Caribbean News
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Dec 11 2016 – The Antigua and Barbuda government has given the United States until the end of the year to settle the long running dispute over internet gaming amid claims in excess of US$200 million.
The Gaston Browne administration, which earlier this year dismissed a proposal by the United States to end the dispute, has given Washington until the end of December to agree to a settlement or face sanctions.
A statement posted on the World Trade Organization (WTO) website noted that St. John’s has warned that “if a settlement was not reached before the end of 2016, Antigua would have to resort to the suspension of copyright on the sale of US intellectual property…”
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders in an interview with Observer Media, said “if they put something on the table that is reasonable [then] that would remove the end-of-year deadline, because then we would have something we could actually look at favourably. So far that has not happened.”
In 2005, the WTO ruled that Washington had violated international trade agreements by prohibiting operation of offshore Internet gambling sites. Antigua claimed that it lost US$3.4 billion a year due to the US action, but the WTO awarded the island US$21 million.
But in its final ruling, the Geneva-based WTO allowed Antigua and Barbuda to suspend certain concessions and obligations it has under international law to the United States in respect of intellectual property rights.