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deBriefings AN ACTIVISTS DICTIONARY FOR TRANSLATING National Treatment — All forei i just li , “ - gn business must be treated just like WTO-SPEAK (Orwellian to English) homegrown business, regardless of environmental, labour or social prac- by Jim Puckett © 1999 tices of the importing country, and regardless of the need to protect a local Agreement on Government Procurement (AGP) - An agreement that economy from foreign investments, imports or trade in problematic sub- prohibits taxpayers from specifying how they want their tax money to be _ stances such as a toxic waste or cigarettes. spent (i.e., on sustainable, equitable products). Non-Discrimination — A term that in itself is used with great Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) - Aninter- discrimination to allude only to discrimination against a country's right to national treaty that sounds hopelessly esoteric, but only happens to govern trade, and not, for example, its right to protect its environment or the the integrity of all of the food that we eat and the risk from all of the dis- global commons. Indeed, the WTO seems to take pride in the fact that it eases we might contract! Within it there lies numerous prohibitions cannot distinguish between sustainable, responsible trade and non- against trade restraints, including a concerted undermining of the sustainable, irresponsible trade—clearly a lack of a discriminating mind. Precautionary Principle, thus allowing chemical pollution and diseases to This term is used as an excuse to lower environmental and social standards enter our food and agriculture products. to lowest common denominator levels. Dispute Resolution — Under the World Trade Organization, any country Production and Process Measures (PPMs) — How things are made, can challenge a national law by running to the WTO dispute panel. This farmed, caught or processed (e.g., with pollution or not, with child labour panel usually consists of three trade lawyers who deliberate in secret with- or not), deemed irrelevant by WTO rules. out participation from stakeholder groups unless requested. The decision Proportionality — The idea that an environmental or social measure taken of the three is binding and can overturn laws decided democratically by by a government must not impact trade to an extent that is not in propor- many millions of citizens. tion to the environmental problem involved. In other words, environmen- Fair Trade — A term for alternative trading rules which might make dis- __ tal or social issues can never be considered more important than trade. tinctions that favour responsible and sustainable trade over that which is Protectionism — A pejorative term for "protection" (the true noun form of not. "protect"), it implies that economic, social and environmental protections Fast Track — Globalisation without representation. A means by which the are motivated by selfish interests. US Government can vastly limit debate, congressional hearings and the Quantitative Restrictions — Bans or limits on trade in substances or prod- possibility of amendments on international trade agreements and allow —_ucts. The WTO disallows "quantitative restrictions", even when the ban or Congress only a thumbs up or down on the entire package. limitation protects the environment or public health. Free Trade — Lawless trade. Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) — Let's get technical! What they are GATT — The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the tumour that on __ really talking about is laws—your laws, my laws, our laws. Also an agree- 1 January 1995 metastasised into the cancer that is the WTO. ment (TBT Agreement) under the WTO that seeks to eliminate TBTs. Globalisation — A global economic model where unbridled capitalism, Trade Barriers — Anything that can limit profits made via trade or free trade and the rights of transnational corporations are given value over _ investment. democracy, sovereignty, human rights and sustainability. Trade Distortion - Used to describe the effects of "trade barriers". Not Harmonisation — An euphonious word for one set of rules. In practice, it used to describe the effects of allowing "distortions" in true economics via is another word for "downward harmonisation", as the deck is stacked _eXternalising true costs to communities and the environment. against any dreams of upward harmonisation due to corporate dominance Trade Liberalisation — Freedom to allow transnational corporations and within the rulemaking institutions, the consensus nature of international — governments to externalise environmental and social costs to the planet law and the unwillingness of developed countries to assist developing _and its people (see Free Trade). countries in leapfrogging over dirty development. Trade Wars — According to the WTO, these are what happens when coun - Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) — These are interna- _ tries retaliate against tariffs. They are not what happens when the WTO. tional treaties that free-traders feel the WTO should be able to trump, even _ allows countries to sanction one another if they fail to overturn democratic though they have equal standing in international law. Now there are decision-making (as is currently taking place between Europe and the US efforts underway to insert "supremacy clauses" into new MEAs (e.g., Over the beef hormone issue). POPs treaty) to ensure that WTO has precedence over the MEA. Yet other Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) - The subject of a free-traders want to set a limit that only via MEAs can environmental stan- | WTO agreement which requires that the whole world adopt US-style dards and rules be set—not allowing local, national or regional agree- _ patent laws. Can be used to strip traditional peoples’ ownership of rights to ments. Both of these ideas spell disaster. their own seeds, recipes, methods and genetic material. Can be used to Most Favoured Nation Treatment - All countries must be treated equal- deny developing countries appropriate technologies (e.g., waste minimisa- ly, no matter how much they destroy the global environment, abuse work- _ tion technologies). The Agreement on TRIPs proves that the WTO is not ers or human rights, and no matter how little economic and political clout primarily about "free trade", as the Agreement actually legislates against they might have to resist unfair investment or trade, or compete with larger free trade. Rather, the WTO is about giving transnational corporations countries (see Non-Discrimination). what they want. Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) — A liberalisation agree- World Trade Organization (WTO) — An umbrella organisation designed ment dealing with investment rather than goods and services. It would _ to limit governmental regulation of trade and investment to one set of grant rights to capitalists, which will dramatically diminish the ability of _ Tules. But because these rules have been created primarily by the largest of governments to decide the types of foreign investment allowed in their ur corporations, these rules have been established primarily for these cor- countries and the terms of entry and operation. This agreement proposed _porations. They have become a Corporate Global Constitution and "Bill of by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development _ Rights" that denies rights to people and the environment. co (OECD)—the club of 29 most wealthy countries—was put on hold by an outcry organised by a globalised activist movement. NAFTA already source: Written by Jim Puckett and extracted from his October 1999 wars many investment provisions that have been proposed under the py lication, "When Trade is Toxic: The WTO Threat to Public and 2 . . . Planetary Health", a project of Asia Pacific Environmental Exchange NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement, which established (APEX) (tel +1 206 720 gt Asia | a canen com) and Bacl WTO and MAI like provisions within a trade agreement for Canada, A tion Network (BAN) (e-mail info@ban.org, website www.ban.org).] Mexico and the United States. 16 - NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2000