September 2003
Tracking Trade Legislation
& Disputes
Tracking trade legislation allows
you to see where your elected officials stand on trade issues.
You can also track trade disputes within NAFTA. NAFTA set
up a system (Chapter 11) that allows investors to sue other
NAFTA countries that companies feels are blocking their
"rights" within the agreement. The disputes are
heard by a special tribunal which decides whether the government
must compensate the investor for losses incurred. Unlike
the WTO, which allows only governments to bring disputes
against other governments, NAFTA extends these privileges
to investors. It is highly likely the FTAA will build upon
this NAFTA precedent.
How
did your rep vote on key trade issues in Congress?
Public
Citizen
http://www.citizen.org/congress/voting/
Public Citizen monitors a number of different types of legislation,
including trade issues. Click the Congressional session
then enter your zip code to see how your representative
voted.
NAFTA Disputes
http://naftalaw.org
A complete list of all the legal documents which have been
made publicly available in any NAFTA dispute involving Mexico,
Canada or the U.S.
WTO
Disputes
World Trade Organization Dispute Gateway Site
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_e.htm
Provides information on WTO disputes chronologically and
by subject
How did your Senator Vote on Fast Track?
Teamsters
http://www.teamster.org/governmt/tradeissues/fasttrack/senator.pdf
A project of the DataCenter's
Economic Justice
Program.
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