On 10 March, European Commission got the backing of the member states and declassified the negotiation mandate for the on-going Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) talks. TiSA is a plurilateral WTO agreement, based on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), but going further. It is aimed at opening markets and improving rules in areas such as licensing, financial services, telecommunications, e-commerce, maritime transport and professionals moving abroad temporarily to provide services. Negotiations are ongoing since March 2013 and the Commission is negotiating on behalf of the EU. The Commission and the Council agreed that declassification of the negotiation mandate would not endanger EU interests. On the other hand, Commissioner Malmstroem in charge of trade stated, it would improve transparency in yet another issue of interest to the public. The EU is the world´s leader exporter of services.

For more, click here. The mandate can be accessed here.