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New Zealand's objective in the current WTO GATS services negotiations is improving the stability and predictability of access to overseas markets for New Zealand service exporters (in sectors such as business consultancy, professional services, private education, tourism, and environmental consultancy). The negotiations were launched in 2000, but only began in earnest after the comprehensive Doha Development Round of trade negotiations was launched at the end of 2001.
The services market access negotiations are conducted through bilateral (two-way) negotiations with key trading partners - based on the exchange of requests and offers. New Zealand tabled its initial conditional offer (PDF 43KB) in the services negotiations on 31 March 2003. 49 WTO members (counting the twenty five members of the European Union as one) have now tabled their initial offers. This figure includes nearly all OECD members and accounts for over 90 percent of global GDP.
Since we tabled our offer, there have been a series of services meetings at the WTO in Geneva - during May, July, October and December in 2003, and during March, June, September and December in 2004. In the course of these sessions, New Zealand has held bilateral market access meetings with key trading partners. Our focus is on the twenty-four WTO members New Zealand made market access requests of in 2002. These include: APEC members - such as the US, Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore; plus the European Union, Brazil, Fiji, India and South Africa. We in turn have received requests from 22 WTO members.
Bilateral meetings with those trading partners that have already tabled offers have been an excellent opportunity to introduce and explain New Zealand's initial offer. New Zealand, in turn, has sought clarification of others' offers and pursued strengthened commitments in sectors of particular interest to our services exporters. These sectors include: business services, ranging from computer related services to services incidental to agriculture; professional services, covering such areas as law, accountancy and architecture; construction and related engineering services; education; environmental consultancy; tourism and transport. New Zealand will continue to pursue improved market access commitments for its services exporters through these bilateral negotiations.
In addition to bilateral negotiations, the GATS clusters meetings have also included sessions of the Council on Trade in Services, the Special Session of the Council, and subsidiary bodies: the Committee on Specific Commitments, the Working Group on Domestic Regulation, the Working Group on GATS Rules and the Committee on Financial Services. These meetings address ongoing "framework" issues, (i.e. the further development of rules applying to trade in services) such as the need for WTO disciplines - or rules - on: domestic regulation of licensing, qualifications and technical standards; subsidies; and government procurement. There is also discussion of the need for an "emergency safeguard mechanism", which could allow for the suspension of GATS obligations in an emergency. So far, these discussions have not advanced significantly.
After a marathon negotiating effort, on 31 July 2004 the 147 Members of the WTO agreed to a framework package to guide the next phase of the Doha Round negotiations. The framework does not represent an end point but provides the political direction to guide work over the next year, in the lead up to the Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005. On services, the Framework calls for submission of Revised Offers by May 2005.
The next round of the services talks are in Geneva in February 2005.
On-going consultation with interested parties in New Zealand is an important part of ensuring that priorities and perceived risks are reflected in our position as negotiations progress. Please take a moment to learn more about how you can have your say. (html version) (PDF 143KB).top of page
