The Canada-based International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD) has reported in its latest newsletter that, as expected by many, the US and a number of other nations have lodged significant requests for the inclusion of audiovisual services in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). One of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) key agreements, GATS covers all aspects of the services sector of the economy: ‘everything from birth (midwifery) to death (funeral services), from low tech (hair cutting) to high tech (wireless transmission of data),’ notes the INCD’s Co-ordinator Gary Neill, in a paper on the subject. Previous GATS negotiations over the audiovisual sector – which includes filmmaking and music recordings – however, broke down at the 1993 Uruguay Trade Round, when the Europeans and Americans could not agree on how to include these services. Since that time, a de facto exemption has existed on cultural services, but the INCD and other trade experts remain concerned that the threat of inclusion is still very real. The INCD notes in its latest report that: ‘According to the European Commission Trade Directorate, fully half of the 20 requests tabled with European governments [from other governments] address audiovisual services. Two of these requested “full commitments in Market Access and National Treatment,” meaning that they seek the elimination of virtually all of the support measures used to promote domestic film and television production and distribution, including content quotas.’ Canada has also received requests on audiovisual services, continues the INCD article, and the Europeans have reportedly also had requests against service areas including entertainment, news and libraries, archives, museums and other cultural services. The INCD now believes it is vital for all governments to release both the ‘requests’ and subsequent ‘offers’ publicly over coming months, so that the potential impact on the cultural industries can be analysed and understood. Further information on the GATS process and its likely impact on cultural diversity is available online at: www.incd.net/paper03.html