Joint World Bank-CEPR conference

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  The voice of the European Service Industries
for International Trade Negotiations in Services
 

• Joint World Bank-CEPR conference
•  The Crowne Plaza, Brussels
• 26-27 May 2009
•   Trade Implications of
• Policy Responses to the Crisis
• Mechanisms sectors of state interventionism
  Session 1
• Point of view of European services companies
• Pascal Kerneis -Managing Director
• ESF (European Services Forum) 

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  The voice of the European Service Industries
for International Trade Negotiations in Services
 

• 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

• 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)

For more information, see www.esf.be
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 The voice of the European Service Industries
for International Trade Negotiations in Services
ESF MEMBERS INCLUDE
For more information, see www.esf.be
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  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.

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 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
  .

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 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

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 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.

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 The voice of the European Service Industries
for International Trade Negotiations in Services

• 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

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 The voice of the European Service Industries
for International Trade Negotiations in Services
Thank you for your attention !
Pascal KERNEIS Managing Director European
Services Forum ESF 168, Avenue de Cortenbergh B
1000 BRUSSELS Tel [phone] Fax 32
2 320 61 68 Email esf_at_esf.be
Website www.esf.be