Services / GATS / TISA

WTO General Council officially suspends talks indefinitely

26 July, 2006
Agence Europe
In Geneva, on Thursday, at the request of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, the ambassadors of the 149 WTO member nations, meeting in General Council, officially agreed to suspend Doha Round talks indefinitely after the stalled meeting on 24 July when the major G-6 trading powers (EU, United States, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan) were unable to reach a compromise on the modalities (figures and other provisions) for trade liberalisation in agricultural products and non-agricultural manufactured articles (NAMA).

Crunch Time in Geneva: pressure tactics in the GATS negotiations

20 June, 2006
by Scott Sinclair, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Global civil society should not be lulled into complacency by gloomy media reports about the deadlock in the Doha Round negotiations.

Collective Request Mode 3

27 March, 2006
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Link to the collective request on Mode 3.

Collective Requests: Services related to agriculture, MFN exemptions, Distribution Services

20 March, 2006
Alexandra Strickner, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Links to collective services requests related to agriculture, MFN exemptions and distribution services.

Plurilateral requests: Mode 4, Legal Services, Air Transport, Audivisual and Schedule for Services Cluster March - April

13 March, 2006
Alexandra Strickner
Below are the links for the services documents

Collective Requests - Legal, Logistics, Postal and Courier

7 March, 2006
Carin Smaller
Links to three new collective requests.

Plurilateral requests aim at maximum opening of South's services

6 March, 2006
Martin Khor, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar06/4)
The plurilateral services negotiations that were launched at the WTO on 28 February by the major developed countries (joined by a handful of developing members) are clearly aimed at creating a new negotiating method to more effectively pressurize some emerging developing economies to open up many of their key services sectors to competition from the large multinational service enterprises.

Plurilateral services requests made at WTO in 14 or more sectors

6 March, 2006
Martin Khor, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar06/3)
Several collective requests were made on 28 February to selected countries to take part in plurilateral sectoral meetings under the WTO's services negotiations. More requests are expected to be made in the next few days.

Trading partners request access to US ports

4 March, 2006
FT
The US has been asked by several trading partners to open up its port services to international competition, a longstanding request given more significance by the dispute over the takeover of P&O by Dubai Ports World.

Plurilateral Requests for Services

2 March, 2006
IATP
Links to eight plurilateral requests for services liberalisation that have been submitted in the WTO. These include: energy, environmental services, telecommunications, financial services, architectural and engineering, construction, maritime transport, and computer related services.

US Abandons Logistics Services Talks

1 March, 2006
Washington Trade Daily
The United States and the European Union surprised negotiators yesterday by abruptly pulling out of a plurilateral group of countries pushing for further liberalization of logistics services.

A Batch of Plurilateral Services Offers

28 February, 2006
Washington Trade Daily
The United States joined the European Union, Japan, Canada and other industrialized nations yesterday in presenting requests under a new plurilateral approach in the stalled Doha Development Agenda services negotiations.

WTO services negotiations move up a gear

28 February, 2006
Richard Waddington
Global talks to free up trade in services, a key part of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Doha round, moved up a gear on Tuesday with leading states putting in demands for liberalisation.

Collective requests in which the EU is participating under the DDA Trade in Services negotiations

27 February, 2006
Esther Busser
An agreement was reached among a number of countries to pursue common objectives in improving access to selected telecommunications markets around the globe. The markets selected reflect the interest of many countries to develop a modern telecommunications sector. There is a broad recognition that the opening up of telecommunications markets will bring significant benefits to customers. Foreign operators will bring with them - especially to developing countries - valuable technological knowledge acquired through their operations in their home markets. Enhanced competition brings down the overall cost of services and consumers enjoy higher quality, advanced services at affordable prices. The development of telecommunications markets promotes the performance of enterprises of all economic sectors as the cost of their operations will be reduced while speed in conducting business will be improved.

United States is Active Participant in Coalition to Jump Start WTO Services Negotiations

27 February, 2006
The Office of the United States Trade Representative
The United States today launched a new effort to jump start the WTO Services negotiations. Joining with like-minded developed and developing countries, the U.S. will push for a common set of liberalization objectives in services sectors key to global growth and development. Services are a significant and growing part of the U.S. economy as evidenced by the $56 billion surplus in services trade in 2005. Further, 8 of 10 U.S. jobs are in the services sector.

EU and others launch 'plurilateral' process to boost Doha services negotiations

27 February, 2006
Esther Busser
Today, the EU and other developed and developing country WTO partners have submitted new market access requests in several services sectors as part of the DDA negotiations in services. These joint requests mark the beginning of the 'plurilateral' negotiations in services as agreed by WTO members at last December

WTO's plurilateral services negotiations are voluntary, stresses developing countries

21 February, 2006
By Goh Chien Yen, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb06/17)
At a meeting on services at the WTO last week, several developing countries have stressed their understanding that participation in the plurilateral mode of negotiations would be on a voluntary and non-compulsory basis.

WTO services talks resume, uncertainty on plurilaterals

21 February, 2006
By Kanaga Raja, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb06/16)
The Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services, meeting this week for the first time since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, has been taking up some organizational matters including on how to proceed with respect to the plurilateral process.

Sensitive products are key

19 February, 2006
By Ian Elliott, Feedstuffs
A DEAL on 'sensitive products' is one of the keys to unlocking progress in World Trade Organization talks on market access, Canada's lead agricultural negotiator Steve Verheul said recently.

UNCTAD panel debates state of WTO services negotiations

19 February, 2006
By Martin Khor, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb06/11)
Developing countries taking part in an UNCTAD meeting have reiterated that they are entitled to exercise flexibility when deciding on liberalisation commitments in the WTO's services agreement (GATS).