Posted on 16-12-2002
North
Shore City Rejects GATS
North Shore City Council is far from impressed with the way
the current
negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
being
conducted by the New Zealand Government with others in the World
Trade
Organisation (WTO) could affect local government in this country.
At its meeting this week, the council's strategy and finance
committee was
updated on GATS, the response to which was a mixture of surprise,
anger and
fear. Committee chairperson Tony Holman says GATS rules are
binding on all
levels of government and so limit local authorities such as
North Shore
City to exercise its mandate to pursue social and environmental
goals.
"We're far from impressed with the lack of consultation on this
critical
issue," says Councillor Holman. "We support Christchurch City
' s call for
full transparency and consultation on GATS with local government.
"This
reflects concerns being expressed in Australia, Canada and many
other
countries."
GATS was signed in 1994 under the WTO which administers the
agreement
designed to encourage freedom of international trade and removal
of
regulations deemed obstructive or anti-competitive. GATS applies
to 160
service sectors, many of which are the responsibility, directly
or
indirectly, of local government. They include water services,
transport,
planning and building controls, community services including
libraries and
waste disposal. "GATS is anti-social, anti-environmental and
anti-triple
bottom line not to mention anti-local enterprise, ownership
and
sovereignty, " Tony Holman says. "We don't need to look too
far to see the
folly of many free market experiments in our community, such
as the power
sector and building control deregulation. We don't need the
gnomes of
Zurich, Geneva, New York or the EU breaking up essential community
and
social services for their own profit."
One of the most worrying matters for North Shore City is the
ability of
foreign nations who are members of WTO complaining to our government
on how
New Zealand's 87 local authorities choose to deliver their services.
"It's
bad enough that our local decisions are open to international
scrutiny and
challenge but what's even worse is that our local councils would
not have
the right to defend themselves against such a challenge and
that
compensation may be payable to nations deemed to have a right
to enter our
local markets. "This is clearly a nonsense but deadly serious.
We cannot
find out what exactly is going on behind the scenes in Geneva
and we've
been told that we would be stopped from accessing the information
under our
own Official Information Act," says Tony Holman.
North Shore City is writing to Local Government New Zealand,
the body
representing the interests of this country ' s local authorities,
and to
the Government effectively endorsing the views expressed by
Christchurch
City Council. (see below)
For more information please contact North Shore City strategy
and finance
committee chairperson, Tony Holman, on 418 1057.
..........
That the Council write to the Minister of Trade Negotiations
stating that
the Council:
Believes that it is inappropriate that local authorities be
constrained by
an agreement to which local government is not a party;
Believes public policy regarding the regulation, funding and
provision of
essential services should be made democratically by governments
at the
national and local level;
Believes that no restrictions should be placed on local government's
rights
regarding achieving social and environmental ends in procurement;
Requests that the Government support the clear exclusion of
public services
at central and local levels from the GATS, including local government
community services, environment and water services;
Requests that the Government oppose any proposals which would
reduce the
right of local government to regulate services, including the
application
of a "least trade restrictive" test to regulation;
Requests that the Government seek to eliminate the ability of
WTO trade
rules to overturn nation-state laws and practices that protect
health, the
environment, development and human rights;
Requests that the Government seek: (a) an amendment to the schedule,
for
example, entering a reservation in the horizontal commitments
to exclude
local government, or (b) a carve out for local government by
amending the
GATS, or (c) an interpretation or clarifying declaration by
WTO members
that local governments are exempt from GATS;
Requests that the Government commission an independent retrospective
review
on the WTO ' s impact on development, democracy, environmental
sustainability, health, and human rights.
Requests that Local Government NZ advocate to central government
on behalf
of local government regarding the above concerns.
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