The negotiations are taking place to expand the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), one of the agreements under the authority of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO deadline for initial offers in response to the requests is March 31, 2003.
Each restricted document states: "Member States are requested to ensure that this text is not made publicly available and is treated as a restricted document." The public was never supposed to know what public services were being traded away in secret bilateral negotiations among the 145 WTO member countries until all the deals had been cut.
"Our municipal water/sewer systems are under a GATS attack and local officials have not even been told. Secret negotiations about the public's right to water is not how democracy should work," Caplan stated.
"It is time for United States to make its requests and offers public," Caplan declared. "The public needs to know whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) headed by Robert Zoellick will protect essential public services or trade them away in response to the European requests. The Alliance calls on USTR to make public all its requests to other countries immediately and to make its offers public as soon as they are made." To date only unsatisfactory general summaries of the requests have been released.
Each restricted document states: "Member States are requested to ensure that this text is not made publicly available and is treated as a restricted document." The public was never supposed to know what public services were being traded away in secret bilateral negotiations among the 145 WTO member countries until all the deals had been cut.
"Our municipal water/sewer systems are under a GATS attack and local officials have not even been told. Secret negotiations about the public's right to water is not how democracy should work," Caplan stated.
"It is time for United States to make its requests and offers public," Caplan declared. "The public needs to know whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) headed by Robert Zoellick will protect essential public services or trade them away in response to the European requests. The Alliance calls on USTR to make public all its requests to other countries immediately and to make its offers public as soon as they are made." To date only unsatisfactory general summaries of the requests have been released.