American blockade of online casino declared illegal
The largest online gambling zone - the islands of Antigua and Barbuda - harbored a deadly resentment against the United States. The fact is that after the ban on Internet gambling in their country, America began to block online access to foreign gambling websites. This is one of the most egregious cases of censorship on the Internet, which can only be compared with the Chinese “great firewall”. The United States is now on the shameful list of censor countries , and the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda have filed a complaint with the WTO Ad Hoc Committee, and this complaint has been resolved.
The World Trade Organization in March 2007 admitted that the United States had violated international free trade regulations, and yesterday this decision was finally approved. Now the offender must compensate for the damage.
The scandal is gaining momentum, because the US is not going to compensate for anything. Moreover, America went to the counter.
Antigua is the smallest country that managed to win a case in the Dispute Settlement Commission during the entire existence of the WTO. Gambling on the Internet threatens to become the most difficult in history. Now the Caribbean islands are offering other victims to join the petition against the United States. This call could theoretically support any country in the world (after all, all casinos outside of America are blocked), so litigation can potentially turn into a “whole world against the USA” process.
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Of course, the United States is not going to be led by an international organization, which they themselves founded. The logic is clear - after all, the WTO was not created to infringe upon the interests of its creator, but quite the opposite. Representatives of America have already said that their country will not compensate for the damage to Antigua and Barbuda and is not going to abolish censorship on the Internet. Instead, the United States threatens with an unprecedented step to change the terms of the cornerstone GATS agreement of 1994, on the basis of which the World Trade Organization was established in 1995. Namely, they want to add gambling to the list of exceptions that are not subject to WTO regulation.
No country has ever used such a maneuver to evade the decision of the quasi-judicial body of the WTO.
Antigua and Barbuda are not going to give up either. The former British colony began to develop e-business in the early 90s, thus trying to get rid of the disastrous consequences for the economy of the past hurricane. Now there are only 32 registered casinos on the islands, where 1000 people work, and the annual turnover is close to $ 130 million. But seven years ago the casino’s income was approaching $ 1 billion.
via Washington Post
The World Trade Organization in March 2007 admitted that the United States had violated international free trade regulations, and yesterday this decision was finally approved. Now the offender must compensate for the damage.
The scandal is gaining momentum, because the US is not going to compensate for anything. Moreover, America went to the counter.
Antigua is the smallest country that managed to win a case in the Dispute Settlement Commission during the entire existence of the WTO. Gambling on the Internet threatens to become the most difficult in history. Now the Caribbean islands are offering other victims to join the petition against the United States. This call could theoretically support any country in the world (after all, all casinos outside of America are blocked), so litigation can potentially turn into a “whole world against the USA” process.
')
Of course, the United States is not going to be led by an international organization, which they themselves founded. The logic is clear - after all, the WTO was not created to infringe upon the interests of its creator, but quite the opposite. Representatives of America have already said that their country will not compensate for the damage to Antigua and Barbuda and is not going to abolish censorship on the Internet. Instead, the United States threatens with an unprecedented step to change the terms of the cornerstone GATS agreement of 1994, on the basis of which the World Trade Organization was established in 1995. Namely, they want to add gambling to the list of exceptions that are not subject to WTO regulation.
No country has ever used such a maneuver to evade the decision of the quasi-judicial body of the WTO.
Antigua and Barbuda are not going to give up either. The former British colony began to develop e-business in the early 90s, thus trying to get rid of the disastrous consequences for the economy of the past hurricane. Now there are only 32 registered casinos on the islands, where 1000 people work, and the annual turnover is close to $ 130 million. But seven years ago the casino’s income was approaching $ 1 billion.
via Washington Post
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/9136/
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