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S/CSC/M/86  
 
21 July 2021  
(21-5796) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Specific Commitments   
 
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 29 JUNE 2021 
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT1 
The Committee on Specific Commitments (CSC) held a meeting on 29 June 2021 chaired by 
Mr. Toshihide Aotake from Japan. The Chairperson stated that he would address the issue of the 
appointment of the Chairperson of the Committee  under the item of Other Business.  The agenda for 
the meeting, contained in document WTO/AIR/CSC/15, was adopted as modified.  
 
1  ITEM A – IMPL EMENTATION OF SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS  
1.1.  The Chairperson  recalled that following a proposal from the United States (S/CSC/W/69, dated 
5 March  2020), this Committee ha d been conducting an exercise examining conditional 
commitments in  GATS schedules. Commitments of this type  usually contain ed certain language 
which ma de the entry into force, implementation or updating of commitments conditional upon a 
domestic process, such as the adoption of new legislation, policy reviews, or the review of pre -
existi ng regimes.  The purpose of the proposed exercise was to improve transparency and technical 
accuracy of specific commitments . The discussion under this item ha d been facilitated with a 
compilation of conditional commitments (S/CSC/W/70, dated 13 November 20 20) prepared by the 
Secretariat upon the request of this Committee. A number of delegations had provided information 
on their commitments in previous discussions, and some other Members had expressed that they 
were holding internal consultations in relatio n to this exercise . At the last meeting, the Committee 
had requested the Secretariat to prepare a revision of the compilation by including entries related 
to financial services and adding a column with information on further developments concerning 
conditi onal commitments, such as relevant notifications or Trade Policy Review Reports. Accordingly, 
the Secretariat ha d prepared the revision (S/CSC/W/70/Rev.1) which had been  circulated to 
Members on 7 June 2021 . The Chairperson invited the Secretariat to intro duce this document.  
1.2.  The representative of the Secretariat  stated that this Revision ha d been prepared in response 
to a request by the Committee on Specific Commitments at the meeting o f 10 March 2021. As 
requested, it add ed financial services to the initi al compilation for the sake of completeness. 
Therefore, the Note now encompasse d the conditional commitments on all sectors in the Schedules 
of Specific Commitments under the GATS. For the purpose of this Note, conditional commitments 
referred to those ent ries contain ing certain conditions attached to the entry into force, 
implementation, or updating of specific commitments. Most of the conditions were related to 
domestic processes. For the sake of completeness, this Note also include d those entries where t he 
conditions m ight appear vague or indefinite . Also as requested, an additional column was included 
in the compilation to reflect any developments in the implementation of relevant conditional 
commitments, subject to the availability of information. Sources of information include d Members' 
notifications under GATS Article III:3, reports of Trad e Policy Review, Services Trade Policy Database 
of I-TIP Services , as well as updates provided by Members at meetings of this Committee. It was 
Members' responsibility to verify and complement the information included in this document. Further  
revision s would be issued  incorporating new updates provided by Members . 
1.3.  The representative of Russia  stated that the entries on financial services  were a useful 
contribution and relevant to the ongoing discussion on conditional commitments. The a dditional 
column gave more clarity  to the implementation of conditional commitments. Russia urged M embers 
to provide  updates or additional information on their commitments. This exercise was useful f or 
 
