
中美音像制品纠纷 WTO维持原判 中国败诉
美国当局今天盛赞世界贸易组织(WTO)驳回中国上诉、下令北京开放美国电影、音乐和印刷品发行。
世界贸易组织上诉机构星期一(12月21日)做出裁决,驳回中国提出的诉讼,认定中国不公平地限制了美国娱乐产品在中国境内的销售。世贸组织(WTO)今年八月做出裁决,认为中国在进口和销售美国电影、音像制品和图书产品上有违规行为。裁决说,中国要求所有进口娱乐产品必须经由国有分销公司的做法违反了中国“入世”条款。
这项裁决已无法再翻盘,影响范围包括在中国上映的外国电影、发行的DVD、音乐、书籍和杂志。中方随后表示,采取限制措施是保护公民、尤其是未成年人免受色情及其它有害信息的侵害。中国商务部解释,部份控管有其必要,以捍卫中国“历史和文化传统”,在贸易逆差之际培养国内影音产业。
华盛顿政府于是诉诸世贸,捍卫好莱坞和产值数十亿美元的音乐产业。世贸争议调解委员会8月发现,中国禁止外商进口批发美国影片和音乐,违反世贸规范。WTO上诉机构的裁决意味着中国必须在两年内改变现行做法,否则美国将要求WTO授权对中国商品实施贸易制裁。
美国贸易谈判代表柯克对WTO上诉机构的裁决表示欢迎,称“美国取得重大胜利”。他表示“美国希望中国能立即做出回应,采取符合规定的措施”。
截至目前,中方尚未对这一裁决表态。
外国打入中国媒体市场为近年来争议焦点,根据北京当局,中国每年允许最多70部外国电影在戏院上映。外国片商认为这个限制太严格,使部份卖座强片被迫牺牲。中美在WTO框架下的争端不断,双方最近在轮胎特保案中僵持不下。分析人士指出,在奥巴马政府将解决美国失业和经济衰退作为重点的背景之下,中美的贸易争端将层出不穷。
附相关英文报道:WTO: China unfairly restricting American CDs, DVDs
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
GENEVA — The World Trade Organization's top arbitrators upheld a ruling that China is illegally restricting imports of U.S. music, films and books, and Washington pushed forward with a new case accusing China of manipulating the prices for key ingredients in steel and aluminum production.
Monday's verdict by the WTO's appellate body knocked down China's objections to an August decision that came down decisively against Beijing's policy of forcing American media producers to route their business through state-owned companies.
If China fails over the next year to bring its practices in line with international trade law, the U.S. can ask the WTO to authorize commercial sanctions against Chinese goods.
"Today America got a big win," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement. "U.S. companies and workers are at the cutting edge of these industries, and they deserve a full chance to compete under agreed WTO rules. We expect China to respond promptly to these findings and bring its measures into compliance."
The Asian country's import restrictions have been a key gripe of Western exporters, who complain that China's rapid rise as a trade juggernaut has been aided by unfair policies that boost sales of Chinese goods abroad while limiting the amount of foreign products entering the Chinese market.
The probe initiated Monday by the WTO — at the request of the U.S., Mexico and the 27-nation European Union — focuses on the other half of the equation by examining China's treatment of domestic and foreign manufacturers with regards to its vast wealth of raw materials.
Washington and Brussels claim that China unfairly favors domestic industry by setting export quotas on materials such as coke, bauxite, magnesium and silicon metal. Export quotas are contentious under trade rules because they can cause a glut on the domestic market, driving down prices for local producers, while leading to scarcity and higher prices for competitors abroad.
Beijing, however, claims that the curbs are an effort to protect the environment, and says they comply with WTO rules. For its part, China is challenging U.S. trade rules on a number of issues such as poultry, and asked the WTO at the dispute body meeting Monday for a new investigation into American import taxes on Chinese tires.
Washington delayed the tire probe for another month, but the global trade referee will likely rule in all these disputes over the course of the next year.
Analysts and observers believe these Sino-American trade fights are only the beginning as President Barack Obama's administration will likely file more cases against China. Obama made campaign pledges to take a tougher approach with U.S. trading partners in the face of soaring job losses and the longest U.S. recession since World War II.
Last week, the two countries settled a dispute initiated by the Bush administration in December over subsidies that China allegedly provides to exporters of famous Chinese merchandise. Beijing agreed out-of-court to eliminate the subsidies, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which will boost the prospects of U.S. exporters of household appliances, textiles, chemicals, medicines and food products.
The media dispute with China focused on a number of complaints raised by the trade associations representing record labels such as EMI and Sony Music Entertainment; publishers including McGraw Hill and Simon & Schuster; and, to a lesser extent, the major Hollywood studios of Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox.
The WTO made no finding that implies it is illegal for Beijing to review foreign goods for objectionable content. But it said China cannot limit the distribution of U.S. goods to Chinese state-owned companies, and said the Asian country's burdensome restrictions were not "necessary" to protect public morals.
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