The IFLA Position on The World Trade Organization

[Haraszti Katalin]

Tisztelt Listatagok, 
továbbítom az IFLA-nak a WTO-ról kialakított és alább ismertetett
álláspontját.

Haraszti Pálné
MKE fõtitkár


>From: Sophie Felfoldi <Sophie.Felfoldi at ifla.nl>
>Subject:      The IFLA Position on The World Trade Organization
>
>The IFLA Position on The World Trade Organization
>
>INTRODUCTION
>
>1.      The World Trade Organization (WTO), with a growing membership of
over 140
>countries, oversees a variety of treaties governing international trade.
The WTO treaties with the most significant implications for libraries and
the information sector are the General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS). 
>
>2.      Libraries are a public good. They are unique social organizations
dedicated to
>providing the broadest range of information and ideas to the public,
regardless of age, religion, physical and mental health, social status,
race, gender or language. The long-established library traditions of
intellectual freedom and equitable access to information and cultural
expression form the basis for ensuring that library goals are achieved.
>
>3.      Libraries of all types form an interrelated network, which serves
the citizenry, from the
>great national, state and research institutions to public and school
libraries. The well being of libraries is essential in ensuring access to
the full range of human expression and providing individuals with the
skills necessary to access and use this content.
>
>4.      There is growing evidence that WTO decisions, directly or
indirectly, may adversely
>affect the operations and future development of library services,
especially in not-for-profit institutions.
>
>BACKGROUND
>
>5.      It is important to recognize that the WTO, and the international
trade authorities of its
>members, are engaged in shaping policy and applications of this policy on
an ongoing basis. While the infrequent Ministerial Conferences with their
attendant protests are the most visible manifestation of the negotiations,
the process is continuous, with decisions often reached without public
scrutiny. What makes the WTO unique is that it has a binding dispute
mechanism as part of its operations with the strongest enforcement
procedures of any international agreement. IFLA urges its members to inform
themselves on the WTO and their national trade policy deliberations and to
promote the library and related issues when possible. Awareness of
international trade issues is a necessary component of effective advocacy
in shaping national policy, programmes and law as they relate to library
service.
>
>SPECIFIC CONCERNS
>
>NOT-FOR-PROFIT LIBRARIES
>
>6.      The GATS Agreement has the potential to open up all aspects of a
national economy to
>foreign competition including public sector services such as libraries.
Corporations can be set up in any Member State and compete against public
services. In such instances, the foreign corporation can challenge
government support for public sector service and could claim national
treatment; i.e. the same level of subsidy received from the government by
the public sector agency. Sub-Central governments (state/provincial,
regional and municipal governments and their management boards) are
included in any agreements, which cover the Member State.
>
>7.      The GATS Agreement does not apply to "services supplied in the
exercise
> of government authority". Critics have argued that the WTO will interpret
this clause very narrowly. The GATS agreement itself states "a service
supplied in the exercise of government authority means any service, which
is supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or
more service providers". With the advent of for profit on-line content
providers targeting individual users of education services and public
libraries, the potential for GATS challenges to traditional library service
is increasing. While the concept of allowing "competition" appears benign,
the eventual outcome of such challenges will be the undermining of the
tax-supported status of public sector libraries at the national, regional
and local levels. Without tax support, the library's role as a democratic
institution, making available the widest range of material reflecting the
diversity of society, will be compromised.
>
>8.      In their submissions to the GATS negotiations, individual
countries make commitments
>on service sectors which would then be subject to GATS requirements. At
the commencement of the second round of GATS negotiations in 2001, thirteen
countries had made a commitment to open negotiations on "libraries,
archives, museums and other cultural services."(1) Given that specific
library services will fall under other GATS categories such as
communications ("on-line information and data retrieval; electronic data
interchange"), even if they have not listed library service, it is probable
that many more countries will be entering into GATS negotiations, which
will directly affect libraries.
>
>9.      IFLA encourages its members to promote awareness of library values
and concerns in the
>context of GATS to the trade negotiators in their country. The potentially
far-reaching implications of trade liberalization in services for
not-for-profit libraries should be openly debated. Negotiators should be
strongly encouraged to ensure that government support for traditional
library service is not exposed to a GATS challenge.
>
>INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
>
>10.     The TRIPS Agreement applies the enforcement apparatus of the WTO
to the Bern and
>other conventions established under the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO). TRIPS has the potential to directly and indirectly
shape national copyright policy and law. In one instance to date, a WTO
dispute panel has found a permitted use in a national copyright law in
violation of international trade treaty commitments. Ranging from fair use
and similar fair practices to preservation copying by libraries, permitted
uses lay out the rights of users of copyrighted content. There is little
assurance that the balance between the public interest and rights of
content owners sought in national copyright policy debate will be
considered by the WTO in any intellectual property disputes which come
before it. WTO dispute panels are "likely to resolve competing claims to
intellectual property with little regard for the non-commercial values upon
which a reasonable balance of private rights and public interest depends." (2)
>
>11.     The regulatory weight of the WTO has the potential to have a
chilling effect on the
>development of national copyright law by providing those advocating fewer
permitted uses and extended protection a "trump card" to derail advocacy
efforts on behalf of users. IFLA urges its members to work to ensure that
the interests of libraries and library users are not marginalized through
the application of the WTO regime to domestic copyright legislation.
>
>CULTURAL DIVERSITY
>
>12.     Publicly funded libraries are part of the cultural sector. They
are involved in encouraging
>the development and promotion of cultural works, particularly literature,
and the preservation and dissemination of those works. Libraries should be
part of protections proposed for culture and should support and be part of
any possible separate treaty which allows special consideration for
cultural goods and services in international trade.
>IFLA will work with national and international cultural groups to create
alliances for 
>achieving recognition and protection for the development of regional and
domestic cultural products. The objective of such an alliance is the
creation of cultural diversity and the encouragement of multiple voices
rather than homogenized and globalized cultural works, which dominate by
virtue of financial or corporate strength.
>
>14.     While supporting the right of WTO Member States to promote and
nurture national
> culture, IFLA opposes any obstacles to the free flow across international
borders of legally produced information and cultural content normally
collected or distributed by libraries. IFLA opposes tariffs or other duties
or taxes on the importation of print on paper or digital content. Such
measures have the potential to stifle intellectual freedom.
>
>CONCLUSION
>
>15.     As an active international alliance of library and information
associations, libraries and
>information services, and concerned individuals, IFLA is strategically
positioned to advocate at the WTO on behalf of libraries and information
services and to ensure that its members are informed in order to be able to
advocate effectively at the national level.
>
>16.     In order to ensure a strong public sector, IFLA and its members
will continue to build
>links and work with library and information, archive, museum, education
and other organizations in furthering awareness of the implications of
international trade treaties for the public sector.
>
>Bolivia, Central African Republic, Ecuador, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong,
>Iceland, Japan, New Caledonia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, USA, Venezuela.
>(2)     Steven Shrybman, "Information, Commodification and the World Trade
Organization",
>IFLA Jerusalem Conference, Aug. 2000.
<http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/176-148e.htm>
>
>Approved by the Governing Board of IFLA, at its meeting in Boston, USA,
25th August 2001.
>
>INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF 
>LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS (IFLA)
>P O Box 95312
>2509 CH THE HAGUE
>Netherlands
>
>September 2001
>
>