St John's Antigua.
The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has established a select committee to oversee the implementation process, as the island seeks to suspend certain concessions and other obligations with the United States in their ongoing Internet gaming dispute.
The seven-member “WTO Remedies Implementation Committee” (RIC), chaired by Attorney General Justin Simon QC, is responsible for directing the government’s plan to build the framework necessary to suspend selected US intellectual property rights to the tune of US $21 million per year, effective from April, 2006.
Antigua and Barbuda has criticised the United States since 1998 of breaching its commitments to members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by enacting laws that prevented foreign-based operators from offering gambling and betting services to its citizens.
In 2005, the WTO ruled that the US had violated international trade agreements by prohibiting operation of offshore Internet gambling sites. Antigua claimed that it lost US$3.4 billion a year due to the US action, but the WTO awarded the island US$21 million.
But in its final ruling, the Geneva-based WTO has allowed Antigua and Barbuda to suspend certain concessions and obligations it has under international law to the United States in respect of intellectual property rights.
“I am very pleased with the composition of our implementation committee as it clearly has the expertise that we will need to cover all the bases in the development and implementation of our WTO-approved remedies.I am asking the committee to work with me expeditiously to ensure prompt and proper use of this valuable right,” Simon said
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