June 8, 2005
IN THIS ALERT:

Revised Services Offers

To date, eleven WTO members have submitted revised services offers, which were due by May 31, 2005.  The countries include: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Singapore, South Korea, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United States.  Brief descriptions of those offers which have been made publicly available follow below.

Australia
Australia's revised offer includes new commitments in legal, telecommunications, environmental, private health, freight logistics, construction and related engineering services, air transport (marketing), and other business services.  Australia is also offering improved commitments covering temporary entry to Australia by business people. Trade Minister Vaile stated that their offer "responds directly to the concerns and interests of developing countries, and reflects Australia's own strong interests in achieving more open access to the markets of other countries, both developed and developing, for our services professionals."  The offer is available here.  

Canada 
Canada's revised offer proposes improved market access commitments in accounting, engineering and legal services; financial services; courier services; tourism and related services; transport services; among others.  To encourage developing and least-developed countries to become involved in international services markets, Canada has further opened market access in professional services and in the temporary movement of business people.  For a copy of the offer click here.

European Union
The European Union's revised offer, now for 25 Members States, contains a significant number of new commitments, including in the field of temporary movement of services providers.   It also extends new market access in sectors such as: legal and professional services; computer, management consulting and other business services; telecommunication, postal and courier services; construction; recreational, cultural, and sporting services; distribution; energy and environmental services; financial services; tourism; maritime transport and beauty and well-being services.  It does not allow any commercial competition in the public service, education, health, and audio-visual sectors.  For a copy of the offer click here.

United States
The U.S. revised offer includes new commitments in telecommunications, computer and related services, express and other delivery services, business services, higher education, transportation (excluding air and maritime) and energy services.  It also updates existing commitments to reflect the current level of market access in areas such as financial services and professional services and clarifies the scope of existing commitments by providing direct references to the United Nations Provisional Central Product Classification (UNCPC).  The offer makes no new commitments in mode 4 but addresses transparency concerns by agreeing to establish a single internet site with clearer information about obtaining temporary visas.  The offer is available here. 

APEC Ministerial Statement on Doha Negotiations

At the conclusion of their June 2-3 meeting in Korea, trade ministers of APEC member economies issued a statement reiterating their commitment to conclude an ambitious Doha Round by the end of next year, and called for substantive progress in all the key areas of the Round, including in services, by July 2005. The statement said that progress should include a critical mass of initial and revised services offers, a framework for a collective assessment of offers, and progress in rule-making aspects of the negotiations.  Click here to view the statement.

ITC Holds Services Symposium in Pakistan

Under the auspices of the EC Trade Related Technical Assistance Programme for Pakistan, the International Trade Center and the Pakistan Institute of Management hosted a Services Symposium on May 31 to examine Pakistani Business interests in the GATS. For more information contact ITC Trade in Services Officer Linda Schmid at Schmid@intracen.org.

Dr. Supachai's Report to the General Council

In a speech before the WTO General Council on May 26, 2005, WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi cautioned that there remains "an unsatisfactory level of overall progress in the negotiations," and thus "We are still well behind where we should be, and time is not on our side. We absolutely must make concrete progress across the board. There continues to be a high level of commitment to achieving results at the Ministerial Conference which will take us into the end-game of the Round so that it can conclude in 2006. But if we are going to be able to judge whether we are on course for this in July, we will have to make progress very rapidly indeed."   He has sent letters to Ministers of those Members that have not yet submitted an initial services offer, asking them to do so without delay.  Click here to view the full statement.

ITC Report on Logistics Markets

On May 16, the US International Trade Commission released " Logistic Services: An Overview of the Global Market and Potential Effects of Removing Trade Impediments". The report says that globalization has "extended the geographic scope of factor and product markets, ultimately increasing transportation costs."  In airports and seaports inspection and customs clearance activities represent the greatest impediment to the supply of global logistic services.  The Committee conducted an experiment to approximate potential gains resulting from reductions in logistics impediments which simulated the effect on trade of improving airport logistics and customs quality.  They found that for countries that have the weakest logistic services environments the reduction or removal of impediments could lead to double digit increases in U.S. merchandise exports.  For a copy of the full report, click here. 

UPCOMING EVENTS         

Global Services Network Mission to Geneva, June 24 

On June 24, member organizations of the Global Services Network will lead a mission to the WTO in Geneva to continue to advocate for progress in the Doha Round services negotiations. The delegation will call on key WTO officials, and Ambassadors to the WTO from major developed and developing countries.  The group will also hold a press conference. For more information, contact John Goyer at goyer@uscsi.org.