Antigua's latest submission to the WTO

Note: This was filed prior to Congress passing their latest bill.

Here are links to their latest submission to the compliance panel and the three Schedules that were filed with it.

http://www.antiguawto.com/wto/60_Sub_ABFSArt21_5_25sep06.pdf

http://www.antiguawto.com/wto/60A_Art21_5_SubSchedule1ABFS.pdf

http://www.antiguawto.com/wto/60B_Art21_5_SubSchedule2.pdf

http://www.antiguawto.com/wto/60C_Art21_5_SubSchedule3ABFS.pdf

For more documents and submissions on the matter go to:

http://www.antiguawto.com/WTOListPg.html

Jay-
Do you think there is any chance these companies may file an injunction in federal court once the law is signed since it seems to violate the WTO ruling?

It's not a bad idea....

Sean

I think it is almost a certainty that a bank or the entire banking group will file for an injunction.

There are laws that allow the government to force businesses to comply with rules (And spend money) for the safety of the citizens - carding people underage, watching for terrorist money, screening at the airport, airplane maintenance, hospital records, etc.

I do not know of any case where the government has mandated private businesses spend money on something that is not safety. There probably are cases, but I am not aware of them.

If you owned a hotel and they told you that instead of vacuuming the lobby once/week, you now must do it daily, you would be outraged. This is similar for banks.

I expect a court challenge.

Sean

So do I Sean, but from the inside. Justice Department aint going for being backdoor on laws they blocked in the first place. This version they snuck in, is the one they killed in July.

JAYBIRD0711 said:

Jay-
Do you think there is any chance these companies may file an injunction in federal court once the law is signed since it seems to violate the WTO ruling?

Click to expand...

Attorneys would argue the courts don't have jurisdiction since the Antiguan companies do not have physical operations there. Pretty good chance the courts would agree with them. Besides say the judges let them go to court, nothing to say whoever shows up from the company doesn't get prosecuted by local authorities either.

We can all agree the WTO and Antigua have a good case against the US, but as a bunch of prior cases show getting a desired result is the problem. Even if the UK files and gets a judgement against the US it could be 5 years before something positive happens, and how positive the change is really can't be assured.

The battles for and against gambling have been going on over the last 100 years. We can't hope for a quick resolution, nor a clear decision making everything legal or illegally. It will be murky for quite some time, but the best thing I can say is we have all operated supposedly illegally for all these years. I just don't see how the latest legislation in the context of the last 100 years is really a significant event.