J OINT W ORLD B ANK -CEPR CONFERENCE The Crowne Plaza, Brussels May 2009 “ T RADE I MPLICATIONS OF P OLICY R ESPONSES TO THE C RISIS ” Mechanisms & sectors of state interventionism – Session 1 Point of view of European services companies Pascal Kerneis -Managing Director ESF (European Services Forum) « The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services »

ESF = 20 services sectors: Insurance Banking Business services ( IT & Computer; consulting, advertising, after-sales services, etc.) Professional services (legal services, accountants, architects, engineers,etc.) Construction services Distribution services Publishing services (incl. Music) Postal & Express Delivery services Audio-visual services, Energy related services, Environmental services Telecommunication services Tourism Air Transport Maritime Transport But no members in Education services and in Health services For more information, see

« The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services» ESF MEMBERS INCLUDE: For more information, see

« The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services » The Winners and the Losers  Few companies are at the receiving end of the stimulus packages (banks, Insurances), or are the beneficiaries of the preferred national tenders (“Buy America”)  Most of the companies are the victims of the nationalistic measures aimed at “protecting the economy” from the crisis; including those who might have benefited at home, but might be in turn losing markets due to retaliatory measures abroad.

« The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services» ESF and its partners of the Global Services Coalition has called the G20 Leaders at their London Summit to:  to reinforce the moratorium on new trade barriers and to extend its time frame (1/2 way in April 2009)  to give to the WTO a strengthened mandate to monitor adherence to the standstill, and necessary resources to carry out that mandate, to ensure that the standstill is respected  to maintain open markets for trade and to provide enhanced opportunities for growth through further liberalization by the Doha Round.

« The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services»  We were please with the G20 London Communiqué;  But we fear that what they said (“We will not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras” ) is not completely respected, and a spread out of protectionism is still possible.  WTO says that no country has so far breached their commitments, but the “water” is some sectors and in some countries can be quite deep, and any come back from current practice to bound level is contributing to the deterioration of the international trade climate

« The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services»  The 2 WTO reports on Monitoring Protectionism have only tackled trade in goods so far  ESF is now cooperating with WTO Secretariat/Services Division and the EU Commission/DG Trade by encouraging Companies to help WTO & Commission in identifying new regulatory measures that might have a negative impact on their operation.  WTO is updating Services sector specific Papers (17), which would list these measures, notably by exploiting compulsory notifications (Article III. 3 of GATS on Transparency)  EC Commission is monitoring protectionist measures with support of MAAC (Member States, Delegations and companies.

 The effect of Protectionist measures in services is less obvious to observe and more difficult to identify than on goods at borders (tariffs, etc).  Some of them will not be visible and it will not be possible to claim that they are protectionist measures (ex: longer administrative process for investment authorisation, attribution of licences to national competitors, etc.)  One has however registered some measures that have a discriminatory effect on foreign companies:  New reform regulation applicable to the whole sector (ex: China postal law that exclude express companies from domestic market;  Public Procurement measures in the US (“Buy America”)  New general Investment Rules in Algeria  Investigation on Accounting Firms by regulatory authorities in India « The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services»

Pascal KERNEIS Managing Director European Services Forum – ESF 168, Avenue de Cortenbergh B – 1000 – BRUSSELS Tel: Fax: « The voice of the European Service Industries for International Trade Negotiations in Services» Website : Thank you for your attention !