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"The agreement involves commitments to maintain our liberalized markets for warehousing services, technical testing services, research and development services and postal services relating to outbound international letters," said the spokesman, Gretchen Hamel, of the USTR. "These commitments meet our WTO obligation ... to make a compensatory adjustment in our WTO services commitments."
A deal that would settle the long-simmering dispute with Antigua, also at the WTO, has not been reached yet, as the announcement does not mention Antigua or Barbuda, officials said.
Hamel said the Internet gambling pact allows for a 45-day period "in which the remaining claimants have a right to request arbitration. We will continue to discuss this matter with the other claimants to explain how our proposal is consistent with our WTO obligations."
Earlier this year, the U.S. announced that it was "withdrawing" from promises it had under international trade service-sector arrangements affecting gambling and betting. WTO rules allow this provided that "compensatory measures" are put in place so that the overall level of market access remains the same.
The EU said it would, however, "continue to press for non-discriminatory treatment" in U.S. Internet gambling legislation. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has a measure in the House of Representatives, which is growing in terms of support, which would eliminate the U.S. ban on Internet gambling transactions. That bill has supporters in Europe too.
According to EU trade spokesman Peter Power, "while the U.S. is free to decide how to best respond to legitimate public policy concerns relating to Internet gambling, discrimination against EU or other foreign companies should be avoided."
About half of the world's online gamblers are based in the U.S., and the market is estimated to be worth $15.5 billion, or £7.7 billion.
The WTO ruling said the U.S. was breaking trade law by targeting online gambling firms, without equal application of the rules to U.S. firms offering online betting on horse and dog racing.
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