WTO approves Antigua sanctions on US
Market watch top headlines
Australian reports
- Aust markets: Australian market set to open higher
- Aust dollar report: $A hits fresh low, heading lower
- Aust credit close: Aust bonds prices move higher
World reports
- World commodities: Commodities markets summary
- World markets: International markets roundup
GENEVA, Jan 28 AFP
January 29 2013, 04:10AM
The World Trade Organisation has given the green light for Antigua and Barbuda to impose sanctions on the United States in a long-running dispute over online gambling.
Antigua and Barbuda, a tiny Caribbean nation, complained in 2003 that the US ban on internet gambling violated WTO rules, and won.
Antigua, with a population of about 80,000, has long been a centre for offshore internet gaming and insisted that the US ban on US residents placing wagers with companies based in the country was an unfair trade restriction.
A WTO arbitration ruled in 2007 that the country could seek sanctions on US intellectual property, by for instance lifting copyright on films and music, of up to $US21 million ($A20 million) a year.
Although that was a far cry from the $US3.4 billion Antigua had requested - an amount Washington at the time argued was "patently excessive" and more than three times the size of the country's economy - the United States baulked.
Washington has since then been trying to get Antigua to instead accept compensation, according to a source close to the matter, but the country refused and received the final go-ahead on Monday from the WTO's Dispute Settlement Board to impose the sanctions.
In a long statement on Monday, Antigua vowed to do so "in a reasonable and responsible manner".
The United States, meanwhile, insisted sanctions against its intellectual property would amount to "theft" and "government authorised piracy".
