General Agreement on Trade in Services and Australia/US
Free Trade Agreement
Terms of reference
On 12 December 2002, the Senate referred the following matters to the Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report by 27 November 2003:
1. The relevant issues involved in the negotiation of the General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS) in the Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organisation, including
but not limited to:
(a) the economic, regional, social, cultural, environmental and policy impact of
services trade liberalisation
(b) Australia’s goals and strategy for the negotiations, including the formulation of
and response to requests, the transparency of the process and government accountability
(c) the GATS negotiations in the context of the ‘development’ objectives of the
Doha Round
(d) the impact of the GATS on the provision of, and access to, public services provided by
government, such as health, education and water
(e) the impact of the GATS on the ability of all levels of government to regulate services
and own public assets
2. The issues for Australia in the negotiation of a Free Trade
Agreement with the United States of America including but not limited to:
(a) the economic, regional, social, cultural, environmental and policy impact of such
an agreement
(b) Australia’s goals and strategy for negotiations including the formulation of our
mandate, the transparency of the process and government accountability
(c) the impact on the Doha Development Round
Submissions
The Committee invites individuals and organisations with knowledge and
information relevant to the inquiry's terms of reference to lodge submissions
by Friday, 11 April 2003 with:
All communications with the Committee and its
Secretariat are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is expected that submissions will
be published unless clearly marked as confidential. Persons making submissions must not
disclose them without the prior approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by
parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not.
The Committee encourages the lodgement of submissions in
electronic form. E-mailed submissions must include the author's full name, phone number
and postal address.
Notes to assist with the preparation of submissions
Submissions Received
Relevant Information
- Text of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (PDF 169KB) (Word 137KB)
- Background Paper prepared by the Committee summarising the GATS and
the main features of the debate surrounding it. (Word 108KB) (PDF 166KB)
Other useful information
Public Hearings
To date, hearings have been held in the following locations:
Report - Tabled 27 November 2003
Government response (PDF 539KB)
For further information
The Secretariat
Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee
Suite S1.57
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Fax (61+2) 6277 5818
Email fadt.sen@aph.gov.au
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