ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS

TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES (2015)

Since its Annual Report of 2014 to the Council for Trade in Services^[1], the Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) held two formal meetings, respectively on 18 March and 2 June 2015.^[2] During the period covered by this report, the Committee addressed two standing items - classification issues and scheduling issues – and considered possible future work.

1  classification issues

1.1.  During the reporting period, the Committee continued to consider the issue of "new services" based on an informal Note the Secretariat had prepared upon the request of the Committee, which contains an illustrative list of services identified in previous discussions as not being explicitly referred to in document W/120.^[3] The Secretariat Note also provides a brief background on the issue of "new services" and suggests a number of general questions for consideration. Members expressed divergent views with respect to a number of issues such as: whether "new services" existed, whether a definition of "new services" was needed, and the implications of "new services" for existing commitments under the GATS. In this context, there were further discussions on the nature of cloud computing services with different views expressed as well. In addition, a number of Members reiterated that the discussion on the issue of "new services" should not affect the scope of the existing commitments under the GATS.

1.2.  At the meeting on 18 March 2015, the delegation of China suggested that the Committee invite experts from the United Nations Statistical Department to give a presentation on the gap between the CPC Provisional and the CPC Version 2 for the purpose of information sharing. After the Chairperson's consultations, it was agreed at the meeting on 2 June 2015 that the proposed presentation would be delivered to the Committee at its meeting in October 2015 either through a video conference by the UN experts or directly by the WTO Secretariat.

2  scheduling issues

2.1.  There was some expression of interest in having discussions on issues related to the scheduling of specific commitments. A number of Members suggested that the Committee revisit economic needs tests (ENTs).

2.2.  The Chairperson would continue to hold consultations on how the Committee could build on previous work and look into recently emerged scheduling issues.

3  other issues

3.1.  The Chairperson also held consultations on any possible technical work the Committee might undertake with respect to the conclusion of the services negotiations. To facilitate Members' consideration, the Secretariat circulated a list of documents the Committee had produced in the past with respect to the submission of offers, the methods to incorporate new commitments into the GATS, the relationship between old and new commitments as well as the verification process at the end of the negotiations. The list of documents is contained in JOB/SERV/212.

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