TRADE IN SERVICES AGREEMENT (TiSA) NEGOTIATIONS

The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) is a trade agreement currently being negotiated by 23 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including the EU. Together, these countries account for 70% of world trade in services.

TiSA is based on the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which involves all WTO members. The key provisions of the GATS – scope, definitions, market access, national treatment and exemptions – are also found in TiSA .

The talks are based on proposals made by the participants. TiSA aims at opening up markets and improving rules in areas such as licensing, financial services, telecoms, e-commerce, maritime transport, and workers moving abroad temporarily to provide services.

Services are an increasingly important in the global economy and a central part of the economy of every EU country. The EU is the world's largest exporter of services with tens of millions of jobs throughout Europe in the services sector. Opening up markets for services will mean more growth and jobs. By opening up trade in services, the EU hopes the TiSA talks will help kick start the stalled multilateral negotiations – the Doha Development Round or DDA – being carried out under the umbrella of the World Trade Organisation.

Participants

23 WTO members are taking part in the TiSA talks: Australia, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, the EU, Hong Kong China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. Of these, the EU has no free trade agreements on services with Chinese Taipei, Israel, Pakistan or Turkey.

TiSA is open to all WTO members who want to open up trade in services. China and Uruguay have asked to join the talks. The EU supports their applications because it wants as many countries as possible to join the agreement.

TiSA is based on the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which involves all WTO members. This means that if enough WTO members join, TiSA could be turned into a broader WTO agreement and its benefits extended beyond the current participants.

The meetings take place in Geneva. They are chaired alternately by the EU, Australia and the U.S. The talks and decision-making are consensus-based. Like any other trade negotiations, the TiSA talks are not carried out in public and the documents are available to participants only.

The EU, however, has been keen to be as transparent as possible. The European Commission negotiates on behalf of the EU. Its team of negotiators provide regular briefings to the Council – where representatives of the governments of the EU's Member States sit – and to the European Parliament. The Commission also organises frequent meetings with business and civil society. TiSA participants keep other WTO members regularly informed of the state of play of negotiations.

The talks started formally in March 2013, with participants agreeing on a basic text in September 2013. By the end of 2013, most participants had indicated which of their services markets they were prepared to open and by how much. By the end of 2014, ten negotiation rounds will have taken place. Meetings are scheduled for September/October and December. The talks are progressing well. There is no set deadline set for ending the negotiations.

Priorities for the EU in the TiSA Negotiation

NGOs and stakeholders take a very defensive stance defining the EU priorities in the TiSA negotiation focusing on preserving status quo under the existing acquis and limiting the application of the agreement in the sensitive areas such as financial services (strongly referred in context of the financial crisis) or basic public services especially those related to human rights (health, education, water, energy, housing).

The TISA rules and commitments should allow the necessary flexibility and regulatory policy space that countries need to choose their own development path and (public) services while serving the interests of citizens.

The EU should, at the very least, reject a negative list approach, the inclusion of articles of the Understanding of Commitments in Financial Services, the stand still clause and the ratchet clause. The EU needs to favour a positive list approach and articles that allow governments flexibility in choosing which services to bring under the agreement. This would also allow excluding future services unless governments make the decision to bring them within the scope of the agreement. The minimum would be to have a strong carve-out clause that allows for any necessary regulation. There are also calls for a very cautious approach regarding the public procurement policy.

Stakeholders also call for the removal of ‘National Treatment’ clause, which undermines the ability of countries to develop their domestic service sectors. In a global context of wealth asymmetry and with a history of investor capital flight, developing countries’ domestic services sectors must be allowed to develop before they are forced to compete with foreign service providers MFN benefits transnational corporations that enjoy the advantage of scale, access to capital, distribution networks, brand recognition and technology as well as the patronage of rich countries.

The EU should at least ensure a high level of protection of human rights, social rights, working conditions, and environmental standards. The TiSA should have the same provisions as in the ‘sustainability chapter’ (or social and environmental chapters) of the EU trade agreements. In this way, there will be more policy coherence with the sustainable development policy of the EU. In particular, regarding the protection of the private sphere of European citizens, it is necessary to have a certain level of cohesion on the global scale (e.g. between EU and the US), given the global nature of the Internet and the importance of cross-border business: data protection rules should not be developed in an isolated manner Further TiSA should not include an investor state dispute settlement mechanism, and particularly none aiming at “fair and equitable” treatment including the protection of the “legitimate expectations” of investors or against indirect expropriations.

Stakeholders

• Transport, including air transport services , maritime transport services and other transport services
• Financial services
• ICT services
• Architectural and engineering services
• Maintenance services
• Customs brokerage
• Construction services
• Retail and wholesale services
• Postal and courier services
• Warehousing and distribution
• Freight forwarding
• Ground handling
• Public services / services of general interest
• Audiovisual services
• Real estate services
• Publishing and printing services
• IT services
• Legal, accounting and management consulting services, and
• Performing arts .