1 This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  S/CSC/M/86  
 
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  transparency purposes  and completely in line with the Committee's mandate . Russia encourage d 
Members to work on strengthening transparency in th is organization , a priority  area for Russia.  
Russia wished  to see improvement in transparency  both at the horizontal level and on individual 
issues , as noted  in Russia's  communication MC1 2: Shaping the Package Agenda (JOB/GC/261 ).  
1.4.  The representative of Japan  appreciated the Secretariat’s work. For transparency purpose s, 
Japan explained the entry in its Schedules of Specific Commitments on banking and other financial 
services as referred to on page 12 of the revision of the Compilation. According to the entry, 
"appropriate authorities permit the Pension Welfare Service P ublic Corporation to allow investment 
advisory companies to participate in the management of its fund assets through a variation of the 
'Shiteitan ' framework. At the time of the next comprehensive review of the Japanese pension system 
in 1999 this scheme w ould be reviewed. " "Shiteitan " referred to a designated money trust in which 
beneficiary owners d id not specify individual objects of stocks, bonds or other financial instruments 
to be purchased. After the comprehensive review, the previously mentioned Pen sion Welfare Service 
Public Corporation had been disestablished  and succeeded by the  Government Pension Investment 
Fund which managed  pension funds by itself. Also under the reform, the participation in the 
management of the pension assets by investment ad visory companies became no longer limited to 
through the "Shiteitan " framework. Japan had notified this regulatory change in November 2001 . 
Since then, further reform ha d taken place and the Government Pension Investment Fund ha d 
become an independent admi nistrative agency specialized in the management of pension funds. The 
participation in the management of pension assets by investment advisory companies remain ed 
open, and not limited to through "Shiteitan " framework .  
1.5.  The representative of Canada  thank ed the Secretariat for updating the compilation. This 
document contribute d to the broader transparency efforts  of the WTO . Canada  appreciate d the 
updates provided at the last meeting and invite d any interested Member to offer updates or 
comments on th e measures cited in the document . 
1.6.  The representative of the European Union  thank ed the Secretariat for putting together a list of 
conditional commitments  and welcome d the updates Members ha d provided at previous meetings . 
This exercise c ould contribute to greater transparency of GATS  commitments . Members were free 
to decide how to follow up . She noted that the revised compilation (S/CSC/W/70/Rev.1) include d 
five conditional commitments on financial services under taken by two EU Member States : one of 
them being in the headnote for financial services (H ungary ), two concern ing insurance and 
insurance -related services (S lovenia ), and  another two about banking and related services 
(Slovenia ). Following legislation adopted in the two EU Member States, and as mentioned in the last 
column of the compilation, these limitations ha d either been clarified or were practically no longer 
maintained . Regarding  the Hungarian limitation , legislation on credi t institutions and financial 
enterprises and on insurance activities as well as legislation implementing the EU Directive on 
Solvency II specif ied that foreign branches were allowed in the financial services sector ; for 
insurance services, the central bran ch office was required to  be located in Hungary . Regarding the 
Slovenian limitations , according to the Insurance Act and the legislation implementing the EU 
Directive on Solvency II, there were no longer limits on foreign participation in the reinsurance 
sector. Nor were t here any restrictions on the establishment of foreign branches . The Foreign 
Exchange Law ha d freed up consumer credits and, according to the Banking Act, credit arrangements 
no longer need ed to be registered with the Bank of Slovenia . The Banking Act also la id down a non -
discriminatory measure specifying that the provision of banking services was subject to  the 
authorisation from the Bank of Slovenia . Third country branches were allowed in Slovenia. The 
European Union  would provide the Secr etariat with clarifications concerning the column titled 
"updates " in the revision  to ensure that the references to national legislation were accurate . 
1.7.  The representative of China  stated  that the implementation of specific commitments was a 
basic obligation of WTO Members . China was  open to discussing related issues. The review and 
update of schedules should be limited to the implementation of Members’ existing commitments, 
without entail ing further market opening obligation. Meanwhile, considering that related work 
require d Members to conduct a lot of domestic consultation s and coordination, he suggested that  
Members exchange general views as a first step, and move forward progressively. In addition, given 
that there exist ed procedures regarding modification of services schedules adopted by the CTS, the 
WTO Secretariat could  continue to provid e technical guidance in this regard . 
1.8.  Referring to his delegation's additional commitments listed i n the compilation, the 
representative of Brazil  noted that the situation remained unchanged,  and that no legislation had S/CSC/M/86  
 
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  been adopted by the National Congress of Brazil in relation to the services concerned, i.e. work 
accident insurance and services provid ed by financial institutions for factoring services. Should there 
be any progress in relation to these additional commitments in the future, Brazil would provide 
updates through certification of any changes.   
1.9.  The representative of the United States  stated that the additional column in the updated 
Secretariat Note was useful and reflected the development of initial conditional commitments. The 
Note should be updated as appropriate. Providing updates on conditional commitments by Members 
was a voluntary exercise designed to help inform other Members of developments regarding the 
conditions in the relevant sectors. Presumably these conditions or policy reviews were not 
meaningless. Otherwise,  Members would not have scheduled them. He thanked Japan for providing 
updates to the Committee and those Members who were reviewing their commi tments in capital. He 
noted that in some instances Members had indicated that they would provide an updated schedule. 
It would be useful to know the status of domestic procedures for submitting those updated 
schedule s. In other instances where commitments simply referred to ongoing policy reviews,  it would 
also be useful to know  the outcome of those processes. While a voluntary exercise was a preferred 
approach, the United States wished to see more Members provide updates to the membership. The 
United State s was open to considering additional steps to increase the participation by those 
Members with conditional commitments.  
1.10.   The Chairperson  thanked delegations  for their  interventions. He particularly  thank ed those 
Members who had provided information on thei r commitments in the spirit of transparency. He 
encourage d Members to continue to do so at future meetings.  He suggested that the Committee 
take note of statements made and revert to this item at its next meeting.  
1.11.   It was so agreed .  
2  ITEM B – CLASSIFICATION  ISSUES  
2.1.  The Chairperson  recall ed that at the last meeting, the UN Statistics Division and the WTO 
Secretariat provided a joint presentation on the new functionalities of the UN classification website 
and illustrated how Members could navigate between the different CPC versions and between the 
CPC and other classifications. The presentation was well received by Members.  Following the 
comments received during the meeting, the UN Statistics Division had implemented the search 
functionality in the explanatory notes of the classifications, which was a very useful addition to the 
revamped website.  Following the presentation, some Members had expressed interest in having a 
direct correspondence between the CPC Provisional and the late st version of the CPC, i.e. CPC 
Version 2.1. because the Services Sectoral Classification List (MTN.GNS/W/120) , created for  
undertaking specific commitments under the GATS , was based on the CPC Provisional. The UN 
Statistics Division ha d taken into consideration WTO Members ' interest and was willing to work 
together with the WTO Secretariat to create a direct correspondence between the CPC Provisional 
and the late st version of the CPC, i.e. CPC Version 2.1, as an additional tool for WTO Members . 
2.2.  The representative of Canada  thanked the WTO secretariat and the UNSD for the great news. 
Looking forward to a direct correspondence between CPC version 2.1 and CPC provisional, she 
sought information concerning a possible tentative timeframe for developing such correspondence.  
2.3.  The re presentative of the Secretariat  stated that the work aimed at establishing  direct 
correspondence between CPC version 2.1 and CPC provisional  would start in the second half of 2021. 
So far there was no information on the timeframe. The Secretariat would kee p the Committee 
informed of the progress of this work.  
2.4.  The Chairperson  stated that this Committee provide d a good forum for all Members to exchange  
information, catch up with the evolution in services trade and improve their understanding 
collectively. He therefore encourage d delegations to continue the useful discussion in the Committee. 
He suggested that the Committee take note of the statements made and revert to this agenda item 
at its next meeting.   
2.5.  It was so  agreed . S/CSC/M/86  
 
