Brussels, 18/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 17 December in Geneva, the United States concluded bilateral arrangements with Canada, Japan and the EU on trade compensation packages which foresee a broader opening of certain sectors of activity, in order to compensate players in these countries for the losses created by US legislation on on-line gambling and betting. According to the Canadian daily, National Post, on 18 December, the United States was continuing discussion on Monday on similar agreements with other members of the WTO, Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Macao and India. This can be explained as follows:
In May this year, under the pretext of protecting law and order, Washington announced its intention to withdraw its WTO commitments on gambling and betting services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The aim was to ban foreign operators from officiating on American soil and to ban operators based abroad from intervening among American players. In order to reduce the trading losses generated by such a ban, the United States suggested that the countries concerned should receive compensatory packages in other fields of activity. EU service suppliers, for example, have new trade opportunities in the US postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors. The European Commission has not yet made an evaluation of the financial amount involved.
In early May, the United States had announced that its commitments under the WTO at the beginning of the 1990s regarding opening of the entertainment market did not extend to the gambling and betting sector. The GATS allows members to modify or withdraw commitments provided that they negotiate offsetting compensation so that the overall level of market access remains the same. In 2005, Washington was condemned by the WTO following a complaint from Antigua and Barbuda against restrictive American measures (DS 285 on measures aimed at providing crossborder gambling and betting services). In June this year, Antigua and Barbuda called on the WTO to impose trading sanctions on Washington by way of $3.44 billion. Although it welcomes the bilateral agreement reached with Washington, the Commission nonetheless warns in a press release that it will continue to defend a non-discriminatory policy on internet gambling and betting services in the United States. (E.H.)