* Atleast Project Title is Required.
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Project No. |
GOS_101_2024T
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Project Title |
Services Domestic Regulation: Applying Effective Principles for Technical Standards Development
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Project Status |
Project in Implementation
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Publication (if any) |
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Fund Account |
TILF Special Account
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Sub-fund |
None
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Project Year |
2024
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Project Session |
Session 1
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APEC Funding |
94,803
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Co-funding Amount |
95,000
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Total Project Value |
189,803
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Sponsoring Forum |
Group on Services (GOS)
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Topics |
Services Trade
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Committee |
Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)
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Other Fora Involved |
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Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved |
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Proposing Economy(ies) |
United States
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Co-Sponsoring Economies |
Australia; Canada; Chile; China; Japan; Papua New Guinea; Chinese Taipei; Thailand
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Expected Start Date |
01/07/2024
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Expected Completion Date |
30/11/2024
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Project Proponent Name 1 |
Todd Nissen
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Job Title 1 |
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Services and Investment
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Organization 1 |
Office of the US Trade Representative
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Postal Address 1 |
Not Applicable
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Telephone 1 |
+1-202-395-9596
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Fax 1 |
Not Applicable
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Email 1 |
[email protected]
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Project Proponent Name 2 |
Kanika Sahai
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Job Title 2 |
APEC Activity Manager, US-SEGA Project
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Organization 2 |
Cadmus Group
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Postal Address 2 |
Not Applicable
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Telephone 2 |
+1-703-516-7797
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Fax 2 |
Not Applicable
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Email 2 |
[email protected]
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Declaration |
Todd Nissen
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Project Summary |
With the adoption of APEC’s Non-Binding Principles on Domestic Regulation, the APEC Group on Services (GOS) significantly advanced trade policy for licensing and qualification requirements and procedures. However, the subject of services domestic regulation also encompasses the concept of technical standards for services. This concept and the good practices related to it remain underdeveloped. As champion economy for domestic regulation of services, the United States undertook a study and implemented a workshop on envisioning next generation technical standards principles in 2023. These deliverables outlined the interests at play in developing technical standards and considerations for how to achieve the right balance. Building on these outcomes, this project seeks to convene APEC members to consider how key principles and practices could be applied within the unique domestic contexts across the APEC region, and to brainstorm technical standards-related disciplines that could be incorporated into services domestic regulation initiatives.
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Relevance |
Benefits to RegionServices providers in the APEC region have encountered significant barriers to services trade caused by opaque, unpredictable, and overly burdensome authorization processes to provide services in foreign and domestic markets. Within the subject of services authorization and domestic regulation, the concept of technical standards, and good practices relating to the development of technical standards, have historically been underexplored. In 2018, APEC members endorsed a set of Non- Binding Principles for Domestic Regulation of the Services Sector, which aim to reduce unintended consequences of regulatory diversity, simplify procedures, and promote transparency to avoid unnecessary complexity or disguised restrictions, while promoting the ability of regulators to meet their regulatory objectives. However, the principles contain only a single general provision relating to technical standards, broadly encouraging open and transparent practices for the development and adoption of technical standards. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the services landscape, enabling new and emerging methods for the delivery of services that make good practices for technical standards development even more relevant. As champion economy for domestic regulation of services under the GOS, the United States undertook a study and workshop that examined global and regional trends on the development and application of technical standards for services. Endorsed by GOS members in February 2024, the study on Services Domestic Regulation: Envisioning Next Generation Technical Standards Principles identified important principles and effective practices for developing technical standards that meet policy objectives and mitigate unintended trade-restrictive effects. In order to leverage these learnings across the APEC region and beyond, it is critical to understand how these learnings may be applied in a wide range of unique domestic contexts, and to integrate these learnings into APEC’s shared commitment to achieve greater regional economic integration in services markets in the APEC region. Eligibility and Fund PrioritiesBy equipping APEC economies with the knowledge and tools to upgrade domestic regulatory environments with effective technical standards for services that simultaneously meet domestic policy objectives and support trade, this project clearly contributes to achieving the trade and investment liberalization and facilitation objectives articulated in Part 1 of the Osaka Action Agenda. Specifically, this project relates to Area 3. Services (“providing, in regulated sectors, for the fair and transparent development, adoption and application of regulations and regulatory procedures for trade in services”) and Area 10. Deregulation/Regulatory Review and Reform (“enhancing the transparency of regulatory regimes” and “eliminating domestic regulations that may distort or restrict trade, investment or competition and are not necessary to achieve a legitimate objective”). In addition, this project supports the reiterated commitment under the 2023 APEC Leaders’ Declaration “to accelerate work in response to the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap (ASCR) Mid-Term Review” by supporting synergies with efforts concerning the fast-evolving trade landscape, dealing with regulatory heterogeneity, and furthering de jure and de facto services market opening.
