There was ahearing last week in front of an arbitrator in order to set a compliance date for the US. Both sides filed briefs, both sides were heard at the hearing which lasted over 3 hours.
The US was very vague with regards to what they planned to do to. They claim they just need to modify the IHA yet they don't say how, just that they need a lot of time. In contrast Antigua presented many viable options the US could execute to comply and asked that the US be given no more than six months. 90% of what the US need to do could be accomplished in under one month.
The WTO guidelines state that 15 months should be the maximum and should only be exceeded under extraordinary circumstances. They have only allowed more than 15 months once, and that was only 15 months and 1 week. Also, the clock starts running April 7th as far as I know whatever time limit is set.
The arbitrator is scheduled to set the date on August 19th.
Antigua quoted the US in their briefs. The US had said to an arbitrator in a case that they won, (I'm paraphrasing from memory) "Your local politics are not a factor, you need to comply with the ruling and you can't blame it on politics."
The US was very vague with regards to what they planned to do to. They claim they just need to modify the IHA yet they don't say how, just that they need a lot of time. In contrast Antigua presented many viable options the US could execute to comply and asked that the US be given no more than six months. 90% of what the US need to do could be accomplished in under one month.
The WTO guidelines state that 15 months should be the maximum and should only be exceeded under extraordinary circumstances. They have only allowed more than 15 months once, and that was only 15 months and 1 week. Also, the clock starts running April 7th as far as I know whatever time limit is set.
The arbitrator is scheduled to set the date on August 19th.
Antigua quoted the US in their briefs. The US had said to an arbitrator in a case that they won, (I'm paraphrasing from memory) "Your local politics are not a factor, you need to comply with the ruling and you can't blame it on politics."
Thanks Jay (For those of you who do not know, Jay C knows this WTO\Antigua stuff like the back of his hand).
"The US was very vague with regards to what they planned to do to. They claim they just need to modify the IHA yet they don't say how, just that they need a lot of time."
What a surprise.....typical and expected bullshit.
"The US was very vague with regards to what they planned to do to. They claim they just need to modify the IHA yet they don't say how, just that they need a lot of time."
What a surprise.....typical and expected bullshit.
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My thanks as well, Jay. Your posts are allways informative and a good read also.
The bottom line (as I see it), is that regardless of the exact date ...the ruling is good news for us that wnat to see it legal. Maybe a tiny step---I don't know how big or small..but good news for the most part.
The bottom line (as I see it), is that regardless of the exact date ...the ruling is good news for us that wnat to see it legal. Maybe a tiny step---I don't know how big or small..but good news for the most part.
