[Ecommerce] Australian Story on UNESCO CCD

[Manon Ress]

UN to back France against US culture
Charles Bremner, Paris
October 21, 2005

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/
0,5744,16986905%255E16947,00.html

THE French campaign against the global tide of American entertainment
is poised to take a big stride forward when almost every nation backs
the first world convention on protecting culture.

Most of the 190 members of UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, are
expected to vote overnight for a "convention on cultural diversity",
which enshrines on a global level France's longstanding policy of
subsidising its arts and imposing quotas on American films and music.

The vote will be a big defeat for the US, which held out against the
plan with partial backing from Australia, Israel and Japan.

The convention could now be cited by any country to justify
protecting its entertainment industry, with measures similar to those
used by France, if they are contested at the World Trade Organisation
as barriers to free trade.

Richard Harris, the executive director of the Australian Screen
Directors Association, told The Australian the convention's most
significant achievement was "to establish that there is a difference
between cultural and economic products - there is something intrinsic
to cultural products which means that they should be treated
differently under trade rules".

Mr Harris added: "One of the most significant elements of the US's
opposition is that it is almost a symbol of how it views the world
differently on cultural issues."

France spends tens of millions of dollars each year to subsidise its
film industry, theatre and opera. It also protects music and TV
production with strict quotas on the amount of non-French songs and
programs that may be broadcast on radio and TV.

After UNESCO members vote on the convention text, it will need to be
ratified by 30 member-states over the next year.

Paris insists the convention endorses the French stand for the past
13 years against the inclusion of entertainment products in
negotiations at the WTO.

The question is on the table again at the next WTO session, opening
in Hong Kong in December.

France believes it has scored a triumph by extending to the world its
policy of "cultural exception", the term for the defence of French
language and culture against the US ascendancy.

Britain, which currently holds the EU presidency, led the rest of the
union behind the agreement, arguing that it did not justify American
fears that it promoted trade barriers or could be used by repressive
regimes to stifle dissent.

Timothy Craddock, the British representative to UNESCO, said the text
was "clear, carefully balanced, consistent with the principles of
international law and fundamental human rights".

There are still big differences in interpretation.

The Americans and British say the convention text makes clear that it
does not take precedence over existing law.

The French say it creates law in a hitherto undefined area and gives
legal backing to countries that refuse US pressure to open their
entertainment industry to foreign imports.

"We are no longer the black sheep on this issue," French Culture
Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said. "Europe is united on this.
It shares the values that we have defended."

Washington says the text could be wilfully misinterpreted as a basis
for impermissible new barriers to trade.

The definition of culture is open to abuse, they say. For example,
the French parliament declared this week that the controversial pate
foie gras was officially part of the protected French cultural heritage.

It could also be used, for example, to justify banning Colombian
coffee from Brazil, or vice versa, the Americans say.

The Times

Additional reporting: Lawrie Zion


************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Ext 16 Fax: +1.202.332.2673

Consumer Project on Technology
1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727

Consumer Project on Technology
24 Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX, UK
Tel: +44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252 Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607