The chair of the services negotiations issued on 26 May 2008 his report on the elements required for the completion of the services negotiations. An annex to the report contains a draft services text that WTO members, after further discussion, could adopt.
The report is based on consultations conducted by the chair since his previous report was issued on 13 February. These consultations, as well as extensive written comments by groups of delegations, guided the chair in proposing language that could attract consensus among members.
Further discussion is needed on certain issues (shown in bold in the annex below) relating to participants' level of ambition, their willingness to bind existing and improved levels of market access and national treatment, as well as specific reference to Modes 1 and 4 with respect to the treatment of sectors and modes of supply of export interest to developing countries.
In addition, further discussion is needed, including at the horizontal level (where other areas of the Doha Round are negotiated in conjunction with each other), to decide on the dates mentioned in paragraphs 7 and 8 of the annex.
These issues, and others relating to the report, will be discussed by members at an informal meeting to take place on 2 June.
On a parallel track, the chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) will chair a “signalling exercise” among a group of ministers, to take place at the time that “modalities” in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) are agreed. At the signalling exercise, participating ministers will indicate how they might improve their services offers. Subsequently, the TNC chair will make an oral report on this exercise to the TNC. The purpose of the signalling exercise is to provide comfort to members regarding progress in the request/offer negotiations in services, while awaiting the actual revised offers.
The report and the accompanying annex are provided in full below.
Download the report and annex (TN/S/33)