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NEWS - Labour Group Slams EU Over W
Labour Group Slams EU Over WTO Action on Myanmar
Reuters
21-SEP-98
GENEVA, Sept 21 (Reuters)- Major labour bodies on Monday
accused the European Union of giving comfort to Myanmar's
military
leadership by taking the United States to a trade court over
action
against foreign firms trading with the Asian state.
In a statement faxed to Geneva, the Brussels-based
International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the European
Trade
Union Confederation said they were astounded at the EU's
action
involving the former Burma, which is due to be formalised on
Tuesday.
"The European Union will now risk appearing to be condoning
the
current repression of human rights in Burma in order to
promote the
interests of European multinational companies," the
statement said.
On Tuesday, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World
Trade
Organisation (WTO) will consider a request from the EU and
Japan to
set up a panel to look into their complaint that the
anti-Myanmar action
in the United States broke WTO rules.
The complaint is focused on a ban by the state government of
Massachusetts on official purchases of goods or services
from U.S.
and foreign companies which do business in Myanmar.
The 15-nation European Union and Japan argue that the ban,
which
the U.S. administration has sought to persuade officials in
Massachusetts to modify, runs against provisions of the
government
procurement agreement in the 1994 world trade treaty.
But the EU and Japan, which have also moved to limit
contacts with
Myanmar by companies under their own jurisdiction, argue
that the
United States or its constituent states have no right to
apply national or
state law to foreign firms.
The case is similar to one brought by the Brussels-
headquartered EU,
with no complaint and even implicit support from labour
groups, in the
WTO against the United States over the Helms-Burton law
penalising
foreign companies investing in Cuba.
The EU, backed by almost all other countries in the
132-member
WTO, said in that action also that the main thrust of its
case was
against what it saw as "extra-territoriality" or application
of U.S. law
beyond U.S. borders.
Like many U.S. officials, the EU has expressed concern that
the
Massachusetts action, if not contested, could lead to a
snowballing of
similar bans by other U.S. states based on human rights,
religious and
other concerns not related to trade.
The two labour union bodies, which have shown little
sympathy for the
U.S. position with regard to the Cuba investment case, said
that if the
Massachusetts action did not comply with WTO rules, "then
the WTO
rules need changing".
WTO rules, based on the body's underlying General Agreement
on
Tariffs and Trade, are negotiated by all members of the body
and the
United States played a key role in shaping them.
Among European companies to which the Massachusetts
government
has named as trading with Myanmar are the Anglo-Dutch
consumer
products group Unilever Plc and German electronics giant
Siemens
AG. The state has also acted against some U.S. companies.
U.S. trade officials are expected to oppose the request for
immediate
creation of a WTO panel, which would have six months to make
a
ruling, at Tuesday's DSB meeting. But, if the EU and Japan
persist,
the three-man body will be set up automatically at the next
DSB
session in one months's time.