Brussels, 22/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU is chairing a round of plurilateral negotiations on the trade in services agreement (TiSA) in Geneva, 21-25 September.
The analysis of the offers on market access tabled by the participating countries - of the 50 participants, only Pakistan and Paraguay have yet to bring forward their offers - will be linked to the discussions on the regulatory texts in specific services sectors and, at the end of the round, the participants will try to draw conclusions on the relation between time lines and disciplines in a broader, horizontal discussion, says the Commission in a press release.
This week, talks will focus on four key regulatory disciplines: financial services, telecommunications, domestic regulation and transparency, and the movement of natural persons supplying services (Mode 4). An exchange of views will also be held on all modes of transport, professional services, competitive delivery services and distribution.
In addition, three new proposals will be presented, including one from the EU on non-discrimination in government procurement in services: the EU is seeking to eliminate all differences of treatment between domestically owned and foreign owned (but domestically established) companies in the process to provide services to a public authority. The other proposals relate to environmental services and health-related services.
Fifty WTO countries - Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and the 28 member states of the EU - have, since March 2013, been involved in talks to find a way round the deadlock in the Doha Round on liberalising trade in services. These countries together represent over two thirds of global trade in services.
The TiSA talks relate to all service sectors, including ICT, logistics and transport services, financial services and business services. The objective of the future agreement goes beyond simply opening services markets: it also wants to develop new rules on the trade in services, like those that apply to procurement of services, procedures for granting licences and access to communication networks. (EH)