./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/CSS/W/137
15 March 2002
(02-1357)
Council for Trade in Services
Special SessionOriginal:  English
COMMUNICATION FROM JAPAN
Negotiating Proposal on Education Services
The attached communication has been received from the delegation of Japan with the request
that it be circulated to Members of the Council for Trade in Services.
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1. Japan presents the following proposal for c onsideration by Members regarding Education
services.  Japan reserves its right to make additional proposals on the same and other services as well
as on other aspects of the negotiations on trade in services.
I. BASIC PROPOSAL
2. Recently, it has become extremely important for each country to improve the quality of
education and research, responding flexibly to the rapidly changing needs of the society.  Japanrecognizes that, in order to pursue these policy objectives, it is effective to promote a certain level of
liberalization, while taking various  governmental policy measures.
3. From this viewpoint, Japan encourages each Member in the course of the forthcoming request
and offer negotiations to promote liberalization in the education services sector through better market
access, further assurance of national treatment and deregulation of related domestic regulations.
II. SUGGESTIONS FOR NEGOTIATIONS
4. Japan recognizes the importance of the role of the government in the education sector, and in
particular takes note of the fact that many Members reserve responsibility on primary and secondary
education to sate.  In the course of liberalizing this sector it is necessary to take into consideration
aspects of government policy objectives and the specificity of the education sector as indicated below,
some of which have already been pointed out by other Members.
(a) Any measures in the education services sector should be considered with primary
interest in maintaining and improving the qu ality of the service.  Due consideration
needs to be taken to the following points among others.
(i) maintenance and improvement of the quality of education and research
activities in each Member;
(ii) protection of consumers (learners) -- m easures to ensure that consumers are
not damaged by services of low quality, and a safety-net in such areas;
(iii) measures to ensure international equivalence of degrees, diplomas, etc;S/CSS/W/137
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(b) The educational system (for example, authorization of establishment, third-party
evaluations and degree-granting system) varies from country to country,  due to
different social background and varied course of development of system.   The roles
of the central and local governments also seem to vary from country to country due to
the difference in their administrative structures.  Therefore, while seeking theliberalization of education services, these differences should be carefully taken into
consideration.
(c) The development of globalization and information technology has given rise to the
question of how to maintain the quality of higher education supplied across borders.
There are cases, for example, where the quality of a service supplied by a
“university” in one country is not necessarily of the same level as that supplied by a
university of another country, due to the difference in higher education system of thetwo countries.  It has also emerged that the quality of education services fails to be
correctly judged, in cases where the service is supplied by a “degree mill” of one
country by means of e-Learning.
From the viewpoint of protecting c onsumers (learners), Members should thus
recognize the significance and necessity of constructing an information network onthe higher education supplied across borders.  Moreover, in international
organizations such as the OECD as well as in international groups consisting of
university evaluation organs in each country, Members should make intensive efforts
for realizing a collaborative research.
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