RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/9
8March 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-0845)
Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF13AND 16FEBRUARY 1996
TheNegotiating Group onMaritime Services helditsninth meeting on13and16February
1996. TheAgenda ofthemeeting wascontained inAirgram WTO/AIR/243 of15January 1996.
1. Under itemAoftheagenda, request forobserver status, theChairman noted thatintheabsence
ofanyrequests since thelastmeeting, themembership oftheGroup remained at42fullparticipants,
16observer governments and3observer organizations.
2. Under itemB,responses tothequestionnaire onmaritime transport services, theChairman
noted thatsince thelastmeeting oftheGroup, Iceland hadsubmitted aresponse tothequestionnaire
(circulated asdocument S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.37). Thetotalnumber ofreplies received wasnow37-
which included 35from fullparticipants and2from observer governments. The7fullparticipants
and13observers whohadnotyetsubmitted replies were encouraged bytheChairman todoso.
3. Under itemC,draftschedule onmaritime transport services, theChairman saidthattherenow
existed, notonlythenecessary factual basisfortheconclusion ofthenegotiations, butalsoabroadly
agreed framework within which tonegotiate commitments. Inrecent informal discussions, further
progresshadbeenmadeindealingwithoutstandingschedulingissues,particularlytheissueofmultimodal
transport services. Australia presented adiscussion paper on"Scheduling Options forMultimodal
Transport". TheAustralian delegation stated thattheywould welcome comments ontheirpaper and
would bewilling toprepare arevised version.
4. Three newoffers weresubmitted. Switzerland reinstated theofferwhich itwithdrew in1993,
Korea offered improvements onitsexisting commitments andChile submitted itsfirstoffer during
thecourse ofthemeeting. Columbia andMexico indicated thattheywerelikely tosubmit offers soon
andPanama submitted astatement (document S/NGMTS/W/10) regarding itsintention tomake an
offer. Argentina indicated thatitwasactively considering making anoffer. Members reported that
asignificant number ofwritten requests hadbeenpresented andMembers expressed satisfaction with
thebilaterals conducted during theweek. Poland emphasized thatitnormally hadanopenregime
andhadalready made liberalizing commitments under various bilateral andmultilateral agreements.
5. TheUnited States stated thatitwould notputforward either anofferorarequest because it
didnotconsider theexisting offers satisfactory. Itwould reconsider itsposition ifthesituation changed.
Nevertheless, theUnited States, likemany other delegations, participated actively inbilaterals, which
theydescribed asuseful andcandid. Many Members expressed disappointment withtheUnited States
position andurged amore meaningful participation. TheUnited States delegation saiditwould
communicate other Members 'concern anddesire forafuller participation toitsauthorities.
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6. Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic, European Communities, Japan, NewZealand and
Norway were among those whowelcomed thenewoffers, andtheindications thatothers would be
forthcoming. Many delegations warned thatthedeadline oftheendofJunewasnotfaraway, and
emphasized theneedtointensify therequest-offer process, andtoobtain a"critical mass" ofoffers.
TheChairman urged Members nottoallow themselves tobetrapped inasituation where eachwaited
forothers totabletheiroffers first. Several Members repeated thatitwasnotonlythequantity, but
alsothequalityofofferswhichmattered.TheEuropeanCommunitiesremarkedthattheofferssubmitted
didnotfullyreflect atrading reality which wasquite openinmaritime transport, andemphasized the
needtoconsolidate theopenness. Several Members, while acknowledging thatthecurrent negotiations
were slowanddifficult, expressed adetermination toprevent thefailure ofthenegotiations.
7. Under itemDoftheagenda, matters relating toparagraph 7oftheDecision onNegotiations
onMaritime Transport Services, theEuropean Communities andJapan expressed theirconcern over
therecent enactment oftheUnited States legislation which permitted theexport ofNorth Alaskan oil
butreserved itstransportation toUnited States-flag ships. TheEuropean Communities believed that
thelegislation wasinconflict withtheMinisterial Decision onNegotiations onMaritime Transport
Services which called forastandstill during thenegotiations andprohibited participating countries from
taking measures which mayimprove theirnegotiating position. Japan feltitwasnecessary toexamine
thelegalramifications ofthelegislation. TheUnited States saidthattheissue hadbeenaddressed in
thepast,andthere waslittlevalue inrepeating whatithadalready beenstated.
8. Regarding dates offuture meetings (item E),thegroup agreed toholditsnextmeeting on
Tuesday, 26March 1996 andFriday, 29March 1996.