World Trade Organization Weakened by Internet Gambling Case The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has succeeded in increasing distrust in the US administration at a time when such distrust is already high in many parts of the world. Several World Trade Organisation (WTO) Panels had found for Antigua & Barbuda, a small Caribbean island, that the US had made commitments on Internet gambling in its services schedule under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The US had repeatedly appealed this ruling first made in 2003 on the basis that it had made no such commitment, and repeatedly WTO Panels ruled against it. Instead of complying with the rulings, on 4 May the US took the unprecedented step of notifying the WTO that it intends to remove the market access commitment covering Internet gambling based outside of the US from its services schedule. Part of the US argument for taking this unprecedented step is that when it made the commitment, it had no intention of doing so. In other words, having fought the case brought against it by Antigua & Barbuda on the grounds that it had not made a commitment to allow Internet gaming access to the US market, the USTR's office then turned around to admit that it did indeed do so, but now it is withdrawing it. What is even more remarkable about this step is that... http://www.casinogamblingweb.com/ga...weakened_by_internet_gambling_case_46324.html
