BRAZIL HAS MADE SOME GAINS IN MARKET ACCESS

5:34 AM Dec 14, 1993

BRAZIL HAS MADE SOME GAINS IN MARKET ACCESS
Geneva 13 Dec (TWN) -- Brazil's Ambassador to the UN and the GATT, Amb. Luis Felipe Lampreia, said Monday that while the modifications in the agriculture texts by the US-EC accords had reduced benefits for countries like his, overall the outcome of the Round was positive and would benefit world trading and multilateralism.

Speaking to the press Monday evening, when the US and EC were still feuding over differences and keeping the multilateral process at a standstill, Lampreia said that he was sure the two would behave responsible and reach some accords even though at a late stage.

And while the textual issues could be resolved even at the last hour, and agreements concluded, this might not be possible in respect of market access and filing schedules in goods and services, he feared. But he expected Brazil to be able to complete its negotiations with major trading partners and filing its schedules in time -- leaving some "mopping up" to be done after the 15th.

While regretting the US-EC compromises on agriculture which has reduced the benefits for countries like his, Lampreia saw some positive gains for his country out of the Round. He viewed the antidumping text as a "reasonable compromise" introducing multilateral disciplines in how this has been used as a protective instrument (10 percent of all US cases have been against Brazil, and the actions taken have reduced brazilian exports to the US market), but agreed that how the changes, including "standard of review" might work at multilateral level, would depend on "how panels function and how our lawyers function".

But so long as there is the possibility that a panel is going to question the determination of facts and the counter-measures of a country, national authorities, whether in US or Brazil, would be very careful in making determinations or risk losing the case before a panel in Geneva.

The US-EC compromises on agriculture would mean that the subsidised exports from EC and US would be reduced at a slower pace and Brazil and others would be facing subsidised competition both in production and exports. However, the agriculture chapter is not totally negative.

In other comments, Lampreia said that while the US was now less free-trade oriented than in the past, the European Union was becoming more free-trade oriented.