13 November 2000

Contents:

The first week of December is the anniversary of the WTO meeting in Seattle which was abandoned in the face of massive demonstrations and the refusal of developing country governments to agree to an agenda in which they had had no voice. Since Seattle, there is a growing movement for change but governments have not yet responded.

Sharan Burrow ACTU President will launch the AFTINET booklet The Case for Fair Trade: a Citizen’s Guide to the WTO.

When: Thursday December 7 at 12.30 pm

Where: Waratah Room, Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney

All welcome.

This booklet is designed as a campaigning tool to be read and discussed in workplaces and communities. Bulk copies can be ordered from smitchell@piac.asn.au.

In November 1999, a Ministerial Meeting of 134 member governments of the WTO failed to reach agreement on a new round of negotiations. The agenda included many new areas like investment (following the failure of the MAI), expansion of trade in services and competition policy. The meeting was delayed by massive street demonstrations which called for fair trade. The negotiations were stalled by the refusal of 70 developing country governments to agree to an agenda in which they had had no voice. The credibility of the WTO was severely damaged.

One year on developing countries are standing firm and refusing further negotiations without a fundamental review of WTO agreements and changes to its structures. However, there is little sign of change in the WTO. The USA, Europe and Japan and other industrialised country governments, including Australia, have not responded effectively to these demands. They also disagree amongst themselves on aspects of the new agenda. But they are pressing on regardless for a new round of negotiations in 2001.

The next Ministerial Meeting is due at the end of 2001. It was to be hosted by the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar, which has now withdrawn its offer. WTO meetings have become a poisoned chalice. The next meeting may be confined to WTO headquarters in Geneva.

Fair trade activists around the globe are holding public events to mark the anniversary of Seattle in the Americas, Europe and Asia. In Australia there will be a globalisation conference in Perth on 25 November, and the launch of the AFTINET booklet on December 7 advertised above. Activities in other cities will be advertised when they are finalised.

The Hidden Traps of Trade in Services (GATS)

Meanwhile, negotiations are going on in two areas, agriculture and services. These are part of what is called the "built-in agenda" which was planned before Seattle.

The talks on agriculture are proceeding slowly because developing countries will not agree to further tariff reductions unless the USA and the EU remove their direct payments to farmers.

Talks on some parts of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) are also proceeding. GATS has many hidden traps. It covers all services, from financial service to telecommunications, health, education and prisons.

The first trap is that the sale of services often requires direct investment and a physical presence in the country concerned. Once a service provider is established, it must be treated in the same way as a national provider. Some have argued that this requirement for non-discriminatory treatment could be expanded as a "back door" means to introduce some aspects of the MAI. This could mean, for example, that current Australian policies which limit the level of foreign ownership in areas like banking and media services could be challenged.

The second trap is a potential threat to public services. The current GATS agreement is limited by several factors. It has a general exclusion for public services, if they are not provided on a commercial basis or in competition with other service suppliers. It also recognises the right of governments to regulate the supply of services to meet national policy objectives.

The agreement currently includes only those services sectors specifically listed by governments. Australia has so far not included areas of public service provision like public health, public education and social security. It has included private health and education services.

Some governments are pushing for the agreement to become a "top-down" agreement. This would mean that all services would be included unless excluded. The Australian government has supported proposals that all regulations must be "least trade restrictive." This could open the door for challenges to regulation in areas like quality standards, access to and pricing of essential services. If all services were included, and regulation restricted, the public provision of services could be challenged by corporations seeking access to public funding. Corporations could argue that public funding and regulation were a barrier to their access to the market for those services. In other words, such changes to the Trade in Services Agreement could mean that national governments would no longer have the right to regulate and fund national public health and education systems.

AFTINET is monitoring the services negotiations. Our government needs to be kept accountable for these negotiations.

PUBLIC HEARING

CANBERRA, 27 NOVEMBER 2000

Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House

DRAFT PROGRAM

10:00 – 11:30 am Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Attorney-General's Department

11:30 am – 12:30 pm Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry

12:30pm close

Further hearings have not yet been set but are likely to be in Sydney and elsewhere in the new year.

On December 7-8 the governments of the European Union will meet in Nice to consider a change to give the European Commission greater powers to negotiate trade agreements on behalf of the 15 EU member governments. Currently the Commission only has wide negotiating powers on matters to do with trade in goods. For other areas like services, agriculture and intellectual property, and all other areas covered by the WTO, there must be unanimous agreement in the European Commission and national parliaments must also ratify them. The proposal is to enable these matters to be decided by majority vote in the European Commission. An alternative conference and demonstrations will be held in Nice to resist this attack on democratic accountability and to demand fundamental change in the WTO.

As reported in previous bulletins, the Democrats Corporate Code of Conduct Bill has been tabled in the Senate and has now been referred to the Committee process. This is the Bill which legislates minimum standards on human rights, labour standards and the environment for Australian companies operating overseas and has penalties if they breach them. Please put in a short submission to support the bill.

On 5 October 2000 the Senate referred to the Parliamentary Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities the provisions of the Corporate Code of Conduct Bill 2000 for inquiry and report by 31 March 2001.

The Committee invites interested organisations and individuals to lodge submissions on the Bill by Friday, 15 December 2000 with:

The Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities
Suite SG 6 0
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Or E-mail: corporations.joint@aph.gov.au
Facsimile: (02) 6277 5809

Submissions and proceedings are covered by parliamentary privilege. Submissions become Committee documents and are only made public after a decision by the Committee. Persons making submissions should not release them without the prior concurrence of the Committee.

An Information Package including a copy of the Bill and notes to assist with the preparation of submissions may be obtained from the Committee’s website at www.aph.gov.au/corps_securities. Further assistance can be obtained by phoning the secretariat on (02) 6277 3581.

The Australian government received a rebuff in October from ASEAN governments to its proposal for a free trade area between Australia, New Zealand and the 10 members of ASEAN. The proposal included zero Australian tariffs on ASEAN goods by 2005, a policy which has not been debated or agreed in Australia. The proposal was rejected by Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines which have been buffeted by the Asian economic crisis and prefer a more flexible form of economic cooperation. The November APEC meeting of 21 widely disparate Asia Pacific governments reached no major agreements.

In the face of the stalling of these multilateral processes, John Howard announced Australia would begin exploratory talks with Singapore on a free trade agreement, which could be expanded to include New Zealand and Chile.

Singapore and New Zealand have recently signed such an agreement. This was bitterly debated in New Zealand as it prohibits any future government from reintroducing tariffs, reduces scrutiny of foreign investment, and prevents preference to local firms in government procurement. An Australia – Singapore agreement would be modelled on this. Such proposals would be contrary to current Australian policies on investment and government procurement. We should demand full public debate of any such proposals before any commitments are made by government.

For an evening of live entertainment, Mekong food and drinks.

When: Friday 17 November, 6. 30-10.30

Where: TAP Gallery - same place as last year. 1st Floor, 278 Palmer St (just off Oxford St Taylor Square) Darlinghurst.