WORLD TRADE DISPUTE LATEST

19 October 2007

Further hearing scheduled in Geneva this week


The bureaucratic process involving fair compensation for WTO nations that have been impacted by the withdrawal of the United States' treaty obligations on gambling rumbles on, with the news that further hearings will take place later this week in Geneva.

Antigua's Minister of Finance Dr. Errol Cort told the Antigua Sun newspaper that he is waiting on the outcome of the first session of a WTO hearing in Geneva which is scheduled for this Thursday before fixing a meeting at the US Trade Representative’s office.

At that session, the WTO panel will hear verbal submissions from both the U.S. and Antigua and Barbuda governments and will get the chance to pose questions based on the arguments raised by both sides regarding compensation.

The arbitration panel is expected to enter the phase of deliberations after which it will rule on the matter of compensation for America’s failure to comply with the earlier rulings of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body.

Cort said that after this meeting, he will be in a better position to address the issue as to exactly what position the country will take when he meets the USTR.

“I must say that I wanted to await the outcome, the opening session for the panel that has been set up to hear our further dispute at the WTO on Thursday,” Cort said. “So, I am still hopeful that we will meet when I get to Washington but I am awaiting initially the first impressions from our representatives in Geneva at the end of the first day of the hearing of the tribunal on Thursday.”

On 8 Oct., Cort addressed the U.S. opposition of Antigua and Barbuda’s claim. In a submission filed with the WTO last month, the United States argued that the US$3.4 billion claim was exhorbitant and “wildly out of line with any realistic figure.”

In return, the U.S. has proposed $500 000 as more reasonable. Last week in several press interviews, Antigua's legal representative said that the US$ 3.4 billion claim had been arrived at in serious and professional consultation with international economics experts and could be substantiated.

The finance minister has reiterated his position that the government hopes to be able to sit with representatives of the U.S. and examine the issue of compensation for the losses it suffered by way of taxes and employment generation from the thriving online gaming sector.

STOP PRESS: Antigua and Barbuda has Thursday outlined its case in the continuing internet gaming dispute with the US before World Trade Organisation arbitrators in Geneva. The country wants $3.4 billion in trade sanctions against the US after it banned Internet gambling financial transactions. A decision is expected on November 30.

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