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beyond negotiations on scheduling improved commitments and thereby remain within
the DDA mandate and the existing GATS framework.
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It is unclear whether this
approach will solve the difficult issues regarding electronic commerce. Nonetheless,
this approach may open the door for a Reference Paper or Understanding-type
agreement scheduled as additional commitments.
4.2 Modalities for LDCs
The DDA was initially conceived as a development round with a focus on the
role of and benefits for LDCs in the multilateral trading system. No real progress in
favour of LDCs was made up until the end of 2011. However, at that time, a fifteen
year waiver for preferential treatment in services trade and for service suppliers
from LDCs was adopted.
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The Ministerial Conference which adopted the waiver
stated that, as LDCs are confronted with exceptional circumstances, the waiver is
warranted.
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Substantively, the waiver allows non-LDC Members to deviate from
their MFN obligations and grant preferential treatment to every LDC, immediately
and unconditionally, compared to the treatment granted to like services and service
suppliers of other Members. At first, the waiver only applies to market access measures
described in Article XVI GATS, but the preferential treatment could be expanded to
other obligations after approval by the Council for Trade in Services. The waiver is
meant to promote the export interests of LDCs but should not increase trade barriers
or create excessive difficulties for the trade of another Member.
Although the practical impact of the waiver remains to be seen,
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its adoption
must be seen as a rare positive outcome of the DDA services negotiations.
5. Plurilaterals next for services negotiations in the WTO?
In comparison to the possible economic benefits from a multilateral agreement,
negotiations on trade in services in the DDA have not attracted any political will.
Even more, they appear to be used only as a bargaining chip in the context of the
Programme on Electronic Commerce (Adopted by the Ministerial Conference 17 December 2011).
Also see S/C/M/112, Council for Trade in Services Report of the Meeting Held on 6 December 2012,
Note by the Secretariat (21 January 2013) 6-9.
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Wunsch-Vincent,
WTO, E-commerce, and Information Technologies: From the Uruguay Round through
the Doha Development Agenda
24.
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The adoption of a waiver for LDCs in the context of the so-called Modalities for the Special Treatment
for Least-Developed Country Members in the Negotiations on Trade in Services was forged on Articles
IV:3 and XIX:2 GATS, which was elaborated upon in TN/S/13, Modalities for the Special Treatment
for Least-Developed Country Members in the Negotiations on Trade in Services (Adopted by the
Council for Trade in Services 5 September 2003) and reaffirmed in paragraph 3 of Annex C of the WT/
MIN(05)/DEC, Ministerial Declaration (Doha Work Programme) (Adopted 18 December 2005).
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TN/S/37, Preferential Treatment to Services and Service Suppliers of Least-Developed Countries
(Report by the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Services 29 November 2011); WT/L/847,
Preferential Treatment to Services and Service Suppliers of Least-Developed Countries (Adopted by the
Ministerial Conference 19 December 2011).
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Hannes Schloemann, ‘The LDC Services Waiver: Making it Work’ (2012) 1
Bridges Africa Review
.