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Archives | (August 2001)
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What You Don't Know Can Hurt You! Part One (cont.)
------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 2 of 3 Buried in the 22,000-page mass of bureaucratic jargon that created the WTO was a seemingly innocuous provision that required all member nations to have consistent regulations governing commerce. This was to be achieved through a process called “harmonization.” The reason for seeking consistency was that many nations were using their regulations to create what were called “non-tariff barriers” so as to gain an unfair advantage in international trade. If a country failed to “harmonize” its regulations and another country felt it put them at a competitive disadvantage, they could go to a WTO Dispute Resolution Panel and force a change. It all sounded very high-minded and efficient. But there was more to the story. These Dispute Resolution Panels are made up of faceless WTO bureaucrats and meet in strict secrecy. Neither the media nor the public is permitted to attend their sessions. Their decisions have the force of law in member-nations and must be enforced. What is truly astonishing, though, is that there is no appeal from these decisions. Once the WTO bureaucrats issue a fiat, the member-nation must comply — period! You might think it couldn’t happen here. The WTO couldn’t force the U.S. to alter a law passed by Congress or a rule enacted by a federal agency. As with their lack of authority, you might think that, but again, you would be wrong – dangerously wrong! Over the past several years, U.S. laws on subjects ranging from air pollution to protecting endangered species have been overturned as a result of WTO Dispute Resolution Panel decisions. In every case WE HAD NO CHOICE! For instance, when the U.S. imposed regulations on tuna fishing boats operating in our waters requiring that they have nets that would not trap tuna, foreign countries operating some of the fleets complained to the WTO. They ordered us to change the rules, and we did. When Venezuelan refiners complained to the WTO that cleaning up their gasoline to meet U.S. air pollution standards was too expensive, and we were forced to give them an exemption. |
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