Project Overseers seek to utilize APEC funding for travel and related costs to facilitate the participation of the 11 APEC travel-eligible economies and up to 6 speakers in order to expand opportunities for knowledge-sharing, thereby maximizing the capacity building outcomes of this project. Project Overseers will self-fund the remaining speaker travel costs and hosting costs, and will self-fund the labor costs/contractor fees associated with project development and implementation. While exact costs are yet to be determined, the estimated costs of travel and hosting as well as the known costs of labor/contracting fees determines that the United States will meet the 50% self-funding requirement for non-travel eligible economies. Capacity BuildingThe project will support APEC members to achieve the commitments set out in the ASCR Implementation Plan (2016-2025), as well as the recommendations set out in the ASCR Mid-term Review. Building upon the endorsed study on Services Domestic Regulation: Envisioning Next Generation Technical Standards Principles, this project will build the capacity of APEC economies to integrate identified effective principles and practices to develop technical standards for services within their domestic contexts, which can help economies establish sound regulatory environments that allow market actors to adhere to domestic regulations with greater efficiency, and facilitate trade and investment in the region, amongst other regulatory priorities. Specifically, this project seeks to provide a knowledge-sharing platform for APEC economies to exchange experiences, challenges, lessons learned, and key considerations for the development of technical standards for services; and for APEC members to engage with experts to determine how identified principles and practices could be applied within their unique domestic context. The outcomes may also contribute to technical standards-related disciplines for services domestic regulation, which could serve as a long-standing advice for APEC economies’ future development of technical standards for services.
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Objectives |
The objective of this project is to equip APEC members with the knowledge and skills to apply key principles in the development of technical standards for services within their unique domestic contexts. This support can help economies establish sound regulatory environments that allow market actors to adhere to domestic regulations with greater efficiency, and that facilitate trade and investment in the region. The outcomes are expected to contribute to technical standards-related disciplines that better enable economies to collectively mitigate unintended trade-restrictive effects while pursuing regulatory priorities, thereby advancing APEC economies’ shared commitment to achieve greater regional economic integration in services markets.
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Alignment |
APEC This project is aligned with APEC’s broader policy agenda to promote services trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the Aotearoa Plan of Action’s economic driver on Trade and Investment, which tasks APEC economies to work together to deliver a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, and predictable trade and investment environment. It seeks to support the implementation of the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap (ASCR) and its APEC-wide Actions, recognizing APEC Leaders’ reaffirmed goal to fully implement the ASCR by 2025 as communicated in the 2023 APEC Leaders’ Golden Gate Declaration. In 2021, APEC undertook the ASCR Mid-Term Review to measure APEC’s progress against ASCR targets, and prioritized making services regulation and policy reform in favor of openness a central focus of APEC’s structural reform agenda. This project takes steps towards applying recommendations arising from the Mid-Term Review—ensuring synergies with efforts concerning the fast-evolving trade landscape, dealing with regulatory heterogeneity, and furthering de jure and de facto services market opening —by supporting APEC economies to apply identified effective principles and practices for the development of technical standards for services within their unique domestic contexts, and to advance a shared commitment to develop domestic regulations that mitigate unintended trade-restrictive effects.
Forum The project is strongly aligned with the APEC Group on Services’ (GOS) strategic policy directions and work program, as the development of the APEC Non-Binding Principles for Domestic Regulation of the Services Sector and subsequent activities on domestic regulation of the services sector have been led by GOS. This project directly links to and builds upon the 2023 GOS project on Services Domestic Regulation: Envisioning Next Generation Technical Standards Principles, thereby sustaining GOS capacity building outcomes. Additionally, as the working group responsible for monitoring progress under each ASCR initiative, GOS seeks to integrate ASCR Mid- term Review recommendations on ensuring synergies with efforts concerning the fast- evolving trade landscape, dealing with regulatory heterogeneity, and furthering de jure and de facto services market opening. More broadly, improving services competitiveness is a key policy issue within APEC that is progressed and operationalized through the GOS.
