ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS

TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN SERVICES (2019)

1.     Since its 2018 annual report to the Council for Trade in Services^[1], the Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) has held three formal meetings, on 19 March 2019, 24 June 2019 and 28 October 2019 respectively.^[2]

2.     At these meetings, further to a communication from the Kyrgyz Republic dated 7 March 2109^[3], the Committee held substantive discussions on scheduling issue related to mode 4 including economic needs tests or labour market tests; categories of natural persons scheduled; and relationship between horizontal and sectoral commitments. In view of the ambiguity and lack of transparency in mode 4 commitments, the communication from the Kyrgyz Republic suggested some questions for discussion and possible future work for the Committee's consideration. In this context, a number of delegations also shared experience in their administration of labour market tests.

3.     At the meeting on 28 October 2019, the Secretariat made a presentation on recent developments in the measurement of digital trade by the international statistical community, with focus on the conceptual framework, trade in services and related classification challenges.

4.     At the meeting on 28 October 2019, the Committee also considered possible future work based on the Chairperson's preceding consultations.