WWF To Take EU Council To Court Following Admission That 133 Committee Has No Legal Standing

international | eu | news report Monday July 05, 2004 14:26 by Barry Finnegan - Personal Capacity john.finnegan at mail dot dcu dot ie

The Article 133 Committee of the EU is the Body that Negotiates on Behalf of the EU at the WTO

Social and environmental justice groups have been campaigning against the shadowy Article 133 Committee for many years now.

The way the Committee works is that the EU Council Of Ministers votes either by a Qualified Majority (QMV) or by unanimity (each Member State has a veto) to give the unelected EU Commission the power to open international trade negotiations in this or that sector of the economy. Once the Council gives permission to open negotiations (bilaterally with one country, or multilaterally at the WTO) the Article 133 Committee does the horse-trading and details of what the EU is offering and demanding disappears from public view.

In Ireland, DAPSE, ATTAC, Oxfam, Comhlamh and LAN (Libertarians Against Nice) among others have highlighted the unacceptable anti-democratic antics of this shadowy Committee. Now the World Wildlife Fund has the EU Council on record saying that the 133 Committee actually has no legal basis for existence and are taking them to the European Court. Their full press release is below.

(For the record, I am a member of DAPSE and ATTAC Ireland. - BF)

For more info on the 133 Committee See:

New EU Treaty May Give European Commission 'Fast-Track' Negotiating Authority.
http://www.corporateeurope.org/observer7/igc.html

WTO Millennium Bug: TNC Control Over Global Trade Politics.
http://www.corporateeurope.org/observer4/index.html#demogap

Nice Treaty: Commission Equipped for New WTO Disasters.
http://www.corporateeurope.org/observer8/nice.html

Behind GATS 2000- Corporate Power at Work. WTO Booklet Series 4. TNI Briefing Series 6, May 2002.
http://www.tni.org/reports/wto/wto4.htm
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Following Press Release Available At:
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news.cfm?uNewsId=13950&uLangId=1

1, Jul 2004
WWF takes EU Council to court over lack of transparency

Brussels, Belgium – WWF is taking the Council of the European Union to the European Court over its refusal to release key information. In its application to the Court of First Instance, WWF argues that key documents held by the "Article 133 Committee" — a secretive and highly influential external trade body of the council — have been wrongly withheld.

WWF is also concerned about the apparent absence of legal basis for the Article 133 Committee and the uncertainty surrounding its remit and membership. The legal challenge covers the lack of transparency surrounding the committee’s functions.

"When you start digging, one thing becomes very clear: the role and the modus operandi of Article 133 Committee are vague and hidden. An EU body with crucial decision-making obligations on trade policy must have a clear basis and guidelines. The committee doesn’t, and because of this, there is a big question mark over its accountability," says Tony Long, Director of the WWF European Policy Office.

In February, a letter was sent to the European Council asking for a document on the future of the EU trade policy entitled WTO – Sustainability and Trade after Cancun. The document had been on the agenda of the Article 133 Committee for a meeting held on 19 December 2003.

On two occasions, the council, on the grounds of "sensitivity of the information requested", refused to provide the documents, which included information provided to members of the Article 133 Committee by the European Commission. WWF believes that the European Council erred in its assessment of the sensitivity of the relevant information and failed to provide adequate reasons for its refusal.

WWF argues that the right of access applies to documents held and produced by the Article 133 Committee, as it does for any other European Community institution. WWF believes that in this case, the European Council has not reached the correct balance between protecting the interests of EU Member States and the public's right of access to information. The council maintains that one of the exemption clauses in the Regulation prevents it from providing the document in its entirety. However, WWF argues that the council has erred in its judgment about the exemption clauses and that access to some parts of the document must still be possible.


For further information:
Louis Bélanger
Press Officer, WWF European Policy Office
Tel:+32 4 73 562 260
E-mail: lbelanger@wwfepo.org

Carol Hatton
WWF legal advisor
Tel: +44 77 39 666836

Notes:
• The Court of First Instance, like the Court of Justice, has the task of ensuring that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the Treaties constituting the EU and the provisions adopted by the competent Community institutions. In order to fulfil its main task, which is to deal with actions brought by individuals and undertakings against decisions of the Community institutions, the Court of First Instance has been given, inter alia, wide jurisdictional powers which it exercises in respect of various categories of action.

• The 133 Committee serves as the go-between operating in a twilight zone between EU Member States and the European Commission — which negotiates trade agreements on the behalf of the Member States.

• The WWF European Policy Office requested the document under on Article 4 of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001.

•Note that it is WWF European Policy Office taking the Council of the European Union to the European Court of Justice, not WWF International, WWF-Belgium, nor WWF-UK.

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