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TILF/ASF Justification |
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Beneficiaries and Outputs |
Outputs
1) Capacity Building Workshop The one-day (8 hour), in-person, APEC-wide capacity building workshop – scheduled on the margins of the Third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) in August 2024 – will build on the findings of the endorsed study on Services Domestic Regulation: Envisioning Next Generation Technical Standards Principles. Guided by the thought leadership, overview of concepts, and case studies conveyed in the study, this workshop provides a platform for APEC members to engage with experts and exchange information on approaches and key considerations for the development of technical standards for services. The workshop will promote dialogue on the effective principles and practices identified in the study, supplement the identified effective principles and practices with additional experiences from the region (and, if relevant, from beyond the region), and enable APEC members to consider whether discussed principles and practices could be adapted and applied within their own domestic contexts. The workshop agenda is anticipated to include a lecture-based scene-setting session to contextualize technical standards for services as an emerging area of interest in the APEC region; a lecture-based session that provides a high-level overview of the key messages, identified effective principles and practices, and recommendations from the aforementioned study; a series of deep-dive panel and discussion (question-and-answer) sessions that are organized around the principles and practices captured in the study (for example, panel sessions may explore the types of currently- applicable standards for services, the roles of mandatory and voluntary standards, approaches to develop and review technical standards, approaches that support interoperability of standards, opportunities for industry engagement in standards development, etc.) and that provide varied APEC member and stakeholder experiences and lessons-learned regarding those approaches; and an interactive discussion session that facilitates discussion amongst workshop participants on possible technical standards-related disciplines for future APEC services domestic regulation initiatives, as well as discussion on possibilities for GOS to advance work on these issues after the completion of this project. Sessions may be adapted or added to the final agenda based on the preparation process and stakeholder engagement efforts to design the capacity building workshop, guided by an overarching goal to equip participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to apply effective principles and practices for developing technical standards for services within their unique domestic contexts. Project Overseers aim for workshop proceedings to generate a shared understanding of effective principles and practices for the development of technical standards for services, and recommended next steps for each APEC economy to integrate project learnings into its efforts to develop technical standards for services. The workshop will encourage broad participation to maximize learning outcomes and to ensure that planned next steps remain relevant and practical for all APEC members.
Summary Report The summary report will serve as a long-standing resource to record and consolidate project findings, which will support the sustainability of project impacts and support accessibility of the outcomes from the workshop. The summary report is expected to be at least 4 pages. The anticipated structure of the summary report is as follows: 1) introduction to the relevant issues and APEC work to date, including an overview of the predecessor workshop and study; 2) an overview and outcomes of each of the workshop sessions, including key points shared in presentations and discussions; 3) an overview and outcomes of the interactive exercise, including common experiences shared by economy representatives, any brainstormed possible services domestic regulation disciplines on technical standards, and any suggestions for future work for APEC and GOS specifically to pursue in this space; and 4) a consolidation of policy recommendations shared throughout the workshop. The summary report will be circulated to GOS members after the workshop for review and endorsement.
Outcomes 1) Enhanced participant knowledge of effective principles and practices for technical standards development: By bringing together APEC members to discuss and explore key principles and practices, the workshop facilitates the transfer of knowledge regarding technical standards for services. Participants will also have the opportunity to exchange ideas, share experiences, and establish contacts with counterparts from other economies. Participants will gain insights into successful strategies and approaches used by other economies, which they can then adapt and implement within their own domestic contexts, in part by leveraging other economies’ expertise and resources.
2) Identification of possible disciplines and/or next steps on how key principles and practices could be applied within the unique domestic contexts across the APEC region: In an interactive exercise and question-and-answer sessions, participants will discuss the suitability of identified effective principles and practices within their home economies, and engage in dialogue with subject experts and other economies on possible applications and adaptations. These proceedings will result in recommended next steps for economies to leverage the workshop outcomes and undertake next steps to apply key principles and practices for technical standards development. Recognizing APEC’s leadership role as a first-mover in services domestic regulation, the workshop will also serve as a platform to brainstorm possible disciplines on technical standards for services that could be integrated into future services domestic regulation initiatives.
3) Application and adaptation of effective principles and practices for technical standards development: In the longer-term, the project aims to result in tangible enhancements to economies’ efforts to develop technical standards for services through the application of the identified effective principles and practices conveyed through this project. Given the medium- to long-term nature of this outcome, which is expected to occur after project completion, Project Overseers expect to track economies’ measures that guide the government’s approach to the development of technical standards with features aligned with the effective principles and practices conveyed in this project, and report any findings to GOS members through verbal report or presentations by the Project Overseers.
Beneficiaries The primary beneficiaries are government officials in APEC member economies. Given the topic, the POs will target policymakers in APEC economies with the authority to drive reforms and advancements in services domestic regulation measures such as the development of technical standards for services. Project Overseers anticipate that government officials will represent ministries of trade and ministries concerning services sectors, and will also welcome the participation of officials from regulatory bodies that oversee services sectors. Project Overseers aim for comprehensive participation from APEC’s membership in order to produce outcomes that incorporate and reflect the views of all member economies. Project Overseers will strongly encourage gender balance both in the nomination of participants and the selection of speakers, as both roles will benefit from the exchange of expertise and experiences in the workshop. In the longer term, the capacity building efforts will also benefit populations and businesses in the Asia-Pacific region more broadly through the expansion of principles and practices for technical standards development that support adequate service delivery, protection of the public, access to quality essential services, and corrected market failures while also reducing barriers for services providers and facilitating trade. This project offers substantial benefits to women, who disproportionately experience barriers caused by opaque and complex legal and regulatory environments when seeking to enter and operate in markets.
