Plurilateral TISA to Substitute for Multilateral GATS

Preparations among a subset of WTO members to develop an agreement to liberalise services trade continued in Geneva last week, with sources familiar with the talks characterising them as “productive.” However, market access offers are unlikely to be tabled until autumn, at the earliest.

The members negotiating the so-called “Trade in Services Agreement” have made “good progress” on the text, sources say, while adding that the language has not been “stabilised yet.” For instance, how closely the text should model the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) remains an open question, given the possibility of trying to multilateralise the deal in the future.

Countries would like to be clear on what exactly the rules are before they submit any offers, one source explained, which is why earlier plans to table market access offers before the summer break have been pushed back.

While last week’s session mainly focused on the TISA text, other discussions also addressed the state of horizontal provisions, some of the main clauses - such as national treatment and market access - and possible sectoral rules and differences. Mode 4, some professional services, and information and communication technology (ICT) also came up during the meeting.

The next TISA session is scheduled for the week of 16 September.