1. Bilateral negotiations in the WTO accession process Presentation by Josip Pervan, Senior Policy Advisor IDEAS Centre, Geneva

2. The start ACC/1: initial offer in response to requests received, or on its own initiative In reality, most countries submit without receiving requests At least one (goods/services) is submitted prior to the second working party meeting. Subsequent offers submitted depending on the requests received.

3. The process Multiple revisions necessary At the beginning revisions tend to be multilateral, later on bilateral Bilateral revision- multiple selling of the same commitment Upon conclusion, bilateral protocols are signed At the end of the process, offers are consolidated into one schedule, which is offered on an MFN basis and verified by all members

4. Rulesof negotiations There is no standard offer – the level of concessions is determined through negotiations Regional level of concessions plays a role Members ask for commercially meaningful market access including for future products Each accession sets precedents for future accessions (length of transition periods, use of safeguards, TQRs, etc.)

5. Internal organization Inter-ministerial groups at two-levels Consultative mechanism with the private sector Working groups for goods and services Agreeing on sensitivities, red lines Defining strategy Adapting as the negotiations progress- elaborating trade offs

6. Goods negotiations Bound tariffs are the basis for negotiations Final bound rates close to applied levels Transition periods accepted for sensitive items Good arguments needed for protection of tariffs Flexibility tools: transitional periods, special safeguard (SSG), tariff-rate quotas, specific duties 0% 5% applied duty level 15% bound duty level

7. Types of tariffs Duty typeExample Ad valorem 5% Specific $5 per kg. Compound 10% + $2 per kg Mixed 10% or $2 per kg, which ever is highest NAV

8. Format of the offer 1234567 HS numberDescriptionBound rate at date of accession Final bound rate Implementation period ODCINRs In this column, refer to the HS numbers used by the acceding country in its tariff nomenclature Description of the product as indicated in the tariff nomenclatur e of the acceding country Bound rate at date of accession Bound rate after the implement ation period has elapsed Indicate the number of years after accession after which the bound rate will have to be reduced to the final bound rate indicated in column 4. 1 Other duties and charges 2 Initial negotiating rights 01011910xxxx181050x 1 Equal annual rate reductions, unless otherwise mentioned. 2 Can be replaced by a headnote All ODCs are to be bound at zero.

9. Services Negotiations Schedule divided in sectors and modes of supply Concessions provided in market access and national treatment Horizontal and sectoral commitments Final bound commitments go beyond status quo Flexibilities: transitional periods, MFN exemptions, unbounding

10. SCHEDULE OF SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS OF COUNTRY X ( 1)Cross border supply (3) Commercial presence (2) Consumption abroad (4) Presence of natural persons II.SECTOR SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS 1.BUSINESS SERVICES MA limitations NT limitations Additional commitments A.Professional Services (a) Legal Services (CPC861) Excluding legal advisory and legal documentation and certification services provided by services suppliers entrusted with public functions (the profession of notary is excluded from these commitments) (1) Unbound. (2) None. (3) Unbound. (4) Unbound. (1) Unbound. (2) None. (3) Unbound. (4) Unbound. (b)Accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services (CPC 862) (1)None for accounting and bookkeeping services; Unbound for auditing services. (2)None. (3)None. (4)Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section. (1)None for accounting and bookkeeping services; Unbound for auditing services. (2) None. (3) None. (4) Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section. (d)Architectural services (CPC 8671) (e)Engineering services (CPC 8672) (f)Integrated engineering services (CPC 8673) (1) Unbound. (2) None. (3) None. (4) Unbound. (1) Unbound. (2) None. (3) None. (4) Unbound.

11. Challenges in negotiations Typical developing country sensitivities: Professional services Audio-visual services Construction services Distribution services Educational services Health services Movement of Natural Persons Typical regulatory challenges: Professional services Postal/courier services Telecom services Banking services Insurance services Road transport Land ownership Movement of Natural Persons

12. Results: AG goods

13. Results: ind. goods

14. Binding coverage

15. TRQs, SSGs AG. PRODUCTS Number of Tariff Rate Quotas Number of Tariff Lines with Tariff Rate Quotas Tariff Lines with Special Safeguards Croatia99 (HS 4, 6, 8 digit level) 0 Lithuania44 (HS 4, 6, 8 digit level) 0 Moldova000 China1046 (HS 8 digit level) 0 Chinese Taipei22117 (HS 8 digit level) 32 (HS 8 digit level) Armenia000 FYROM11 (HS 10 digit level) 0 Nepal000 Cambodia000 Saudi Arabia000 Viet Nam4020

16. Sectors New Member (by date of accession) ITA Civil Aircraft Agreement Chemical Harmonizatio n Pharmaceutic als Agricultural Equipment Construction Equipment Medical Equipment Paper Steel Toys Furniture Beer Distilled Spirits Ecuador Bulgaria Mongolia Panama Kyrgyz Rep. Latvia Estonia Jordan Georgia Albania Oman Croatia Lithuania Moldova China Chinese Taipei Armenia FYROM Nepal Cambodia Saudi Arabia Viet Nam Tonga Ukraine Cape Verde Sectoral initiatives

17. Results: Services Recent examples (of 160 sub-sectors): Bulgaria – December 1996 ~ 68 Kyrgyz Rep. – April 1999~105 Albania – September 2000 ~ 95 Georgia – June 2000 ~126 Macedonia – April 2003~116 Cambodia – October 2004~ 96 Nepal – April 2004 ~ 84 Vietnam – January 2007 ~ 98

18. Original members vs newcomers

19. Trends in the accession process Non- existence of rules makes the process unpredictable More difficult to acceede as the time goes by Development status plays a role Acceeding countries do not have much negotiating leverage Negotiators must keep in mind the global political and trade importance of their country Services negotiations- problem of coordination The problem of conflicting requests by WTO members (EU- USA) The position of Ukraine and / or other bilateral disputes The result: negotiations are a time-consuming process !

20. THANK YOU josip.pervan@ideascentre.ch