There was some pretty intense briefing activity going on at the World
Trade Organization in Geneva early this week as a delegation from
the island government of Antigua and Barbuda held consultations with
representatives from the European Commission, Japan and China, which
are third parties to its Internet gaming discrimination case against
the United States.
Briefing sessions were also held with representatives from Brazil,
Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Antiguan team was led by Ambassador Dr. John Ashe and comprised
legal counsel Mark Mendel and Elliott Paige, Minister Counselor, OECS
Technical Mission to the WTO
"Now that both sides have filed their respective submissions
to the WTO [dispute] panel that will hear our case against the US'
claim that it is "in compliance" with the rulings and recommendations
of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, and with the October 23 deadline
for submissions by third party Members of the WTO, these consultations
with the third parties provide us with an important opportunity to
address all aspects of our case," said the Honourable
Dr. Errol Cort, who, in his capacity as Antigua's Minister of Finance
and the Economy, has substantive responsibility for this issue.
WTO Ambassador Dr. John Ashe echoed these sentiments when he noted
that: "As one of the smallest WTO Members, economically
and geographically speaking, my delegation is pleased with the ongoing
interest and participation in this issue from two of the largest economic
trading partners of the United States, namely Japan and the European
Union."
Kaye MacDonald, Director of Gaming in Antigua, expressed her satisfaction
with the involvement of third party WTO Members and praised their
continued involvement in the uphill struggle against the United States.
"Given the importance of the industry to our overall economy,
we are pleased that the third parties, having examined the merits
of our case, have decided to stay the course," she said.
"From the outset, the US's action in this case leaves a
lot to be desired and recent US Congressional actions have, in my
view, further compounded the apparent disregard for the WTO's dispute
settlement mechanism," said the delegation's Legal Adviser,
Mark Mendel.
"Firstly, the US ignored the rulings and recommendations
of the DSU. Then they argued for more time to implement the same recommendations
they were ignoring. And finally, after being given a total of eleven
months and two days to implement these rulings and recommendations
by a WTO Arbitrator, they arbitrarily concluded that they were 'in
compliance' after all," he said.
"Moral issues notwithstanding, the systemic issues raised
by this case go to the fundamental raison d'etre of the WTO's existence,"
said Elliott Paige of the OECS' Technical Mission to the WTO.
"It would be a very sad day for the WTO if the rulings
and recommendations of its dispute settlement mechanism on matters
of considerable economic importance to its smallest members, are completely
ignored by its larger and more economically powerful members,"
he added.
In addition to next week's submissions by the third parties, the WTO
panel is expected to receive a rebuttal by Antigua and Barbuda on
the US' submission in three (3) weeks time. This will be followed
by a rebuttal by the US some two (2) weeks later. The Panel will then
convene its first hearing sometime in November and issue is final
ruling in January/February 2007.
In other news: Regional support in the Caribbean Community
and Common Market (Caricom) is growing for the government of Antigua
and Barbuda in its long-running World Trade Organization dispute with
the USA over Internet gambling, reports the Antigua Sun newspaper.
Caricom Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin La Rocque told
a multi-agency US delegation led by Everett Eissenstat, the United
States Trade Representative for the Americas, that the region viewed
with concern the USA response to date to the WTO rulings and recommendations
in the Internet gaming case and emphasized that the issue should not
be regarded as a “bilateral issue” but as a regional one.
The remarks were made at the first meeting since 1999 of the US-Caricom
Trade and Investment Council (TIC) which was attended by trade representatives
from Caricom member states and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating
Machinery (CRNM)
In a day long session the Caribbean officials talked to directors
and other senior officials of various branches of the US Government,
including the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR),
the US International Trade Commission, USAID, US Department of State,
US Trade Development Agency, US Department of Commerce, US Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank of the
United States, and the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Ambassador La Rocque’s views were reinforced further by the
Director General of the CRNM Ambassador Richard Bernal, who, in voicing
the region’s response to the US Trade Representative Ambassador
Susan Schwab’s call for collective action to resolve the outstanding
issues of the now stalemated “Doha Round” of multilateral
trade negotiations, urged the US to resolve its WTO Internet gaming
case with Antigua & Barbuda.
“I am pleased at the collective support by our regional
representatives on this important issue,” Antigua &
Barbuda’s Ministry of Finance and the Economy, Dr. Errol Cort,
who has responsibility for the WTO, said.
“And I commend them for their willingness to impress on
the most senior US representative on trade matters, USTR Ambassador
Susan Schwab, the importance that not only my country but the entire
region places on finding a satisfactory resolution to our Internet
gaming dispute with the United States,” he added.
Ambassador to the WTO, Dr. John W. Ashe, who headed the Antigua &
Barbuda delegation to the meeting, that included Dia Christian of
the International Trade Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted
that with the presence of so many branches of the US government dealing
with all aspects of multilateral and bilateral trade, it was important
to highlight the issue.
“This meeting coming so soon after the US Congress adopted
legislation that can be detrimental to an important element of our
economy, it was important that all branches of the US government were
made aware of our concerns with the lack of action on our WTO matter,
and that these concerns are shared by all Caricom member States,”
he said.