02/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - CoR's draft opinion on TiSA prefers “positive list”. During an out-of-office meeting (in Gelsenkirchen) on 29 September, the economic policy commission of the Committee of the Regions assessed the CoR's draft opinion on the future international agreement on trade in services (TiSA) - a draft opinion which has been compiled by Helmuth Markov (PES, Germany). The draft opinion states that local and regional authorities should be able to provide services of general interest “at any time”. It also supports a “positive list” of the sectors to include, rather than a “negative list” of the sectors to exclude, from the scope of liberalisation, so as to show the TisA's scope of application more clearly. The draft opinion also states that the TiSA should not encroach upon the sovereign competences of national governments and territorial authorities in the areas of education, culture, labour and environmental protection. In addition, it advocates including a social chapter that would establish social protection standards on the basis of the relevant ILO conventions. (EH)