RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/FIN/M/9
28July1995
ORGANIZATION
(95-2240)
Committee onTrade inFinancial Services
REPORT OFTHE MEETING HELD ON26JULY 1995
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Theninth meeting oftheCommittee onTrade inFinancial Services waschaired byMr.Frank
Swedlove ofCanada. Theagenda forthemeeting was: positions regarding finalschedules andMFN
exemptions, andother business.
2. Onthepositions regarding finalschedules andMFN exemptions, theChairman reported that
tencountries hadsofarconfirmed theirpositions inwriting totheSecretariat. These countries were
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, theEuropean Community, Hungary, Israel, New
Zealand, Poland, andSlovak Republic.
3. Anumber ofcountries expressed theirintentions tomaintain theirbestoffers andtosupport
theproposal oftheEuropean Community foraninterim agreement. Japan, while emphasizing the
importance ofapplying theMFN principle intheareaoffinancial services andstrongly urging the
United States tocommit itselftotheMFN principle assoonaspossible, explained itsdecision tosubmit
anewrevised schedule withfurther improvements inmarket access withrespect tooverseas deposits
andderivative products, andnottotakeanMFN exemption. Thisposition, however, wasconditional
onagreat number ofother countries making meaningful offers onanMFN basis. Japan added that
thelisting ofanMFN exemption mustbetemporary, exceptional andunambiguous inaccordance with
therelevant provisions oftheGATS. Korea indicated itsdecision tomaintain itsoffer made on20
June, which included future plans toliberalize across allfinancial sectors, onanMFN basis, onthe
condition thatacritical number ofcountries supported theE.C. proposal.
4. India informed delegates thatitwasnowinaposition totableanimproved offerinfinancial
services which would include itsindications made inbilateral negotiations, intheunderstanding that
itstrading partners would schedule theiroffers intheareaofmovement ofnatural persons andthat
anadditional offer tabled byonetrading partner inthemovement ofnatural persons constituted an
improvement inthatarea. Egypt stated that,although theoffers intheareaofmovement ofnatural
persons fellfarshort ofexpectations, itdecided toaccept theE.C.initiative andpresent itsbestoffer
onanMFN basis, noting thatthisofferwentfarahead oftherequests fromthemajor trading partners
ofthiscountry. Thisofferwasconditional onitsmajor trading partners making firmimproved offers
intheareaofmovement ofnatural persons. Pakistan alsohadhoped forbetter offers intheareaof
movement ofnatural persons. However, inorder tomaintain confidence inthemultilateral system,
ithadtaken adecision torespond positively totheE.C. initiative andwasmaintaining itsbestoffer
made on19June, provided thatasufficiently large number ofcountries joined theagreement.
5. TheUnited States welcomed theefforts thatsomany delegations hadmade tomaintain their
bestoffers, buttheU.S.commitments remained those submitted on30June, which theU.S.considered
weresubstantial commitments sincetheyguaranteed current levels ofaccess andoperations intheU.S.
onanMFN basis. Thecommitments being made provided thefoundation onwhich itmight bepossible
tobuild abroad MFN agreement thateffectively liberalized market access andnational treatment
./.S/FIN/M/9
Page2
conditions fortrade infinancial services. Suchanagreement remained theobjective oftheU.S., and
thisdelegation looked forward tocontinue working withallother delegations inthefuture inorder
toreach thisgoal.
6. TheEuropeanCommunitywelcomedthenewsdeliveredinthemeetingwhichreflectedenormous
efforts made bymany delegations, andnoted thatitwould complete formal procedures toconfirm its
offerbased ontheindications given byothercountries, inlightoftheconditions embodied inthedecision
bytheCounciloftheEuropeanCommunityon17July.Theinterimagreementreflectedthefundamental
MFN principle, andallowed countries toretain thesignificant improvements made inthenegotiations.
Thisdelegation alsohoped thattheU.S.would rejoin theothers withacomprehensive MFN-based
commitment inthecourse ofthenextfewmonths. Canada alsocommended thecountries thathad
confirmed theiroffers earlier inthemeeting, andstressed theimportance oftheMFN principle and
multilateral cooperation. Hong Kong echoed earlier speakers, andthought thatalthough theinterim
agreement washardly atriumph, itwasstillanimportant stepforward.
7. Itwasagreed thatcountries would submit theirrevised schedules andMFN exemptions by
noon ofthefollowing day,andtoholdthenextmeeting oftheCommittee onFriday 28Julyat10
a.m.toadopt theschedules andMFN exemptions tobeannexed totheSecond Protocol totheGATS.