RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGBT/7
17August 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-2470)
Negotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications
REPORT OFTHE MEETING OF12-13 JULY 1995
1. TheNegotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications helditsseventh meeting on12-13
July1995. Theagenda forthemeeting wascontained inairgram WTO/AIR/124 of28June1995. The
Chairman introduced theagenda andnoted thattheitemonoutstanding technical andconceptual issues
would bediscussed ininformal session.
2. Three delegations, Brazil, Singapore andVenezuela, announced thattheywould nowbe
participating fullyinthenegotiations oftheGroup, rather thanasobservers. Asaresult, thenumber
offullparticipants inthenegotiations increased to271andthenumber ofparticipants withobserver
status wasnow302.TheChairman thanked thedelegations fortheirdecisions andencouraged other
governments participating asobservers alsotoconsider joining inthenegotiations.
3. TheChairman invited delegations tocomment onanybilateral discussions heldsofar.The
delegations ofAustralia, Canada, theEuropean Community anditsMember States, NewZealand and
theUnited States noted thattheyhadbeenholding anumber ofbilateral discussions ofrequests and
offers. Theyalsoindicated thattheyhaddiscussed anumber oftheoutstanding technical andconceptual
issues inbilateral meetings. Thebilateral meetings weregenerally characterized aspositive, productive
anduseful.
4. Under theagenda itemcalling fordiscussion ofwork ontechnical andconceptual issues, the
Chairman invited delegations whohadsubmitted newpapers tointroduce them. Thedelegation of
Australia presented twopapers, "AnEconomic Analysis oftheImplications ofaTrading System for
International Telecommunications Services based onTrade ofTermination Services" (S/NGBT/W/10)
and"TradeinTelecommunicationsTerminationServices:Measures"(S/NGBT/W/11).Thedelegation
ofNew Zealand presented apaper titled "New Zealand Telecommunications: theCompetition
Environment" (S/NGBT/W/3/Add.2/Supp.2). Finally, thedelegation ofJapan presented twoinformal
papers;onewasadraftguidetoschedulingandtheothercommentedonpossibleadditionalcommitments.
Thediscussions ininformal session ontechnical andconceptual issues focused ongeneral regulatory
issues (licensing, interconnection, competition safeguards, transparency, independent regulatory bodies,
frequencyandnumbering,standardsandtypeapproval,tariffsandaccountingrates,terminationservices,
rights ofwayandplanning, anduniversal service) andonissues related tothescheduling of
commitments.
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,BruneiDarussalam,China,ChineseTaipei,Colombia,CostaRica,CzechRepublic,Ecuador,ElSalvador,Guatemala,Honduras,
Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Latvia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian
Federation, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad &Tobago, andUruguay.
./.S/NGBT/7
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5. Under theagenda itemonthereview ofparticipants 'responses tothequestionnaire onbasic
telecommunications, theChairman announced thatSingapore andTunisia hadsubmitted responses.
Therepresentative ofSingapore provided abrief introduction toitsresponse andanswered some
preliminary questions from participants. TheChairman thanked thedelegations forsubmitting the
responses andnoted thatmore timewould beallotted attheSeptember meeting forquestions. Healso
encouraged allparticipants andobservers tocontinue tokeeptheGroup informed ofnewdevelopments
andtosubmit responses tothequestionnaires.
6. TheGroup agreed thatitsnextmeeting would be20September andthatbilateral consultations
would beheldduring thatweek. Itwasfurther agreed thataninformal meeting oftheGroup atthe
senior official levelwould beheldon6October during theperiod ofTELECOM 95.TheGroup also
agreed toadeadline of31Julyforthesubmission ofdraftoffers, ontheunderstanding thatparticipants
unable tomeetthisdeadline should nevertheless trytosubmit theiroffers bytheSeptember meeting.
7. Noadditionalmatterswereraisedunderotherbusiness.TheSecretariatwasrequestedtoproduce
adrafttimetable forcompletion ofthenegotiations forconsideration bytheGroup atitsnextmeeting
andtoupdate thetabulation ofpositions adopted bydelegations onissues taken upintheirsubmissions
andstatements (S/NGBT/W/8).