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2007-12-17 博彩518 https://www.gowanbo.cc
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/17/technology/gamble.php
EU and U.S. make deal in WTO Internet gambling dispute
Bloomberg News, The Associated Press
Published: December 17, 2007
GENEVA: The European Union and the United States agreed Monday on terms to compensate the Union for the loss of trade stemming from Washington's refusal to lift restrictions on Internet gambling.
The accord provides EU service suppliers with new opportunities in the U.S. postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse markets. The United States also made concessions in the testing and analysis services industries.
The valuation of the package was believed to fall far short of the $100 billion that European online gambling sites had claimed the United States owed. EU officials could not immediately say how much the deal was worth.
"This compensation cannot be quantified up to the euro," the EU mission to the World Trade Organization said. "Nonetheless, it is clear that new trade opportunities are created for EU service suppliers in important sectors in the" United States, it said.
The deal was the result of a case brought by Antigua and Barbuda to the WTO, which ruled in 2004 that U.S. online gambling legislation that criminalized Internet betting violated global laws. After losing an appeal of the ruling, the U.S. moved in May to "clarify" its commitments to the Geneva-based trade arbiter, saying that it "never intended" to open its market to offshore Internet gambling when it made pledges on joining the WTO in 1994.
The U.S. decision to withdraw its commitments to the WTO, thereby allowing it to keep its markets to offshore Internet gambling operators closed, meant it had to compensate other governments that would be affected so the overall level of its market access remains unchanged. Any government that says its interests are harmed by a change to pledges opening borders at the WTO is entitled to request negotiations with the United States.
The European Union, Canada, Japan, India, Australia, Costa Rica and Macao joined Antigua and Barbuda in requesting talks to discuss compensation. Australia dropped its claim while Japan reached a deal.
"While the U.S. is free to decide how to best respond to legitimate public policy concerns relating to Internet gambling, discrimination against EU or other foreign companies should be avoided," said Peter Power, an EU spokesman for trade.
The WTO will soon decide on a demand from Antigua for $3.4 billion in annual compensation from the U.S. The country has rebuffed U.S. overtures to settle and is demanding WTO permission to waive intellectual property protection on software and entertainment so it can collect its compensation.
U.S. residents account for about half of the estimated $12 billion global market for online betting.
Some view the refusal of the United States to comply with the WTO decision as a threat to the rules binding the international trade system. They say that instead of rewriting its gambling laws, the United States has chosen to rewrite its trade rules to remove the issue from the WTO's jurisdiction. The international trade community fears that other nations, including China, may take a similar tack if cases do not go their way.
"This is by far the most significant WTO case ever," said Naotaka Matsukata, a policy adviser with Alston + Bird and a former U.S. trade official.
Antigua's request for an intellectual property rights waiver has raised alarms among trade associations that represent the largest software and media companies, including Microsoft and Universal Pictures, and the Recording Industry Association of America.
"Antigua literally is the mouse that roared," said Robert Lighthizer, head of the international trade practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative said the agreement signed Monday involved "commitments to maintain our liberalized markets" in the areas covered by the deal.
EU officials said the postal and courier concessions would affect how DHL, the express and logistics division of Deutsche Post World Net of Germany, competed with U.S.-based companies FedEx and United Parcel Service.
"The EU is a very active exporter of postal services and has significant export interests," said Clare Kelly, a trade analyst at the Geneva law firm White & Case. "It's an area where there is potential for expansion, and if the EU has achieved greater binding commitments, they must construe it as useful to them."
Uwe Bensien, a Deutsche Post spokesman, said it was "too early to say" what benefits the settlement would bring. |
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发表于 2007-12-18 11:06
楼主
发表于 2007-12-19 02:19
