SUNS  4296 Wednesday 7 October 1998

Port of Spain, Oct 5 (IPS/Wesley Gibbings) -- A number of Caribbean intellectuals have been questioning the supposed benefits of the globalisation process to the region and at least one senior
policy-maker has suggested a new look at the unfolding phenomenon.

The ongoing difficulties with the Windward Caribbean Islands banana industry and what, some say, has been hasty action on the issue of intellectual property rights have been cited as key concerns.

Caribbean Community (Caricom) secretary-general, Edwin Carrington, told a small gathering of University of the West Indies (UWI) academics last week that there is an unfolding debate on the issue of globalisation and whether new options should be developed.

"The gurus are saying it is time to rethink the issue," he said.

He nevertheless urged regional educators to focus on developing negotiating skills as the region engage other players in developing a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and as it confronts
globalisation.

"We will survive because of our wits," he argued, "and how persuasive our arguments are."

The view was reinforced by director of UWI's Institute of International Relations, Anselm Francis, who cited the success of the Caribbean Windward Islands banana-producing countries in acquiring legal support outside of the territory when World Trade Organisation (WTO) officials were saying they would have had to use their own resources to fight the ongoing banana case.

"This was one instance where we protested and won," he said. "We cannot sit down and allow things to happen."

Historian, Kusha Harracksingh, said it was important for the Caribbean to "challenge the basis of much of the new arguments."

But Francis agreed that some Caribbean governments had, in multilateral negotiations, been fighting cases they had long conceded in bilateral discussions.

He referred to accession to stringent intellectual property regulations during discussions on possible membership of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which currently involves the USA, Canada and Mexico.

International relations expert Taimoon Stewart said some countries have already "given up quite a lot" and that this could have the effect of weakening arguments being made before hemispheric and other global fora.

She referred to intellectual property rights legislation and their relevance and impact on Caribbean states. Intellectual property rights are an integral part of the new world trade system and they occupy a full annex to the WTO treaty.

Stewart said the current approach to the issue of patents and inventors' rights in the Caribbean troubled her since it is apparent that the concept is being treated in an "ahistorical way, without any
serious, critical review of how the system functioned historically in our context".

She added that the theory was that the holder of a patent was someone who had been granted a monopoly to a particular invention but that "we have had abuses of this monopoly rights in the past".

Stewart referred to the fact that patents and intellectual property rights apply disproportionately between developed and developing countries with developing countries accounting for about one percent of all patents. Even so, she cited recent studies which show that between 80 and 90 percent are registered by non-nationals of those countries and that the vast majority are not used.

She dismissed the argument that patents assured there would be greater transfer of technology in developing countries saying "there is no strong empirical evidence that patents are linked to the transfer of technology".

Francis said there are several aspects of the workings of the WTO that fall outside what is the norm in international law and he said he believed they can work against weaker, smaller countries.

Carrington said the region recognised the scope of the work before it and that the technical requirements are great.

The former secretary-general of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping however alluded to the fact that ACP countries comprise a majority of the WTO membership and that unity on some matters can change their course.

The Windward Islands banana arrangement with the EU is a particularly irksome challenge.

Last year, a WTO panel found that while it had to uphold a 1994 GATT decision to waive some aspects of GATT until Feb. 29, 2000, the EU's banana import system with the ACP remains "inconsistent with GATT".

The Panel also found that the EU's licensing procedures are contrary to the non-discrimination provisions of the GATT. These procedures involve the purchase of European or ACP bananas before being allowed to import Latin American bananas or those from other countries.

Caricom has viewed these developments with dismay. The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) sub-grouping has also condemned the decision outright.

When the OECS Authority met in St Lucia in January, host Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said there was much cause for concern. "There is no contrition in the judgment of the WTO panel, which through its strict application of the rules, tends to favour the large and powerful countries and their dominant corporations at the expense of the small and vulnerable," Anthony said.

He proposed that the WTO system "be reformed to guarantee procedural integrity and fairness and to take account of the consequences of the implementation of its rulings".

OECS ambassador to Brussels, Edwin Laurent, was more strident in his remarks on the ruling.

"The scope of the ruling goes way beyond bananas and could have as yet unclear implications for several other import arrangements for agricultural goods as well as the future development cooperation agreements between rich and poor countries," he said.

The WTO however points to the final remarks of its Panel. "The fundamental principles of the WTO and WTO rules are designed to foster the development of countries, not impede it," the Panel said.

Caricom countries have said they intend to pursue the battle. "What we find," said Dominica's Prime Minister Edison James, "is that the WTO has ended up being a system in which the legitimate interests of the small countries will always be sacrificed once they conflict with those of the major players."

The EU has meanwhile said it will terminate its current import licensing system and, in its place, create mechanisms to facilitate enhanced technical and financial assistance to ACP banana suppliers.

The EU also wants a waiver to cover a temporary transitional period while finding alternative ways to help the 71 states build trading capabilities that will keep them afloat in the WTO's free markets.

It is a strategy that has not found favour with the United States which insists that the proposal will continue to discriminate against Latin American and US company banana exports.

Carrington says the battle will continue, but that negotiating skill and strategy are key to the eventual outcome.