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  3  ITEM C - SCHEDULING ISSUES  
3.1.  The Chairperson  moved to Item C on Scheduling Issues.  
3.2.  The representative of Russia  asked two sets of questions related to the ongoing discussion s in 
the WTO. The first set of questions was about the procedure s for the undertaking of new 
commitments in services, and the second concerned verification. Regarding making new 
commitments , it would be useful to clarify the understanding of document S/L/84 , the Procedures 
for the Certification of Rectification or Improvements to Schedules of Specific Commitments. In 
particular , she asked  whether and to what extent additional commitments would qualify as "new 
commitments, improvements to existing commitments " within the meaning of this document. In 
addition, according to Article XVIII of the GATS, additional commitments were not subject to 
scheduling under Article XVI or XVII of the GATS. She asked the  Secretariat to clarify how then to 
add additional commitme nts for MA and NT in services schedules. With respect to  the verification of 
schedules of specific commitments , despite that services negotiations  in the  Doha Round were not 
concluded,  it would be useful to understand how the verification procedure was sup posed to be done 
in the Doha Round: after or before the adoption of negotiation results and what was the difference 
in terms of practical implication s? She also asked  the Secretariat to shed light on the experience of 
verification with respect to the  Refer ence Paper on Basic Telecommunication Services. She noted 
that t he Reference Paper  had not been fully adopted or had been  adopted with amendments by 
some Members . She also noted that  some  Members only made reference to the Reference Paper  in 
their schedule s without  having  textual provisions included therein . She asked whether  the different 
ways of treating the Telecom Reference Paper  in schedules were the result of an imperfect 
verification or a policy choice.  If it was the result of political consideration , and verification did not 
serve as a control mechanism , she asked what then the value of verification was in the context of 
certification . 
3.3.  The representative of the Secretariat  stated that it was for Members to interpret S/L/84 as this 
document was negoti ated and adopted by Members. Regarding the question on verification, she 
noted that past practice  was always followed . She recalled that in  2010 and 2011, this Committee 
had discussed how to conduct a verification exercise at the end of the Doha Round. It was understood 
that the objective of the verification exercise was to verify the technical accuracy and clarity of 
commitments to ensure that draft schedules  reflect ed what Members ha d agreed upon in 
negotiations and that existing commitments were not unde rmined. It was  for Members to define the 
objective and scope of each verification exercise . With respect to the verification of additional 
commitments on the Telecom Reference Paper, she recalled that the verification exercise at the end 
of the extended te lecom negotiations had focused on market access and national treatment 
commitments and that Members had had discretion as to how to deal with the Reference Paper.  
3.4.  The representative of China  questioned about the legal status of the Reference Paper itself.  He 
sought confirmation on the understanding that the Reference Paper had bin ding force under the 
GATS only when it was attached to a Member's schedule or fully or partially quoted in the schedule 
and that the Reference Paper itself had no binding force an d was not subject to verification.  
3.5.  The representative of the Secretariat  confirmed China's understanding.   
3.6.  The representative of El Salvador  asked whether there were any particular cases where the 
verification exercise at the end of the Uruguay Round had e ntailed renegotiations on commitments.  
3.7.  The representative of the Secretariat  reiterated that the verification exercise was to verify 
technical accuracy and clarity of draft schedules resulting from negotiations. It was not renegotiation 
and thus should not change the substance of commitments Members had already agreed upon in 
negotiations.   
3.8.  The Chairperson  suggested that the Committee take note of the statements made and revert 
to this agenda item at its next meeting.  
3.9.  It was so agreed .  S/CSC/M/86  
 
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  4  ITEM D – OTHER BUSINESS  
4.1.  The Chairperson  stated that the handover of the chairmanship of the Com mittee should 
normally  have taken place already . However, since the consultations conducted by the out -going 
Chair of the CTS remain ed to be concluded, the handover w ould have to be postponed. He urged  
Members to respond to the out -going CTS Chair's call t o show flexibility and bring the process of the 
appointment of the Chairpersons to a prompt conclusion.   
4.2.  No intervention was made under this item.  
4.3.  The meeting was then adjourned . 
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