Progress of WTO Negotiation and KMA's Countermeasures

Ahn, Yang Soo

Abstract

Although the issue on trade in professional services has been mentioned as one of the built-in agendas since 1995, the Ministry of Health and Welfare(MOHW) formed the committee on WTO DDA(New Development Agenda in Doha) last November and there is no countermeasure on a government level by the time. The Korean Medical Association(KMA) has been formed the WTO DDA committee composed of standing directors and experts on this last January and actively working at present. Last April, the WTO DDA Joing Committee of Associations of Healthcare Sectors has been established by six associations, such as the Korean Medical Association(KMA), the Korean Dental Association(KDA), the Association Korean Oriental Medicine(AKOM), the Korean Nurses Association(KNA), the Korean Hospital Association(KHA), the Korean Dental Hospital Association(KDHA), and they have closely collaborated. The WTO DDA Committee of KMA has submitted the request list to the government last May on the basis of results of four times meetings for special lectures and discussion, three times surveys, and the research paper. The request list of KMA includes the contents of mode 2(consumption abroad) and 4(presence of natural persons). For the mode 3(commercial presence), it is suspended because it is related with the permission of profit-making corporation on healthcare sector which is prohibited at present. The government announced 19 countries has submitted the request list to Korea as of august 1 and among them, the healthcare relevant requests are from China and Poland. Especially China is requesting as a whole, including the education sector on oriental medicine. On this point, the main subjects which the KMA should established its position urgently are the issues regarding the permission of profit-making corporation and who should give and manage the medical license. For this, the KMA will continue to collect and analyze the relevant information and will relay these information to the members.