RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGBT/10
29November 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3849)
Negotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications
REPORT OFTHE MEETING OF17NOVEMBER 1995
1. The Negotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications held itstenth meeting on
17November1995.TheagendaforthemeetingwascontainedinairgramWTO/AIR/200of31October
1995.
2. Recalling thetragic death earlier thisweek ofMr.A.AlaaElDinNazmi, Counsellor for
Commercial Affairs ofthePermanent Mission ofEgypt, theChairman observed amoment ofsilence
inhishonour.
3. Regarding requests forparticipation andobserver status, theChairman announced thatIsrael
andPoland hadtaken decisions tojoinnegotiations asfullparticipants. Approval wasrequested and
obtained forobserver status oftheUnited ArabEmirates andoneregional organization, theCaribbean
Telecommunications Union. Asaresult, thenumber offullparticipants inthenegotiations nowstood
at311andthenumber ofparticipants withobserver status wasnow282.TheChairman thanked the
delegations fortheirdecisions andencouraged other governments participating asobservers alsoto
consider joining inthenegotiations asfullparticipants.
4. Under theagenda itemonintroduction ofdraftoffers, theChairman announced thatdraftoffers
hadbeenreceived from 14participants.3Sixofthese participants (Czech Republic, theEuropean
Communities anditsMember States, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, andVenezuela) hadsubmitted
offers since theSeptember meeting. They wereafforded theopportunity tobriefly explain theiroffers
totheGroup.
5. TheChairman invited delegations tocomment ontheprogress ofbilateral discussions held
during theweek. Anumber ofparticipants reported thattheyhadundertaken heavy schedules consisting
ofnumerous bilateral sessions. Oneparticipant saidthatthemain focus ofitsbilaterals hadbeenon
market access andnational treatment commitments. Some participants noted thatalthough there were
positivesignsofmovementinthenegotiations,theywereconcernedthatmoreparticipantsshouldsubmit
theirinitial offers assoonaspossible. They observed thatthere wasmuch work yettobedoneand
thattimeforthenegotiations wasrunning short. Oneparticipant indicated that,based onitsdiscussions
withothers, itshould bepossible fortheGroup todevelop areference paper aimed atcommitments
1Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Cyprus, theCzech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, theEuropean Communities
andtheirMember States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, NewZealand, Norway,
Poland, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, theUnited States andVenezuela.
2Bulgaria, Brunei Darussalam, theRepublic ofChina, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica,Ecuador, ElSalvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Iceland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Latvia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation,
Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad &Tobago, andUnited Arab Emirates, Uruguay.
3Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, theEuropean Communities anditsMember States, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, NewZealand,
Norway, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, theUnited States andVenezuela.
./.S/NGBT/10
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insuchareas asinterconnection andcompetition safeguards. Some other participants saidthatifsuch
apaper might bedeveloped, theywould hopethatanyrelated proposals orideas might beshared at
theDecember meeting oftheGroup.
6. Under theagenda itemonoutstanding technical andconceptual issues, threenewpapers were
available: onefrom Australia onScheduling ofTermination Services (S/NGBT/W/16), aninformal
paper fromCanada onRegulatory Principles, andaninformal paper fromKorea ontheCoverage of
theterm"Other" Services inschedules. Apaper onpossible elements foraglobal regulatory framework
from Venezuela (S/NGBT/W/17) wasnotyetavailable intranslation sotheChairman indicated that
itwould bediscussed atthenextmeeting. Theparticipants concerned presented explanations oftheir
papers. Thiswasfollowed bygeneral discussion oftheissues. Oneparticipant suggested thatany
regulatory principles developed should begeneral rather thandetailed, flexible enough togain
acceptability among allparticipants, andfocus onoutcomes rather thanmeans. Forexample, regarding
interconnection itwasimportant thatthere besome wayofresolving disputes suchasanindependent
regulator, ajudicial process orarbitration, rather thanoneprescribed waytoresolve them. Inhis
ownregime, hesaidthecourt process wasthewaysuchdisputes wereresolved. Hesaidthatarelevant
criterion forregulatory principles inthisareacould betorequire theexistence ofaneffective legal
process todealwithdisputes.
7. Under theagenda itemonthereview ofparticipants 'responses tothequestionnaire onbasic
telecommunications, theChairman invited anyoutstanding questions ontheresponses ofVenezuela,
Brazil, theDominican Republic, which were firstpresented attheprevious meeting, andquestions
onthenewresponses available fromtheCzech Republic, IndiaandIsrael. Thelatterdelegations briefly
introduced theirresponses. Also, Uruguay presented follow-up responses toquestions posed atprevious
meetings. TheChairman thanked thedelegations fortheirsubmissions andencouraged allparticipants
andobservers tocontinue tokeeptheGroup informed ofnewdevelopments andtosubmit responses
tothequestionnaires.
8. Indiscussion onfuture work, theGroup agreed onarevised timetable formeetings tobeheld
upuntiltheApril 1996 deadline. Theagreed revision assigned specific dates forfuture meetings.
Itwasalsoagreed thatthenextmeeting oftheGroup would beon15December andthatbilateral
negotiations would beconducted during thatweek. TheChairman urged participants thathadnotyet
submitted draftoffers totrytodosointimefortheDecember meeting.