RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/WPPS/M/8
5May 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-1927)
Working Party onProfessional Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING HELD ON24MARCH 1997
Note bytheSecretariat
1. TheWorking Party onProfessional Services helditseighth meeting on24March 1997. The
agenda forthemeeting wascontained inairgram WTO/AIR/553. Under Other business ,thechairman
announced thattheOECD would present itsrecent work onprofessional services andtheresults of
theThird workshop onprofessional services heldinParis on20and21February.
Observers
2. InthelightoftheGeneral Council guidelines onobservership inmeetings, theWorking Party
decided togrant observer status totheIMF, World Bank, UNCTAD andtheOECD. TheWorking
Party wasinformed ofarequest forobserver status received fromtheAfrican, Caribbean andPacific
Group ofStates (ACP Group) anddecided torevert tothissubject atitsnextmeeting. According to
the"Guidelines forarrangements onrelations withnon-governmental organisations "(WT/L/162), the
Working Party didnotgrant observer status toUnion mondiale desprofessions libérales (UMPL) and
asked theSecretariat tokeepclose contact withthisorganisation.
Work pursuant toparagraph 2oftheDecision onprofessional services
3. Onthetime-frame forthework ontheaccountancy sector, theWorking Party tooknoteof
theDeclaration adopted byMinisters inSingapore which reads: "Weshallaimatcompleting thework
ontheaccountancy sector bytheendof1997".Italsotooknoteofthesentence intheSingapore
declaration about international standards which reads: "Weencourage thesuccessful completion of
international standards intheaccountancy sector byIFAC, IASC andIOSCO. "Delegations expressed
thedesire tobekeptregularly informed onprogress made inthedevelopment ofthese international
standards andasked theSecretariat tocirculate thedocument prepared onCompliance withInternational
Accounting Standards forthe14thSession oftheISAR expert group ofUNCTAD.
4. After some intensive discussion ofthedraftguidelines forrecognition ofqualifications, ithad
beenagreed intheprevious meeting oftheWorking Party toleave timefordelegations tostudy the
latest version ofthetextdated 25October 1996 inmore detail. Thechairman reminded delegations
thattheseguidelines werenon-binding andwould beusedonavoluntary basis. Theywould notestablish
newobligations onMembers, butcould stillbesenttotheCouncil forTrade inServices forittotake
noteandmake themanofficial WTO document thatMembers maychoose tousewhenever appropriate.
Thechairman suggested thatinformal consultations beorganised tofurther refine thetextofthe
guidelines. Thiswaswelcomed bydelegations whofeltthatthecurrent textwasbroadly acceptable
although itstillrequired improvement inanumber ofplaces. Some delegations made specific drafting
proposals inthemeeting whilst others agreed topasstheirs inwriting ontotheSecretariat by7April
atthelatest. Twodelegates reminded themeeting thatthecurrent textalready represented acertain
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Page 2
compromise between theviews ofdelegations. Although opentodiscussion, theycautioned against
anyapproach which might undermine theresults achieved thusfar.TheSecretariat wasrequested
toproduce anannotated draftoftheguidelines reflecting thepoints made during themeeting aswell
asthose which would bemade inwriting. (This newdraftwascirculated on14April andwasinformally
discussed on24and29April).
5. Onthedisciplines ondomestic regulation, quoting from paragraph 2oftheDecision on
professional services ,thechairman stated thattherightofMembers toregulate wasrecognised under
Article VIoftheGATS. Itsparagraph 4setcertain criteria thatcountries needed torespect when
regulating. ThetaskoftheWorking Party wastotailor thecriteria ofArticle VI.4tothespecificities
ofprofessional services andoftheaccountancy sector inparticular sothatthedisciplines become readily
applicable. Afirststepinthisprocess could betoacquire agood knowledge oftheregulation ofthe
sector toseehowtheprinciples ofArticle VI.4biteonit.Asecond stepwould thenbetoconsider
thedevelopment ofdisciplines. Sofar,theWorking Party hadagreed onalistofissues forconsideration
(attachment todocument S/WPPS/M/3), hadproduced aquestionnaire ontheaccountancy sector
(S/WPPS/W/7) andreceived responses toit(S/WPPS/W/7/Addenda), andhadrequested theSecretariat
toprepare anoteontherelevance ofthedisciplines oftheTBTandImport Licensing agreements to
Article VI.4oftheGATS. Thechairman proposed theproduction ofasynthesis ofresponses tothe
questionnaire ineachofthesixareas forconsideration previously identified bytheWorking Party.
Several delegations asked foradistinction tobedrawn inthiswork between Article VImeasures on
theonehandandArticle XVIorXVII measures ontheother. Thiscould thenleadtotheapplication
totheformer oftheArticle VI.4criteria ofobjectivity, transparency andnecessity andthentothe
development ofdisciplines. Some comments were made onapossible horizontal approach tothe
disciplines, along thelinesoftheTBTorImport Licensing agreements, ifasufficient bodyofgeneral
principles existed, asanalternative toanaccountancy-specific approach. Although thetwoapproaches
were notmutually exclusive, atension existed between being toospecific, withariskfortheresult
nottobemultilaterally acceptable, andbeing toogeneric, without adding value tothecurrent textof
Article VI.4. Thequestion ofthecoordination ofthiswork withdevelopments taking place inthe
Council forTrade inServices under Article VI.4wasalsoraised. TheWorking Party requested the
Secretariat toprepare asynthesis ofresponses tothequestionnaire onthefirstsixissues forconsideration
listed inJanuary 1996, drawing outthedistinction between Article VImeasures andArticle XVIor
XVII measures andidentifying whenever possible evolutions andrationale fortheregulation. The
synthesis would becirculated lateApril andconsidered inthenextmeeting oftheWorking Party.
Work pursuant toparagraph 1oftheDecision onprofessional services
6. Forpractical reasons, theWorking Party agreed toconcentrate onitswork under paragraph 2
oftheDecision ,forthetimebeing, soastoaimatcompleting itwithin thetime-frame agreed in
Singapore. Itwasrecognised, however, thattheresult ofthework under paragraph 2would influence
work under paragraph 1when theWorking Party reverts toit.
Date ofnextmeeting
7. Itwasagreed, afterconsultation, toholdthenextmeeting oftheWorking Party onProfessional
Services on15-16 May.
Other business
8. Therepresentative oftheOECD presented theresults oftheThird workshop onprofessional
services organised inParis on20-21 February. Aninformal document withasummary record ofthe
workshop andtheclosing remarks ofitschairman aspresented inthemeeting wascirculated laterto
delegations.