The Group on Services (GOS) was established by the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) in 1997 to address trade and investment liberalization and facilitation tasks in the area of services, as mandated in the Osaka Action Agenda and instructed by APEC leaders, ministers and senior officials.
Key Initiatives
APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap
The GOS is responsible for monitoring progress under the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap (ASCR) and the related APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap Implementation Plan (2016-2025). The GOS is also tasked to inform senior officials and ministers of this progress. The key objective of the ASCR is to work towards agreed targets through concrete actions at both at the economy and regional level to promote growth and job creation across APEC economies by 2025.
A mid-term review of the ASCR was conducted by the APEC Policy Support Unit in 2021 to ensure that APEC-wide and individual actions supported achievement of the objectives of the Roadmap by 2025. In addition, a Summary Report of the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap Mid-Term Review was welcomed by APEC ministers at the 2021 APEC Ministerial Meeting.
A cross-fora and industry dialogue focused on the progress of the ASCR is held annually. In addition, a Monitoring Pandemic Recovery Under the ASCR report is presented annually by the APEC Policy Support Unit on barriers to trade in the sectors most negatively impacted by the economic contraction of the pandemic such as travel, transport (including logistics) and other business services for the remainder of the ASCR.
GOS Core Services Issues
The GOS focuses on five priority areas, GOS Core Services Issues, led by champion economies:
- Domestic Regulation of Services – United States
- Developing an APEC Index to Measure the Regulatory Environment in Services Trade of APEC
- Mutual Recognition of Qualifications and Licensing – Australia
- Environmental Services – New Zealand
- Manufacturing-related Services – Malaysia
Environmental Services
In 2021, the GOS developed a non-binding and non-exhaustive Reference List of Environmental and Environmentally Related Services. The reference list was welcomed and endorsed by APEC ministers at their 2021 Annual Ministerial Meeting. In 2023, the GOS conducted the first review of the Reference List of Environmental and Environmentally Related Services and added two additional sectors. The GOS agreed to conduct its next review of the list in two years (2025).
The GOS also endorsed the Non-Binding Guidelines on Services that Support the Clean-up of Marine Debris to facilitate services in addressing marine debris. APEC ministers welcomed these guidelines in the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Statement of the Chair.
Developing an APEC Index to Measure the Regulatory Environment for Services Trade
The APEC Index to Measure the Regulatory Environment for Services Trade was developed with technical support from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to measure the regulatory environment in services in the APEC region.
As of 2023, all APEC economies have participated in the “APEC Index,” including gathering and verifying data pertaining to their domestic services’ regulatory environment.
Logistics-Related Services (Services Supporting Movement of Essential Goods)
In support of instructions from APEC ministers (MRT 2020, 2021, 2023, AMM 2021) to address the role of logistics services in moving essential goods across borders in periods of crisis, the GOS developed a set of Guidelines on Logistics-related Services that Support the Movement of Essential Goods in Periods of Future Crisis.
Joint GOS-Economic Committee Activity on Competitiveness and Structural Reform
In 2021, the ASCR midterm review prioritized making services regulation and policy reform in favor of openness a central focus of APEC’s structural reform agenda. In support of this recommendation, and to promote synergies between services and structural reform initiatives across APEC, joint work is being undertaken by the GOS and the Economic Committee, with additional potential input from other APEC fora.
Other activity areas
- Digitally enabled services
- Sustainable and inclusive growth
- Promoting opportunities for women in services
Last page update: May 2024
Contacts
GOS Convenor
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Program Director
Current Activities
Meetings
GOS member economies meet at the first and third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1 and SOM3) each year.
The last GOS meeting was held on 29 February 2024 in Lima, Peru. GOS members discussed a wide range of services trade issues, including services and structural reform, and CTI taskings such as environmental services and logistics-related services. As part of its core agenda, GOS invited an OECD expert to provide updates on the development of the APEC Index, and GOS members discussed how to conduct the ASCR final review and update targets and outputs related to APEC-wide actions, recognizing the approaching ASCR achievement target of 2025.
The GOS also held two workshops: Exploring Opportunities and Challenges for Professional Services Mutual Recognition in APEC on 1 March and Services and Structural Reform on 2 March.
Relevant Documents
a) From GOS Initiatives:
- Reference List of Environmental and Environmentally Related Services
- Non-Binding Guidelines on Services that Support the Clean-up of Marine Debris
- Guidelines on Logistics-related Services that Support the Movement of Essential Goods in Periods of Future Crisis.
- APEC Index to Measure the Regulatory Environment for Services Trade
b) From GOS Projects:
- Services Domestic Regulation: Envisioning Next Generation Technical Standards Principles (2024)
- Final Report with Policy Recommendations for APEC Manufacturing-Related Services: Definitions, Contributions, Issues, & Challenges (2024)
- APEC Policy Brief – Drivers of Services Competitiveness and the Contribution of Structural Reform (2024)
- Mutual Recognition Agreements for Professional Qualifications and Licensure in APEC: Experiences, Impediments and Opportunities (2024)