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Maine Seeks to Opt Out of GATS Library Agreement

Maine Gov. John E. Baldacci has asked the Bush administration to exclude the state from General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) treaty obligations specifically related to libraries, archives, and museums. The World Trade Organization began renewed negotiations on specifics of the treaty in Geneva in late March.

In an April 5 letter to United States Trade Representative Rob Portman, Baldacci wrote, “Libraries are important sites of free and democratic exchange of information. For this reason few developed countries have committed libraries to the terms of the GATS. By committing libraries to the GATS and not specifically exempting public funding from GATS rules, we compromise the support that taxpayers give to ensure that public libraries continue to serve as valuable democratic spaces. Please carve Maine out of the libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural services sector.”

Baldacci also seeks GATS exemptions for Maine’s higher education, health care, and land use sectors. He is the second U.S. governor to opt out of specific GATS sectors, closely following Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who has requested similar exemptions, though not for libraries.

Portman assured American Library Association Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels in an August 8, 2005, letter that “it is highly unlikely that any of our trading partners would ever challenge our ability to support public libraries in the United States.” However, the public-interest group Public Citizen noted March 28 that the U.S. has never specified that public funds for libraries are limited to public institutions only and, “since aspects of these services are provided in competition with other service providers,” they may be subject to claims of unfair competition by the commercial sector.

Pamela Turner, president of the Maine Library Association, applauded the governor’s decision, saying, “The GATS rules could seriously threaten the ability of Maine’s libraries to act as free and democratic institutions of learning and culture.”

States cannot unilaterally opt out of federal treaties like GATS, but they do have the authority to request exclusion from parts of an agreement.

Posted April 7, 2006.


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