RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGBT/8
28September 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-2899)
Negotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications
REPORT OFTHE MEETING OF20SEPTEMBER 1995
1. The Negotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications held itseighth meeting on
20September 1995. Theagenda forthemeeting wascontained inairgram WTO/AIR/151 of
11September 1995.
2. Regarding requests forparticipation andobserver status, theChairman announced thatPeru
hadtaken adecision toparticipate inmeetings oftheGroup asanobserver. Asaresult, thenumber
offullparticipants inthenegotiations remained at271andthenumber ofparticipants withobserver
status wasnow312.TheChairman thanked Peruforitsdecision andencouraged those governments
participating asobservers alsotoconsider joining inthenegotiations asfullparticipants.
3. Under theagenda itemonintroduction ofdraftoffers, theChairman announced thatdraft
offers hadbeenreceived from 8participants: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New
Zealand, Slovak Republic, andtheUnited States. Heinvited thedelegations tocomment briefly on
theiroffers. Some delegations indicated thattheiroffers reflected thestatus quowithrespect totheir
existing regimes which werealready quiteliberal andthatadditional reform under waymight provide
abasis forfurther improvements. Onerepresentative saidthatitsofferrepresented acommitment to
better thanstatus quoandsaidthatithoped thatother participants would findthemselves inaposition
todothesame. Most delegations stressed thattheirdraftoffers wereinitial, subject tofurther bilateral
discussion, andconditional upon thequality ofother offers thatwould result from thenegotiations.
4. TheChairman invited delegations tocomment ontheprogress ofbilateral discussions held
sofar.Anumber ofdelegations indicated thattheywereholding bilateral sessions throughout theweek,
butthatitwasunfortunate nottohavemore draftoffers todiscuss. Some expressed disappointment
thatamajor participant hadnotyetbeenabletosubmit adraftinitial offer. Thatparticipant explained
thattechnical difficulties hadheldupthesubmission oftheoffer butindicated thatwhen submitted,
asitshould beinthenearfuture, theofferwould befound tobesubstantial, going beyond merebinding
ofthestatus quo.
1Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Egypt, theEuropean Communities andtheirMember
States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
United Kingdom), Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, NewZealand, Norway, Singapore, Slovak
Republic, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, theUnited States andVenezuela.
2Bulgaria, Brunei Darussalam, theRepublic ofChina, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, ElSalvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Latvia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines,
Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad &Tobago, andUruguay.
./.S/NGBT/8
Page2
5. Onerepresentative emphasized aneedtoreach aconsensus onawhatshould constitute abottom
lineinterms ofcommitments. Hestressed theimportance offullm.f.n. obligations inthesector, and
thusavoiding anyelements ofreciprocity. Hesaidthatunder theGATS, anym.f.n. exemption should
beexceptional, temporary, unambiguous andspecific andcould notbemaintained withrespect tofuture
measures.
6. Under theagenda itemontechnical andconceptual issues, theChairman invited theAustralian
delegation tointroduce itsnew paper onTermination Services andDeveloping Countries
(S/NGBT/W/13). TheChairman theninvited remarks ontheissues aslisted intheSummary of
Participants 'Views (S/NGBT/W/8/Rev.1). Some delegations offered suggestions onhowtodealwith
so-called public interest tests, sometimes associated withtheissuing oflicences. Onesuggestion was
thatassuchtestsoften involved vague criteria, theywereinconsistent withArticle VIoftheGATS
andshould beeliminated rather thanlisted inschedules. Another viewwasthattheyshould notneed
tobelisted asalimitation inschedules unless theircriteria included abarrier totrade, suchasan
economic needs test.Itwaspointed outthatpublic interest testsarealready listed inUruguay Round
commitments insomeothersectors. There wasalsodiscussion ontheissueofinterconnection, including
thesuggestion thatitmight behelpful tohaveanagreed definition oftheterm. TheChairman urged
delegations toconsider ways thattheissues onthelistmight bereduced orresolved insubsequent
meetings oftheGroup.
7. Under theagenda itemonthereview ofparticipants 'responses tothequestionnaire onbasic
telecommunications,theChairmaninvitedquestionsontheresponsesofSingapore,TunisiaandUruguay.
Heannounced thatquestionnaire responses fromVenezuela, Brazil, theDominican Republic andIsrael
hadjustbecome available. Heinvited these delegations tointroduce theirresponses andsuggested
thatquestions ontheirresponses beentertained atthenextmeeting oftheGroup. Therepresentative
ofAustralia wasinvited topresent itspaper onthegovernment 'splans forfurther liberalization of
thetelecommunications regime, post-1997 (S/NGBT/W/14). TheChairman thanked thedelegations
fortheirsubmissions andencouraged allparticipants andobservers tocontinue tokeeptheGroup
informed ofnewdevelopments andtosubmit responses tothequestionnaires.
8. Indiscussion onfuture work, theGroup agreed onadraftagenda forthemeeting tobeheld
on6October atthesenior official level. Itwasalsosuggested thattheOctober meeting beaformal
rather thananinformal session oftheGroup. Noobjections weremade tothissuggestion, butone
delegationrequestedthatthischangeinstatusbeeffectivelycommunicatedtoparticipants.TheChairman
urged delegations thathadnotyetsubmitted draftoffers totrytodosointimeforthe6October meeting.
Itwasalsoagreed thattheGroup would holditssubsequent meeting on17November andthatbilateral
negotiations would beconducted during thatweek. TheGroup approved adrafttimetable forcompletion
ofthenegotiations which called formonthly meetings upuntiltheApril 1996deadline. Inthiscontext,
onerepresentative urged delegations tosubmit totheSecretariat documentation intended foranymeeting
oftheGroup atleastoneweek inadvance ofthemeeting dateconcerned.
9. Under other business, participants were reminded toinform theSecretariat ofthenames of
officials whowould attend themeeting on6October andalsotoinform theSecretariat iftheirdelegation
would intend tomake aformal intervention atthemeeting.