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NEWS ... GLOBAL NEWS ... year to block the disclosure of "sensitive" LEAKED TRADE SECRETS PROVE THREAT TO PUBLIC SERVICES Passages from an unpublished appendix of ecret leaked documents have revealed European demands in the WTO negotia- the Bingham report, which dealt with the tions that have been quietly underway in Geneva since 2000. These docu- security services. . ments provide a harsh wake-up call to the world about what is really at stake in _ Other material has been kept out of cred- | these global "commercial" negotiations. _ hands by invoking a cna, that ae When most people think about trade, they conjure up images of ships ferrying relates to national security. In an extraordi- | steel beams and sacks of coffee between nations and of agreements about cutting nary twist, however, the UK Government 1S | tariffs and quotas on trade in goods. In reality, however, today's "trade agreements", refusing to identify exactly which statute It | such as the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 1995 has invoked. Government lawyers may | woriq Trade Organization (WTO), have little to do with trade. Instead, they focus fear that to identify the statute would effec- | 94 granting foreign companies new rights and privileges within the boundaries of tively reveal the nature of the material they | ther countries. They attempt to constrain federal, state and local regulatory poli- are trying to keep secret. cies and to commodify public services and common resources—such as water— The BCCI creditors, however, are not | into new tradable units for profit. satisfied. They believe they are not being The leaked documents reveal negotiations that will expand the scope of the given a proper chance to challenge the gov- | General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), one of the 21 pacts enforced by ernment's non-disclosure. the WTO. The "GATS-2000" talks are promoted by the United States and European (Source: The Observer, January 19, 2003) _ | nations on behalf of multinational service-sector conglomerates. Up for grabs at the negotiating table is worldwide privatisation and deregulation of public energy and BENETTON GIVES HIDDEN water utilities, postal services, higher education and state alcohol distribution con- MEANING TO TRACKSUITS trols; rights for foreign firms to local business loans; elimination of specific state he Italian retailer Benetton's imminent _| laws about land use, professional licensing and consumer protections; and extreme introduction of "smart tag" tracking | deregulation of private-sector service industries such as insurance, banking, mutual technology into clothing sold in its shops funds and securities. will soon be the largest example of a trend Europe's demands of the USA and 108 other WTO signatories provide "smoking emerging in the retail industry. gun" evidence, after months of speculation and concern, about how these secretive Benetton's Sisley line of clothing will | WTO negotiations threaten essential public services upon which people worldwide soon contain a Philips radiofrequency ID _| rely daily. Think of GATS as a Trojan Horse. Appealingly dubbed a "trade agree- tag that will replace bar codes, which have | ment’, it actually contains a massive attack on the most basic functions of local and to be manually scanned. An RFID tag will | state government. You might ask what the GATS provision creating a new right for communicate its location to Benetton's corporations to establish a "commercial presence" within another country has to do computerised supply chain network, allow- | with cross-border trade. The answer: nothing. The terms allow a foreign firm to set ing the retailer to learn stock levels at a up subsidiaries in other countries or acquire local companies under more glance and make restocking decisions favourable terms than their domestic competitors get. For instance, once a service quickly, even automatically, sector is covered under GATS, governments may not limit the number or size of ser- Karsten Ottenberg, senior vice-president | Vice providers—meaning that applying zoning rules on beachfront development or of Philips Semiconductors, based in _ | limits on concessions in national parks to foreign firms would be forbidden. This is Hamburg, says the smart tags will be | Why many people consider GATS to be a backdoor attempt to revive the imperceptible to the wearer. They will | Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), the radical investment pact that was store information on the garment's style, killed by public opposition in 1998. i. . . . size and colour and its path through the The GATS not only promotes privatisation of public services, but it makes revers- ing failed privatisation experiments extremely difficult for national, state and local governments. Under GATS, if cities seek to bring a privately operated utility back into the public realm, they only can do so if their government agrees to compensate all WTO countries for their companies’ lost business opportunities. For example, Atlanta just reversed a disastrous water privatisation involving a French company. If he United States agrees to Europe's GATS-2000 demands to subject water to GATS disciplines, such reversals could only occur if compensation was offered not just to hat company but to all WTO signatory countries. The secret European document also revealed a demand to include retail electricity services under GATS, meaning hat privatisation nightmares like California's energy deregulation would be nearly impossible to fix. GATS also sets strict constraints on government regulation in the services sector—even when those policies treat domestic and foreign services the same. GATS allows federal, state and local regulations to be challenged as barriers ; ae Z : 0 trade if they are not designed in the least trade-restrictive manner. store information about, say, the person The leaked EU documents have prompted civil society groups worldwide to call who bought a garment. It could allow a _ | for a moratorium on the "GATS-2000" talks and for a public process involving state retail chain to take note each time that gar-_| ang local officials. The clock is ticking. ment was worn into a store. (Source: By Lori Wallach, Director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, March 6, 2003, (Source: Ananova.com, March 11, 2003, manufacturing and stock chain. The ID tag—an antenna-bearing chip, smaller than a grain of rice—is embedded in the clothing's label, and any item returned to the store automatically re-enters the inventory. It is only effective when, say, about three feet from a scanner. While there is no indication Benetton intends to track its customers with the tags, privacy groups are worried that the tech- nology could lend itself to unauthorised customer monitoring. An RFID tag could be programmed to http:/www.citizen.org/trade, via http://www. guerrillanews.com/globalization/doc 1 147.html) http://www.ananova.com/news/) year to block the disclosure of "sensitive" passages from an unpublished appendix of the Bingham report, which dealt with the security services. Other material has been kept out of cred- itors’ hands by invoking a statute that also relates to national security. In an extraordi- nary twist, however, the UK Government is refusing to identify exactly which statute it has invoked. Government lawyers may fear that to identify the statute would effec- tively reveal the nature of the material they are trying to keep secret. The BCCI creditors, however, are not satisfied. They believe they are not being given a proper chance to challenge the gov- ernment's non-disclosure. (Source: The Observer, January 19, 2003) BENETTON GIVES HIDDEN MEANING TO TRACKSUITS he Italian retailer Benetton's imminent introduction of "smart tag" tracking technology into clothing sold in its shops will soon be the largest example of a trend emerging in the retail industry. Benetton's Sisley line of clothing will soon contain a Philips radiofrequency ID tag that will replace bar codes, which have to be manually scanned. An RFID tag will communicate its location to Benetton's computerised supply chain network, allow- ing the retailer to learn stock levels at a glance and make restocking decisions quickly, even automatically, Karsten Ottenberg, senior vice-president of Philips Semiconductors, based in Hamburg, says the smart tags will be imperceptible to the wearer. They will store information on the garment's style, size and colour and its path through the manufacturing and stock chain. The ID tag—an antenna-bearing chip, smaller than a grain of rice—is embedded in the clothing's label, and any item returned to the store automatically re-enters the inventory. It is only effective when, say, about three feet from a scanner. While there is no indication Benetton intends to track its customers with the tags, privacy groups are worried that the tech- nology could lend itself to unauthorised customer monitoring. An RFID tag could be programmed to store information about, say, the person who bought a garment. It could allow a retail chain to take note each time that gar- ment was worn into a store. (Source: Ananova.com, March 11, 2003, http://www.ananova.com/news/) APRIL — MAY 2003 NEXUS +9 www.nexusmagazine.com