The government of Antigua and Barbuda is considering its options to resolve a long-running trade dispute with the United States government over Internet gambling, Antiguan officials said.
The Antiguan government filed a complaint against the US before the World Trade Organisation in 2003 after the US government began enforcing laws to prohibit online gambling.
A WTO panel that arbitrates trade disputes found in 2004 that the US was breaching treaties that committed it to free trade in online gambling, according to the US International Trade Commission.
Subsequent appeals and objections to Antigua’s retaliatory trade measures have left the matter unresolved, according to the USITC. But in a press release issued Friday, the Antiguan government stated that it has hired a new team of lawyers who intend to take a new approach to the dispute. The team has sought assistance from Pascal Lamy, the WTO’s director general, to restart talks with the US government.
See the Aug. 2, 2012 edition for full coverage.
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