Brussels, 30/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The EU wants to seize the opportunity presented by its holding the chairmanship of the 15th round of talks on an international agreement on the trade in services (TiSA), which began in Geneva on Monday 30 November. The week of negotiations will be used to push for significant progress on the key chapters of the agreement, the European Commission announced on Monday.
Negotiators will try to consolidate the progress made in inter-sessional work in the chapters on domestic regulation, transparency in legislative processes and financial services.
They will seek to take forward the talks on the movement of natural persons as service suppliers - the so-called “mode 4” of the WTO general agreement on trade in services (GATS). Here, for the first time, the EU is ready to discuss the inclusion of commitments on the temporary entry and stay of highly-skilled professionals in a separate protocol.
Discussions on market access will continue with a view to agreeing on improvements in completed or revised offers. The United States will present its proposal on state-owned enterprises.
The EU has three key objectives in the TiSA talks, the Commission states: - to raise the level of ambition of all participants (current and future) so that all agree a similar level of commitments on market access and national treatment; - to include clear market access standards, such as, for example, allowing a services company which sets up a subsidiary in another country that is party to the TiSA to bring the necessary staff to ensure that that subsidiary is properly managed; - to get rid of foreign equity caps, including in sectors such as telecoms.
However, the EU does not want the TiSA to go beyond trade issues, such as publicly-funded health services or insurance portability, the Commission notes.
Twenty three parties - 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, United States and the EU - have been engaged in negotiations since March 2013 to find a way around the Doha Round deadlock on liberalising the trade in services at the WTO. Together these countries account for 70% of global trade in services.
TiSA negotiations cover all service sectors, including ICT, logistics and transport services, financial services and business services. The goal of the hoped-for agreement goes beyond simply opening up services markets: it is also about developing new rules on the trade in services, like those which apply to public procurement in services, licencing procedures and access to communication networks. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)