Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Council for Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization to seek approval for preferential treatment going beyond market access to be unilaterally offered by the European Union to services and services suppliers of Least-Developed Countries on the basis of the LDC Services Waiver

The proposed Council Decision is made in the context of the WTO Services Waiver for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The Services Waiver allows WTO Members to grant unilateral preferences on services to the LDCs and it requires acceptance by the Council for Trade in Services (CTS) of the notified preferences granted with respect to measures other than those described in Article XVI of the GATS (market access).

On 23 July 2015 the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position of the Union within the Council for Trade in Services of the WTO on the acceptance of preferences notified by other WTO Members as regards services and service suppliers of Least-Developed Countries other than those described in Article XVI of the GATS (market acceess).

The proposed Council Decision establishes the position of the European Union in the CTS to be in a position to seek approval with regard to the preferential treatment going beyond market access the European Union intends to grant unilaterally to services and services suppliers of LDCs.

The intended treatment to be accorded to LDCs was prepared on the basis of an approach expressed to WTO Members at a high-level meeting of the CTS on 5 February 2015 and a signal of intention to notify transmitted to the WTO on 30 July 2015.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)501: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:501:FIN

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