Home / Poker News July 2009 / EU-US negotiations resumed on the issue of online gambling
EU-US negotiations resumed on the issue of online gambling
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2009-07-16 10:48
Four bi-lateral trade issues shall hit the table of negotiations between the US and the EU according to EU Trade Commissioner, Catherine Ashton and Ron Kirk, the new US Trade Representative. Among the four issues, the problem of online gambling shall take up a prominent place.
As you probably know, the EU was one of the entities which quantified the losses caused to EU based online gambling companies by the 2006 UIGEA and filed claims of compensation, together with the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and a few other countries touched by the issue.
The EU has conducted an official investigation in this respect which arrived to the conclusion that the U.S. could be held accountable for the damages caused as it was clearly breaching the WTO trade agreements it had accepted and signed.
The previous administration’s approach to the issue was everything but constructive. Following years of jostling with Antigua and Barbuda, Susan Schwab – then head of the USTR – put the US’s withdrawal from the GATS (General Agreement on Trade Services) into perspective, rather than attempting to achieve a negotiated solution.
A complaint by the Remote Gambling Association logged in 2007 prompted an investigation by the European Commission which resulted in a report released on June 10th. The report found that according to the Trade Barriers Regulation, the 2006 UIGEA did indeed pose an obstacle to trade, and measures needed to be taken in order to protect the interests of the EU.
The same report also stipulated that the actions the EU would take in order to protect its interests in the matter depended largely on the Obama Administration’s attitude towards the issue of online gambling and poker and the UIGEA.
Perhaps it was not coincidental that the above named report was released at about the same time that Dem. Rep. Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act got in front of the House Committee. The EU will determine what measures to take after something certain is heard about Frank’s bill.
The problem is not likely to see a solution any time soon though, given the fact that hearings on the above mentioned bill have been pushed back till September. The delay will probably render Frank’s H.R. 2266, the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation act moot. H.R. 2266 sought to delay the implementation of the regulations put forth by the UIGEA with at least a year.
There’s another piece of anti-UIGEA legislation which will be affected by the delay: Rep. James McDermott’s H.R. 2268, known as the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, which comes to complete Frank’s H.R. 2267 by setting the legal framework for the taxation of online gambling revenue.
The bottom line is, the US-EU bi-lateral negotiations – at least on the issue of online gambling – depend almost entirely on the new Administration’s standpoint regarding legislation which would basically repeal the UIGEA and set up a regulatory framework in its place.
