GATS TREATY WILL NOT HELP BETONSPORTS ACCUSEDS

25 July 2008

U.S. court finds that trade treaty does not create private or individual rights


Any hopes that David Carruthers, Gary Kaplan or other Betonsports defendants may have had that the General Agreement on Trade in Services underpinning the World Trade Organisation could be used to dismiss or ameliorate the racketeering and other charges they face faded this week with a finding by a U.S. Court that trade treaties of this type do not extend to private individuals or rights.

The ruling in US Government vs. BetonSports, et al. concludes that the defendants therefore do not have any legal standing under the GATS treaty. The General Agreement on Trade in Services is a treaty of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that came into effect in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading system to services, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides such a system for merchandise trading.

Following the ruling this week, the defendants have 11 days to file written objections.

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