Services negotiators expressed willingness to resume negotiations on:

• greater market access for services and services suppliers from other WTO members
• developing new disciplines to render domestic regulations more objective and transparent and to ensure that these are not unnecessarily burdensome
• services aspects of e-commerce (the electronic supply of services).

Some said this could lay the groundwork for potential services outcomes at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference set to take place in 2017.

Ambassador welcomed members’ “renewed interest” to step up the services negotiations as some delegations signalled forthcoming concrete proposals. India announced an upcoming proposal to work on developing a trade facilitation agreement for services, similar to the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which sets out rules to streamline customs procedures¹ for merchandise trade. Several members welcomed India’s announcement. 

A workshop organized by MIKTA (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia) taking place on 5 July at the WTO will offer an opportunity for members to reflect on how to shape future multilateral discussions on e-commerce. Read the program here. 

Several delegations reiterated their call for members to expand the commitments they made under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)² to reflect the greater market access they now grant each other’s services and service suppliers. Several members proposed resuming request and offer negotiations. 

Discussions on domestic regulation now enjoy engagement from a broader part of WTO members (read the last report here), with some delegations calling for the resumption of text-based negotiations. Some members also highlighted that these negotiations should go hand in hand with the market access pillar. Some delegations called for least-developed countries to be exempt from making commitments on any new domestic regulation discipline.

Several delegations reiterated their call for development to be central to any future negotiations and for discussions to take into account the interests of small- and medium-size enterprises.

 

Notes:

1. WTO members are currently ratifying the TFA. Ratification by a third of the membership is needed for it to come into force. Read more information here. back to text

2. Apart from members who have negotiated their WTO entry after the Organization was created in 1995, most commitments date back to the conclusion of the GATS negotiations in 1994, which coincided with the end of the Uruguay Round. back to text