43/ Participants on track to conclude negotiations on services domestic regulation at MC12

25 OCTOBER 2021

Australia, Canada and the United States submitted their draft services schedules outlining how they will incorporate the new disciplines on domestic regulation for trade in services into their existing commitments at a meeting on the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation on 25 October. Eleven other participants indicated they were on track to submit their schedules by the 29 October deadline set by the chair Jaime Coghi Arias of Costa Rica.

Participants concluded negotiations on the new disciplines on services domestic regulation at a meeting of the initiative on 27 September. Contained in the “Reference Paper on Services Domestic Regulation”, the new disciplines developed by the initiative aim to facilitate services trade by mitigating the unintended trade-restrictive effects of measures relating to licensing requirements and procedures, qualification requirements and procedures, and technical standards. Their focus lies on the transparency, predictability and effectiveness of procedures that businesses have to comply with for obtaining authorization to supply their services. The Reference Paper is available here.

Participants are also advancing work on the review of the translation of the Reference Paper into French and Spanish and the drafting of a ministerial outcome document.

An endorsement by ministers of the final outcome of the negotiations on services domestic regulation is expected for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) scheduled from 30 November to 3 December.

A total of 65 WTO members⁽¹⁾ are currently participating in this initiative, accounting for over 90 per cent of world services trade.

Source: wto.org