Brussel, 26/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Market access will be the focus of the 18th round of technical negotiations on an international agreement on trade in services (TiSA) which opened in Geneva on Thursday 26 May under the chairmanship of the EU. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström will chair a meeting of ministers of the TiSA stakeholder countries on the sidelines of the OECD ministerial meeting in Paris on 1 June.
The agenda for this 18th round of TiSA negotiations focuses on market access. The first two days will be devoted to presentation by participants of their revised offers. The European Commission published its revised offer online on Thursday (http://goo.gl/kSm4ef ).
“Good progress” was made at the 17th round of talks at the start of April towards a stable text on many thematic issues to be covered by annexes to the future agreement, the Commission said on Thursday.
At the 18th round, the EU intends to use its chairmanship to bring further progress. Work on consolidating the texts will continue next week in key areas of the future agreement: telecommunication services, e-commerce, financial services, the localisation issues, transport, temporary movement of people for purposes of service delivery - “Mode 4” of the WTO agreement on the trade in services (GATS) - and TiSA institutional provisions.
Twenty three parties - Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United States and EU - are taking part in the TiSA negotiations that were launched in 2013.
The European Parliament made known its demands for the TiSA in as vote in February, calling for any future agreement to guarantee the opening of new markets to EU businesses while at the same time protecting consumers, public services and right of governments to regulate (see EUROPE 11482).
BEUC criticises lack of transparency in negotiations. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) spoke out on Thursday 26 May about the lack of transparency in the talks. “This little-known trade deal is about everything from phone-calls to making payments, ordering goods online, international flights and more. It is therefore vital that civil society can give constructive feedback on the negotiations. This is currently next to impossible, due to a lack of publicly available texts”, BEUC complained on Thursday morning. “An agreement on trade in services must provide clear benefits to consumers, including protecting their rights at home, when they travel and when they're buying online. It should also provide rock solid safeguards to ensure consumer standards are safeguarded and can be enhanced in the future”, it went on to say, noting that only a few parties, including the EU and Switzerland, disclose their negotiating proposals. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)