WTO
Members Discuss Contribution of Services Council to Implementing MC12 Outcomes
Ø Implementing
MC12 mandates
Ø E-commerce
Work Programme
Ø Operationalizing
the LDC Services Waiver
Ø Measuring
the sustainability of tourism
Ø Services
trade concerns
Ø New chairperson
Ø Tsvetelina
Georgieva Dimitrova, Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the WTO, as the
new chair of the Council for Trade in Services.
Ø Implementing
commitments under the GATS
Ø Work
on financial services
Ø Conflict
in Ukraine
Ø The
role of trade in services in supporting health systems
Following up on outcomes from
the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) on the response to pandemics and WTO reform,
WTO members agreed to organize information-sharing sessions and discussed two submissions
from India on health services, among other things, at a meeting of the Council for
Trade in Services on 9 March. On 10 March, members discussed the implementation
of services commitments and issues related to financial services at separate meetings
of the Committee on Specific Commitments and of the Committee on Trade in Financial
Services respectively, two of the Council’s subsidiary bodies.
In the Services Council, members
also addressed the LDC Services Waiver, which seeks to boost the participation of
least-developed countries (LDCs) in services trade, and the E-commerce Work Programme.
Also under consideration were various concerns voiced by members about measures
affecting trade in services. Members also heard from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
initiatives to establish international standards for measuring the economic, environmental
and social aspects of tourism.
Implementing
MC12 mandates
Members agreed to organize information-sharing
sessions as part of the work on the WTO
response to pandemics - a proposition that emerged from the consultations
held by the chair of the Services Council, Ambassador Kemvichet
Long of Cambodia. The discussions will address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
on several services sectors, the trade-facilitative measures introduced by members,
and the impact of the pandemic on LDCs. The sectors for consideration will be information
and communications technology and digitally delivered services, transport and logistics
services, health services, and tourism services.
Also on the response to pandemics,
members discussed two submissions from India suggesting that dedicated discussions
be held on the role
of telemedicine services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and
on the possibility of building a pool of health
professionals to respond effectively to pandemics.
While several members welcomed
the idea of discussing the topics raised by India, others argued that the link to
trade was not always evident and that health services could be addressed in the
information-sharing sessions that the Council agreed to.
On WTO reform, members agreed
to having the WTO Secretariat detail
how the Council for Trade in Services and one of its subsidiary bodies and commended
the recent improvements in the functioning of the Council.
E-commerce Work Programme
Members continued discussing
the interactions between the work in the Services Council and in the General Council
on electronic commerce. They also indicated their readiness to continue exchanges
on experiences and developments in the digital sphere. India presented its Digital
Public Infrastructure and consumer protection framework.
Ministers decided at MC12 to
extend the moratorium on e-commerce — under
which members agreed to continue the practice of not imposing customs duties on
electronic transmissions — and to reinvigorate the Work Programme on Electronic
Commerce, including its development dimension.
Operationalizing the LDC Services
Waiver
Members agreed to an information
session to be organized by the WTO Secretariat on how
LDC services export data might be improved. Referring to an internal note circulated
to the membership in February, the Secretariat noted that the participation of LDCs
in services trade remains low - at 0.5 per cent in 2021 - down from 0.7 per cent
in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Secretariat note suggests putting in place
a data improvement project based on the development of surveys, which could be rolled
out in three to five years. Scaling up detailed data collection will help to better
identify whether trade takes place through the preferences notified by WTO members.
A total of 51 members have notified preferences for LDC services and service
suppliers under the Services Waiver. The waiver was formalized by
a decision adopted at the 2011 Ministerial Conference.
Malawi, on behalf of the WTO LDC Group, indicated
that the group is working on a written proposal on how to operationalise the MC12
Outcome Document on the waiver.
A total of 36 WTO members are classified
as LDCs. More information on the waiver can be found here.
Measuring the sustainability
of tourism
The UNWTO presented
its work on setting international standards for measuring the economic, environmental
and social aspects of tourism. This follows a request from Costa Rica, which stressed
that the WTO can contribute to addressing environmental protection and climate change.
The objective of establishing a common statistical framework
for measuring the sustainability of tourism is to benchmark performance,
make sustainability more comparable, and support actions on the ground that contribute
to meeting the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals.
Services trade concerns
Members discussed four specific
trade concerns previously addressed in the
Council involving cybersecurity measures and 5G-related measures, among other services-related
topics.
Japan and the United States,
echoed by Australia, Canada and the European Union, reiterated concerns about the
cybersecurity measures
of China and Viet Nam. China recalled its concerns about Australia's 5G measures and
repeated concerns with
certain measures by the United States. China also reiterated its concerns
regarding
India's measures in relation to mobile applications.
New chairperson
WTO members elected Tsvetelina Georgieva Dimitrova, Permanent Representative of
Bulgaria to the WTO, as the new chair of the Council for Trade in Services.
Implementing commitments under
the GATS
At the Committee on Specific
Commitments, members agreed to hear from the World Bank, the
International Transport Forum of the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on work
related to road transport at its next meeting. This came with members' discussion
of a
proposal submitted by Türkiye a year
ago on implementing members' specific commitments related to cross-border supply
of road transport, particularly with regards to
quotas for foreign trucks.
Work on financial services
Conflict in Ukraine
Many members took the floor to
condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its subsequent actions. The Russian delegate
responded by saying that the WTO was not the proper venue for a discussion of this
nature.
The role of trade in services
in supporting health systems
Separately, the role of services
trade in increasing access to medical goods and to medical and health-related services
was the focus of a webinar organized by
the WTO's Trade in Services and Investment Division on 8 March as part
of the “Simply Services” series.
Underscoring the growing importance
of the health sector over recent years, the event discussed the findings of a report
by the World Bank and the WTO entitled: "Trade Therapy: Deepening
Cooperation to Strengthen Pandemic Defenses",
focusing on how trade in services can be leveraged to support health systems. In
particular, the role of transport, logistics, distribution and financial services
in keeping medical global value chains flowing was highlighted.
The “Simply Services” speaker
series is an informal platform for sharing the latest information on trends in services
trade. It was launched for the first time 5 years ago.