RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/REG3/M/2
23April 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1770)
Committee onRegional Trade Agreements
Fifth Session
EXAMINATION OFTHE ENLARGEMENT OFTHE EUROPEAN UNION:
ACCESSION OFAUSTRIA, FINLAND AND SWEDEN
Note ontheMeeting of11October 19961
Chairman: H.E. Mr.JohnWeekes (Canada)
1. TheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements continued theexamination oftheTreaty of
AccessionofAustria,FinlandandSwedentotheEuropeanCommunities(ECEnlargement)underagenda
itemB.IIofitsFifth Session. Themeeting wastofocus ontheexamination ofservices aspects of
theAgreement.
2. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidhisdelegation would furnish written
replies tothequestions posed byCommittee Members assoonaspossible. Hisdelegation wasinthe
process ofpreparing aConsolidated Schedule, which would essentially reflect theSchedule of
Commitments andtheListofMFN Exemptions fortheenlarged EC(EC-15). Therepresentative of
Switzerland stressed thatitwasimportant fordelegations toreceive theConsolidated Schedule soas
togivethem anoverall picture ofthecommitments ofthe15Member States.
3. Therepresentative ofJapan saidthathehadsome questions ondocument L/7614/Add.1. The
firstwaswhetherArticles54-59oftheAgreement,whichlaiddownsometransitionalmeasuresapplicable
toNorway, hadentered intoforce. Iftheyhad,could theybeconsidered consistent withtheprovisions
ofGATS Article II?Thiswasrelevant because Norway hadnotacceded totheEC.Thesecond question
waswhether thethirdparties mentioned inArticles 60-62 enjoyed preferential treatment. Howcould
thepreferences bejustified under Article IIofGATS? Thelastquestion related toArticles 70,86,
87and114,which gavethenewMember States flexibility tomaintain some restrictions foracertain
number ofyears. Hewondered whether those provisions could beviewed asconsistent with
Article V:1(b) ofGATS.
4. Therepresentative ofCanada apologized forthelatesubmission ofquestions byhisdelegation.
Hewelcomed thepledge bytherepresentative oftheECtomake available assoonaspossible the
EC'sConsolidated Schedule.
5. Therepresentative ofMexico asked whether therepresentative oftheECcould provide
information onwhich sectors inservices were likely toexpand rapidly aftertheimplementation of
theAgreement. Healsoasked iftheAgreement would comply withtheterms ofGATS Article V:4,
which obliged parties toanagreement toensure thattheagreement didnot"raise theoverall levelof
barriers totrade inservices within therespective sectors orsub-sectors" withrespect tothirdparties.
1Themeeting wasconvened inWTO/AIR/434. ./.WT/REG3/M/2
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6. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthatthepurpose oftheday'smeeting wastwofold:
toassess thecompatibility oftheAgreement withtheprovisions ofGATS Article V,andtoassist
delegations tocome togrips withprovisions governing economic integration intheservices area. He
doubted whether theCommittee wasinaposition toundertake acomprehensive examination ofthe
Agreement, astheMember States hadnotprovided itwithdetailed information. Without the
Consolidated Schedule, itwould bedifficult tocarry outaneffective examination oftheAgreement.
Hehoped thattheECwould provide useful andcomprehensive information assoonaspossible, so
astofacilitate theexamination process. Hewondered whether itwould notbeadvisable toexamine
theAgreement oftheEC-12 before theAgreement presently under examination.
7. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities assured delegations thattheECwould provide
theCommittee withcomprehensive answers anduseful information assoonaspossible toenable it
effectively toassess theconsistency oftheAgreement withtheprovisions ofArticle VofGATS. While
shecould provide preliminary answers, shethought itwould bebetter toprovide fullandcomprehensive
answers later. Withrespect tothequestion posed bytherepresentative ofJapan regarding preferences
forNorway, shereferred himtotheAgreement between theECandtheEuropean Free Trade
Area (EFTA) countries, known astheEuropean Economic Area. ThatAgreement wasintheprocess
ofbeing notified totheWTO. Should Japan wish toraise anyquestions onit,itwould havethe
opportunity todosoaftertheformal notification totheWTO. With respect tothecountries listed
inArticle 60,shesaidthatnotification hadbeenmade inrespect ofthefiveEuropean countries under
Article VoftheGATS. They intended tonotify theEurope Association Agreement withBulgaria,
oncethiscountry became afull-fledged Member oftheWTO. Ifnotifications hadnotbeenmade under
Article V,itmeant thatthere wasnotaneconomic integration agreement between theECandthe
specified countries inthesense ofArticle VoftheGATS. Notification hadbeenmade inrespect
oftheEC-12, anddetailed information hadbeenprovided tofacilitate itsexamination.
8. Therepresentative ofJapan saidthathisquestion wasaimed atgetting aresponse astowhether
theAgreement complied withtheprovisions ofGATS Article II,which dealtwithMFN obligations.
Herequested therepresentative ofECtoanswer hisquestion regarding thetransitional measures.
Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities reiterated thattherelevant agreement between the
ECandNorway wastheEuropean Economic AreaAgreement, which would benotified totheWTO
veryshortly. With respect totheother questions, herdelegation would undertake toprovide replies
inwriting.
9. TheChairman saidthattheCommittee could haveaninformed discussion oncealltherelevant
documentation, including theConsolidated Schedule, hadbeenmade available todelegations.
10. Therepresentative oftheUnited States asked whether therepresentative oftheECcould give
anindication astowhen herdelegation would circulate theConsolidated Schedule. Therepresentative
oftheEuropean Communities saidthatherdelegation would make itavailable toCommittee Members
assoonaspossible. TheChairman asked therepresentative oftheECifthewritten replies andthe
Consolidated Schedule would likely beready ifafollow-up meeting werescheduled early nextyear.
Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities saidshewould beabletogiveanindicative time-frame
afterconsultations withtheMember States. Therepresentative ofJapan requested theChairman to
takeintoaccount when fixing thedateforthenextmeeting thattheConsolidated Schedule would be
acomplicated document andthatdelegations would needample timetodecipher it.
11. TheChairman agreed andsaidthathewould takethatfactintoconsideration. Headjourned
themeeting, noting thatnosignificant progress hadbeenmade duetotheabsence oftherelevant
documentation.
12. TheCommittee tooknoteofthecomments made.