LatinNews Daily Report - 13 December 2012

Antigua and Barbuda: On 9 December Antigua and Barbuda’s finance minister, Harold Lovell, said that the Antiguan government is preparing retaliatory sanctions against US commercial services and intellectual property as part of a four-year long dispute over US restrictions forbidding US internet users from accessing foreign-based online casinos and other gambling websites. Antigua and Barbuda claims that the US restrictions are affecting its budding e-commerce sector. The Caribbean nation has already presented a case before the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which in 2007 found in its favour and ruled that unless the US lifted its restrictions, it could adopt retaliatory measures to the maximum value of US$21m a year. Antigua and Barbuda has been pushing the WTO to increase this amount; it reckons it should be eligible for some US$3.4bn a year in compensation. The US argues that the compensation should be closer to US$500,000. Lovell said that all available options to resolve the dispute had been “exhausted” and that barring a last minute deal, he would present a list of proposed sanctions to the WTO on 17 December.

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