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Dissemination |
The project will result in a final agenda, speaker biographies, presentation files, summary report, and a project completion report for dissemination to APEC members. Project Overseers will liaise with the APEC Secretariat to disseminate project documents to APEC members via the GOS listserv. Project Overseers will also liaise with the APEC Secretariat to identify any interest from other APEC fora in this project, and will support document-sharing with other fora accordingly. Following GOS endorsement of the summary report, Project Overseers will liaise with the APEC Secretariat to evaluate suitability of the final document for the Publications section of the APEC website, and will support the necessary procedures for publication as needed. In addition, the final agenda, speaker biographies, presentation files, and summary report will be uploaded to the APEC Meeting Documents Database (MDDB) for wide accessibility and to provide reference information for future projects. At the discretion of the APEC Secretariat and/or APEC Host Economy, Project Overseers can provide inputs to share public information on the capacity building workshop’s panels and outcomes on APEC social media channels. The target audience comprises government officials and policymakers, alongside industry stakeholders, non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society, academic and research institutions, and the general public. By reaching out to these diverse stakeholders, including by inviting non-member speakers and participants to the workshop, the project aims to maximize its impact and contribute to informed decision-making and actions on services technical standards development across the APEC region and beyond.
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Gender |
Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.
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Work Plan |
Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.
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Risks |
Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.
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Monitoring and Evaluation |
Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.
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Linkages |
Due to the cross-cutting nature of the trade and investment impacts of domestic regulations and good regulatory practices, apart from the benefits to GOS members, the project will benefit APEC members from the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) as well as the Economic Committee (EC). In addition, APEC members from the Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) may benefit from the project given linkages to initiatives on good regulatory practices in the preparation, adoption, and application of standards and technical regulations. Given the significant opportunities enhanced services domestic regulation offers women and SMEs, the project will also benefit APEC members in the Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE) and Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group (SMEWG). Though the workshop will not focus on prudential measures and other financial standards, the general concepts may be of benefit to the Finance Ministers Process (FMP). Given the opportunity for benefits to reach a wide range of APEC fora, APEC is the best source of funds for this project. In addition, APEC is a proven leader in services domestic regulation, and this project can support APEC’s efforts to leverage regional advancements into global good practices, further solidifying APEC as the best source of funding for this project. In addition, the POs will seek to promote coordination and cooperation with international fora working in this space such as the WTO, OECD, and UNCTAD. Since other economies are also leading capacity building efforts on services domestic regulations, the POs will share information about the scope of the workshop and examine opportunities for collaboration, to ensure that the capacity building efforts are not duplicated.
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Sustainability |
The extent to which APEC economies utilize and leverage the identified effective principles and practices for the development of technical standards for services, and begin to undertake practices to develop and/or adopt technical standards with features aligned to identified effective principles and practices conveyed through this project will be indicators to measure the progress and outcome of this project. To build upon the outputs and outcomes of this project, possible next steps may include continued regional discussions to agree upon shared disciplines on technical standards for services, as well as follow-on capacity building assistance to support economies’ efforts to adhere to the agreed-upon disciplines. The principal mechanism through which the Project Overseers will seek to evaluate the outputs and outcomes will be via participant questionnaire. The questionnaire will not only seek the views of participants on the usefulness and impact of the workshop, but will also elicit information that can inform the design of follow-up capacity building activities that support beneficiaries to carry forward the results of the project and the possible next steps. The design of the questionnaire enables sex-disaggregated data collection, which will ensure that Project Overseers can assess impacts on women participants. Responses to the participant questionnaire will be compiled and summarized by the Project Overseers and the results will be presented to members for information via the completion report. Progress on outcomes that take place following finalization of the completion report will be conveyed through reports (verbal or presentations) to GOS members by the Project Overseers.
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Project Overseers |
The primary project overseer is Todd Nissen, the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Services from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has been the lead U.S. negotiator for services in several U.S. free trade agreement negotiations, including the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and is active in a wide range of bilateral and multilateral fora, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and APEC. He is currently the U.S. delegate to the APEC Group on Services (GOS). He entered government services in 2003 as a Diplomacy Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs at the U.S. State Department and joined USTR in 2006. He received his B.A. in history from Haverford College and M.S. and Ph.D. in agronomy from the University of Georgia.
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Cost Efficiency |
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Drawdown Timetable |
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Direct Labour |
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Waivers |
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Are there any supporting document attached? |
No
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Attachments
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