RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/FIN/M/10
16August 1995
ORGANIZATION
(95-2424)
Committee onTrade inFinancial Services
REPORT OFTHE MEETING HELD ON28JULY 1995
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Thetenthmeeting oftheCommittee onTrade inFinancial Services waschaired byMr.Frank
Swedlove ofCanada. Theagenda forthemeeting was: theadoption offinalrevised schedules and
MFN exemptions, andother business.
2. Ontheadoption offinalrevised schedules andMFN exemptions, theChairman reported that
29countries hadsubmitted revised schedules and13countries hadsubmitted revised MFN exemptions
which weretobeannexed totheProtocol. Thecountries withrevised schedules tobeannexed tothe
Protocol were Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, the
EuropeanCommunity,HongKong,Hungary,India,Indonesia,Japan,Korea,Kuwait,Malaysia,Mexico,
Morocco,Norway,Pakistan,Philippines,Poland,Singapore,SlovakRepublic,SouthAfrica,Switzerland,
Thailand, Turkey, andVenezuela. Thecountries withrevised MFN exemptions tobeannexed tothe
ProtocolwereCanada,CzechRepublic,HongKong,Indonesia,Korea,Malaysia,Philippines,Singapore,
Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, andVenezuela. These revisions hadbeendistributed
intheformofdocumentsthatsupplementedtheexistingschedulesandMFNexemptionlistsofcountries.
TheChairman noted thatthetextofthelistofArticle II(MFN) Exemptions forHong Kong
(GATS/EL/40/Suppl.1) should beamended toread,"ThetextoftheFinancial Services section contained
inpage1ofdocument GATS/EL/39 isdeleted."
3. TheChairman further reported thattherevised schedules and/or MFN exemption listsof
Colombia, Mauritius (only anMFN exemption) andtheUnited States were alsomade available or
tobemade available shortly indocument form. These revisions hadtaken immediate effect onthe
respective dates ofsubmission.
4. TheCommitteethenadoptedthesedocumentsastheresultsofthenegotiations,andtheschedules
andMFN exemptions thattheChairman hadlisted astobeattached totheProtocol were agreed to
beannexed totheSecond Protocol totheGATS.
5. Onother business, theChairman informed delegates thataninformal meeting toverify the
schedules andMFN exemptions adopted thisdaywould beheldinSeptember. After verification, the
Protocol would beopenforsignature. TheSecretariat would issueacommunication indicating logistics
ofsignature. Forthenextformal meeting ofthisCommittee, theChairman suggested some timelater
inthefall, andtheexact dates andtheagenda forthemeeting would becommunicated later.
6. TheChairman thanked delegates fortheirhardwork overalongperiod oftime, which led
toasuccessful result ofthenegotiations. Given theevents oftheendofJune, theresults achieved
werethebestthatcould havebeenhoped for.Thediscussions andnegotiations which hadtaken place
overthepastyearhadledtoimportant improvements, bothinterms ofmarket access andnational
./.S/FIN/M/10
Page2
treatment commitments andinterms offewer andlesstrade-distorting MFN exemptions. TheE.U.
hadshown great leadership overthepastmonth inresponse totheU.S.decision attheendofJune.
Andother countries should alsobecommended fortheirunwavering commitment totheprinciples
ofprogressive liberalization andMFN. Without these efforts, thenegotiations onfinancial services
would havecertainly resulted infailure. Thisday'sachievement should beconsidered asakeystep
forward, butbynomeans theendoftheprocess. Members hadcommitted toreview theirpositions
onfinancial services bytheendof1997. Thiswould create anopportunity forcommitments tofurther
liberalization andanevenbroader MFN-based agreement.
7. Several delegates expressed theirthanks toother delegations, especially tothedelegates of
theE.C., forthehardwork inbuilding aconsensus. They alsothanked theChairman fortheimportant
rolethatheplayed. Theagreement wasnotanideal agreement, butnevertheless averyimportant
one,andastepforward towards realizing afullandpermanent multilateral agreement onanMFN
basis. Onedelegation hoped thatsuchanagreement would bepossible wellbefore theconclusion of
thisinterim agreement. Another delegation looked forward tofuture negotiations using thecurrent
agreement asthebasisforfurther liberalization onafullymultilateral basis. Thedelegate fromKorea
added thatallthemain aspects ofthecountry 'sblueprint forfuture financial liberalization hadbeen
reflected initsoffer. Thecountry would notonlyfullyimplement thisoffer, butwould alsoaccelerate
itsfinancial liberalization policy beyond thecontent oftheoffer, theresult ofwhich would become
visible aftertheinterim period. Thedelegate invited itsmajor trading partner tojointheagreement.
8. Thedelegate fromtheUnited States welcomed thisinterim agreement aswell. Thisdelegation
recognized thatthere weremany substantial commitments which would beattached totheProtocol.
There werealsocommitments which would notbeattached totheProtocol, including thecommitments
oftheU.S. Although theU.S.offerwasnotwhatithadprepared asitsbestoffer, itwasstillsignificant
andsubstantial. TheU.S.continued tobeaMember oftheGATS, andwasready towork withother
delegations tomake abroad MFN-based agreement inthefuture.