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Canada Macau & Australia Make 7 Nations Filing Claims in WTO Online Poker Online Gambling Case against USA
Fri, Jun 29th, 2007 @ 12:00am
Australia, Canada and Macau have filed compensation claims against the United States in its ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) case for banning foreign online poker and online gambling businesses from taking US customers, joining the European Union (EU), Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, and India, which brings the current number of countries filing claims against the USA to seven.
When the U.S. lost its final appeal March 2007 the United States Trade Representative announced, instead of abiding by the ruling and opening its market to offshore Internet gambling companies, that it would take the unprecedented legal step of withdrawing online gambling from the international commitments it made as part of the 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) treaty amongst the 150 members of the WTO.
Under the GATS, if a country withdraws its commitments other nations can seek compensation for any services trade opportunities that they could prove they lost through the change.
Canada and Australia compensation filings come as a bit of a surprise, as they had previously indicated they didn't want to be involved in Antigua's WTO case against the United States.
One can gather that Canada's thriving online gambling industry, located on the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, an Indian reserve on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec (across from Montreal), prompted them to change their mind and file for compensation.
Macau appears to be representing the Chinese market, independent of China itself.
OTHER WTO MEMBER CLAIMS
The tiny twin Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, who originated the case against the USA, filed a claim seeking $3.44 billion annual compensation from the United States (click here for related article).
A Costa Rican official confirmed that they were seeking compensation, but declined to offer any specifics.
An EU official stated that they will seek compensation through "commitments" to open up other trade sectors, according to Associated Press reports from Geneva (click here for related article).
"We need new concessions that would be equal with the benefits lost," the official shared with AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to be quoted by name in media reports.
Japan had sent a letter of interest, but did not file for compensation as previously thought. Brazil is conspicuously missing from the list, having earlier indicated that they were fully backing Antigua in the case.
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