concerning theintroduction ofaloose-leaf system forservices
schedules aswell astheir further computerization. Thediscussion wasbased onasecretariat paper
entitled Schedules ofCommitments andMFN Exemption Lists: Introduction ofaLoose-Leaf System
andUseofElectronic Formats -Issues tobeConsidered (S/CSC/W/3) which outlined GATT/WTO
experience onthegoods andgovernment procurement sideandraised anumber oftechnical andlegal
questions thatarose intheservices area. Several delegations thought thattheintroduction ofa
consolidated loose-leaf system would help keep schedules uptodateandimprove transparency which
wasessential inthisarea. Anumber ofdelegations, however, wondered whether itwasnecessary
tointroduce such asystem toreplace theexisting printed versions ofschedules before thenext round
ofnegotiations. Thebound printed versions hadlegal value because they were anexact reproduction
oftheschedules thatwere signed byministers atMarrakesh andtheschedules thathadbeen added
since were exact copies ofthose thatwere appended toprotocols which were formally signed bythe
ambassadors ofthedelegations concerned. Foronedelegation, inparticular, theintroduction ofa
legallybindingloose-leafsystemwouldcreatelegaldifficultieswithrespecttotheirparliamentarysystem
ofapproval.
Several delegations considered thatitwasmore important inthelonger term toimprove the
computerization ofschedules from thepoint ofview ofentering andretrieving information pertaining
toschedules. Inthisregard, theSecretariat was requested tokeep theCommittee abreast of
developments inthework currently underway intheservices division. TheChairperson summarised
thediscussion andsuggested thatthesecretariat look further intotheprocedural andcostimplications
oftwooptions forproceeding: first, thedevelopment ofaloose-leaf system with nolegal status and,
second, asystem with legal standing i.e.onethatwould effectively replace theexisting bound volumes
ofcommitments.
Onthenext item -Future Work -theChairperson feltthatthere wasageneral feeling inthe
Committee thatthescheduling guidelines which hadbeen established intheUruguay Round were
probably outofdateinsome respects andneeded revisiting. Shesuggested thatdelegations dosome
homework ontheguidelines inpreparation foramore detailed discussion atthenext meeting ofthe
Committee. Regarding Item Fwhich concerned thedraft report oftheCommittee 'sactivities forthe
Singapore ministerial conference, delegations discussed thedraft dated 2October 1996 thathadbeen
prepared bythesecretariat. Asaresult ofthediscussions atthemeeting, andalso ofsubsequent
informal consultations, thechairperson submitted areport onherown responsibility totheCouncil
forTrade inServices ascontained indocument S/CSC/1 (annexed tothisnote). Asnoitems were
raised under Other Business ,theChairperson saidshewould hold informal consultations onthedate
ofthenext meeting andthen closed theproceedings.ANNEX
WORLD TRADE S/CSC/1
29October 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-4580)
Committee onSpecific Commitments
ACTIVITIES OFTHE COMMITTEE ONSPECIFIC COMMITMENTS
Report totheCouncil forTrade inServices
There wasagreement atthelastmeeting oftheCommittee on10October thatparticipants should
have afurther possibility tomake proposals onthedraft textofthereport. Theattached texttherefore
incorporates comments andsuggestions made bydelegations at,andsubsequent to,themeeting. In
thelight oftheproposals andofconsultations held bythechairperson since themeeting, thereport
wasrevised andissubmitted totheCouncil forTrade inServices onthechairperson 'sresponsibility.
___________
1. TheCommittee onSpecific Commitments hasheldtwomeetings in1996. Itsdiscussions have
focused onhow toorganise itsactivities andwork priorities according toitsthree main areas of
responsibility asspecified intheterms ofreference (seedocument S/L/16).
2. With respect tothefirst responsibility -overseeing theimplementation ofcommitments -
Members generally consider thattheoversight function should behandled onanad-hoc basis andshould
focus ontechnical aspects ofimplementation.
3. Members consider thatagreat deal ofuseful work canbedone intheCommittee regarding
thesecond function -examining technical aspects ofschedules ofcommitments andMFN exemption
lists inorder toimprove their technical accuracy andcoherence butwithout affecting thecurrent
commitments. Astarthasbeen made inexamining issues relating tothedefinition ofsectoral coverage
ofcommitments andtotheadequacy oftheexisting GATS classification list.TheCommittee discussed
aSecretariat paper onrelevant developments including work inrelevant international organizations
inservices classification systems andtheir implications fornegotiations andscheduling under theGATS.
TheCommittee hasalsodiscussed thequestion ofhowtofacilitate thehandling oflistsofcommitments
andMFN exemptions. Inthisregard, theSecretariat prepared apaper analysing relevant issues
concerning, first, theintroduction ofaloose-leaf binding system forthelists and, second, current
developments attheWTO inthecomputerisation ofschedules.
4. WithrespecttothethirdfunctionoftheCommittee-overseeingtheapplicationoftheprocedures
forthemodification ofschedules under GATS Article XXI -Members generally consider thatthe
Committee should address relevant issues when theprocedures themselves have been finalised.
5. TheCommittee onSpecific Commitments should pursue itsmandate, including work relating
tothescheduling ofcommitments, andshould make itsrecommendations forimproving thetechnical
accuracy andcoherence ofschedules ofspecific commitments andlists ofexemptions from Article
IIoftheGATS before thecommencement ofthenext round ofnegotiations onservices liberalisation
pursuant toArticle XIX oftheGATS.