1. The workshop on domestic regulations would have two purposes. The first is to enhance Members’ capacity to identify which measures could fall within the scope of Article VI:4, as opposed to other provisions of the GATS such as, inter alia, Articles XVI and XVII. The second purpose is to help Members, while they are negotiating for further liberalization in the services trade, to introduce and maintain regulations to meet national policy objectives, in accordance with the mandate contained in Article VI of the GATS, i.e. to ensure all measures relating to qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements do no constitute unnecessary barriers to trade in services.
2. Our experience from having conducted domestic consultations is that insufficient understanding of the historical background during the development of the Accountancy Disciplines and the Disciplines’ underlying rationales has resulted in difficulties when we explained to our domestic professional societies the objectives, rationales, and the precise meaning of the contents in the Discipline. In this light, we are also of the view that the workshop should focus on enhancing competent authorities’ understanding of the disciplines of professional services, and further facilitate discussions on developing appropriate regulatory disciplines generally applicable to services sectors.