US, Europe fail to resolve disagree

[sbillenness@xxxxxxxx]

Subject: US, Europe fail to resolve disagreement over state Burma law

US, Europe fail to resolve disagreement over state Burma law

   WASHINGTON, July 22 (AFP) - US officials failed at talks in Geneva on
Tuesday to resolve a dispute with Japan and Europe over a state sanctions
law aimed at military-ruled Burma, the US Trade Representative's (USTR)
office said.
   "They didn't reach a settlement today," one trade official here said
after European, Japanese, and American negotiators ended day-long talks in
Geneva on the controversial "Massachusetts Burma law."
   The provision bars state-owned entities from buying goods from companies
doing business in Burma. That has led to the black-listing of roughly 150
foreign firms, including major players such as Honda and Siemens.
   The European Union (EU) has until mid-September to ask the World Trade
Organization to convene formally a dispute-settlement panel on the 1996 law,
USTR spokesman Jay Ziegler said.
   "We do not believe this is a constructive course," Ziegler said. "Japan
and the EU are on record expressing concern about the situation in Burma,
and we believe this action is fundamentally inconsistent with that position."
   "We hope we can resolve our differences here," he added.
   The talks followed months of barbed exchanges and a protracted US effort
to assuage European ire over the federal Helms-Burton sanctions law, which
permits civil lawsuits here against foreign firms operating in Cuba.
   President Bill Clinton has so far prevented that particular Helms-Burton
provision from taking effect.
   Informing USTR Charlene Barshefsky on June 20 that Europe would take the
Burma law to the WTO, EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan said that "it
would not appear that progress has been made" on the matter.
   Further, he added, "there are no indications that Massachusetts is
considering amending this law, in spite of the efforts you have been making."
   Barshefsky said at the time that she was "surprised and very
disappointed" at the European move, given the shared US and European
interest in improving the human rights situation in Burma.
   EU officials say the law violates a WTO provision committing most states
to open all government contracts to international competition.
   The Clinton administration has yet to take a clear and public position
that would set a precedent for similar state and municipal laws that have
sprung up around the country, mainly targeting Burma and Indonesia.
   Opposing those laws could make the White House look hostile to human
rights or beholden to foreign or corporate interests. Not fighting it at all
would enrage US trading partners and the powerful business lobby.
   Members of Congress from Massachusetts are meanwhile urging the USTR to
put up a strong defense of the Burma sanctions law.
   "It is not the place of the European Union and Japan to dictate how the
Massachusetts legislature and state government should spend its own
taxpayers' money," nine legislators wrote to Barshefsky on Tuesday.
   sjh/hh