Internationales
Alert: Plenary at Alcohol Policy XIII (U.S.) adopts resolution encouraging protection of public health interests in negotiating GATS agreements relating to alcohol and tobacco.
The resolution was proposed after participants learned of recent activity in the GATS negotiations that could adversely impact alcohol and tobacco policies in the United States. Specifically, a recent request from the E.U. to include alcohol and tobacco distribution within the purview of GATS could threaten State laws and local regulations which limit sales and distribution of those products. Prevention experts and others in the U.S. consider those rules to be essential in reducing and preventing alcohol related harms, and are concerned that such rules might be dismantled in the name of freer harm. This is the full text of the conference's resolution:
Sense of the
Conference Resolution regarding the
Global Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Negotiations
Alcohol
Policy XIII
Preventing Alcohol Problems among Youth: Policy Approaches
March 13 – 16, 2003, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
(At the conclusion of this conference, the participants reviewed as
a group the following statement.
This statement represents general agreement; however, no one was asked to sign
it, nor did everyone
necessarily agree with all of it.)
Whereas, the negotiations process associated with the Global
Agreement on Trade in Services seeks to reduce and eliminate so-called
“barriers to trade,”
Whereas, the European Union has requested that distribution and other services
related to alcohol and tobacco products be included in the current round of
negotiations,
Whereas such inclusion could lead to the reduction or elimination of certain
U.S. laws and regulations implemented by States and communities to control harm
related to alcohol and tobacco consumption,
Whereas, scientific research points to the critical importance of
such measures in preventing and controlling epidemics of public health problems
related to alcohol and tobacco use,
Whereas, the public health community in the United States and other countries,
including health and safety professionals, educators, researchers, and local,
state and federal officials and community members, recognize that these laws and
regulations are important tools in protecting the safety and health of our
citizens,
And let it further be resolved, that we encourage the U.S. Trade Representative
to take measures to protect State and community policies that address alcohol
and tobacco consumption as public health issues in future rounds of negotiations,
And let it further be resolved, that we ask the U.S. Trade Representative to
promote transparency and democratic accountability throughout the trade
negotiations process, with the fuller inclusion of the public health community.
Adopted by acclamation at closing conference session, March 16, 2003.
For more information, CPATH documents provide a good sense of the issue and what's at stake: http://web.archive.org/web/20041024011229/http://www.cpath.org/CPATH_global2.html
