Friday is the new deadline for the United States and the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda to come to terms with a World Trade Organization ruling that found the U.S. liable for compensation because of its anti-online-gambling stance.
A WTO panel ruled that Antigua and Barbuda is owed $21 million that will be collected through sanctions against the U.S., most likely by allowing the island nation to produce its own versions of copyrighted goods that are made in the U.S.
The panel found that the U.S. is violating portions of the GATS agreement it signed in 1995 by both trying to stop its citizens from accessing online gambling companies located in Antigua and Barbuda and by prosecuting employees of online gambling companies located there. Lawyers representing Antigua and Barbuda asked the panel to award it $3.4 billion in sanctions.
The two countries were supposed to come to an agreement on exactly what the sanctions would be by June 6, but that date came and went without an agreement. It wouldn’t be shocking if Friday’s deadline also is missed, since this case has been filled with missed and extended deadlines and stalling tactics by both sides.
The U.S. has faced challenges from several countries that headed Antigua and Barbuda’s call to seek sanctions from the U.S. because of its continual attempts at trying to stop its citizens from placing bets through the Internet. These countries, which included Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan, were allowed to seek damages from the U.S. because U.S. officials decided to amend the portion of the GATS Article XXI that protects online gambling as commerce instead of allowing online gambling within its borders.
By WTO rule, if a country amends articles of the GATS — something that has never been done before but that the U.S. did in this case — member countries not involved in the dispute are entitled to go after the money or services that would be lost as a result of the amendment.
To compensate for the loss, the U.S. came to agreement with every country except Antigua and Barbuda by the end of last year by agreeing to place segments of both the postal and the delivery and warehousing and storage services under the WTO rules umbrella.
Antigua and Barbuda filed this case with the WTO in 2003, three years before the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed. A WTO arbitrary panel sided with Antigua and Barbuda, the smallest member of the WTO, in 2006 after the U.S. exhausted all of its appeals.
