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.