US Clarifies Agreement With European Union
December 24, 2007
The European Union came to an agreement with the United States last week which resulted in the EU being compensation by the US. The agreement enforced the US to open it’s doors to warehousing, courier services (Fedex) and the testing services to the EU for the ban that was imposed on the online gaming market.
Within 24 hours of the agreed compensation package the US has stated that certain areas of the agreement were not black and white and thus clarrified items as to what they will be offering. The proposed postal services is one of the these areas. Currently the United States Postal Service has already allowed foriegn markets to handle overseas mail for the last 20 years. With this new compensation plan, the EU has only made these services legal and binding and nothing will change from the current status as it is. This means that domestic delivery and storage at ports and airports would remain closed.
An official added that this had “real value” and the EU agreed. “It gives the sector legal certainty. There is real value in binding the commitments,” said the EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson.
A USTR official said it was “a rebalancing of legal commitments”. Nao Matsukata continued with “If they have agreed legally binding commitments that must have the approval of Congress as they do not have fast-track authority. I would expect to see congressional leaders taking a look at this,” he said. His firm works for a financial services company with interest in the case.