Towards pro-sustainable development rules for subsidies in trade in services
10th March 2003
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According to the ‘Guidelines’ of the ongoing services negotiations, WTO Members “shall aim to complete” negotiations on services subsidies under Articles XV of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) prior to the conclusion of the services market access negotiations. Members of the Working Party on GATS Rules have therefore agreed on a work programme by which they are to submit proposals on subsidies by 31 March 2003. While the subsidies debate is still in a tentative ‘brainstorming’ mode, the GATS market access negotiations have already reached a rather advanced stage with Members submitting bilateral requests on further services liberalisation to their trading partners. By end-March this year, Members are to respond by initial offers outlining the scope of new commitments they would commit to on a multilateral basis.
As sound and balanced WTO rules on subsidies are widely seen as a promoter of key trade and sustainable development objectives, ICTSD - in an attempt to give stimulating impetus to the emerging debate on services subsidy rules - has asked a renowned subsidies expert, Professor Marc Benitah, to prepare a research paper examining the desirability of services subsidies rules from a sustainable development perspective, as well as elements for a possible regulatory mechanism for services subsidies. Marc Benitah is Professor of International Law at the University of Quebec, and author of the widely acknowledged academic work “The Law of Subsidies under the GATT/WTO System”.
Based on the presentation of Prof. Benitah’s first research ideas, ICTSD organised this this informal and off-the-record Roundtable to provide space for frank and open discussion on the services subsidies and sustainable development interface. It further benefited from inputs of three respected trade experts in the field of services subsidies, which each made 10-15 minute comments on the research presented. Participants were invited in their personal capacity.
In addition, the key points of the discussions will be fed into the research undertaken by Prof. Benitah, who is preparing a fully-fledged research paper for final presentation during a Roundtable meeting in Geneva in 2004. ICTSD has chosen this two-step interactive process to ensure that the research paper will be of utmost relevance for the ongoing WTO negotiations within the framework of sustainable development.
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