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DAM-L Urgent Appeal to Stop Efforts to Facilitate Privatization of (fwd)
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From: Right to Water <right-to-water@iatp.org>
To: dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
Subject: Urgent Appeal to Stop Efforts to Facilitate Privatization of
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 00:10:19 -0500
Message-ID: <20010720050005875.AAY364.145@[208.141.36.73]>
Water Services: Save Water from Trade Rules
X-Mailer: Allaire Cold Fusion 3.1
Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org) Posted: 07/18/2001 By svarghese@iatp.org
============================================================
URGENT! ORGANIZATIONAL SIGN-ON NEEDED BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS, FRIDAY JULY20th
2001.
To sign on to the letter below contact Shiney Varghese, Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy at svarghese@itap.org or +1-612-870-3471.
Dear Friends,
In May this year, French national standard setting organization, AFNOR,
proposed that drinking water regulations be brought under the purview of
International Organization for Standards (ISO). The proposal, if adopted,
would lead to more control over public water supplies by global
corporations.
In every country the national standard setting body will be voting on this
proposal.
Below is a letter we intend to send to the state standard setting
organizations
and ANSI, the national standard setting organization in USA opposing the
proposal.
It is very important that ISO is not allowed to become the standard setting
organization for water services to ensure that the current crisis is not
worsened. Please give your organisational endorsement to this letter.
Please feel free to use the documents below (web-links provided) to
initiate action in as many countries as possible.
*************************** Letter *********************
Dear ANSI/EPA,
We are writing to express our strong objections to the proposal from the
French national standards body (AFNOR) to create a committee for the
management of drinking water and waste water in the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva.
We believe that ISO is the wrong venue for water standards and
environmental standards as a whole.
¨ ISO's lack of transparency, public participation, and a diversity of
stakeholders undermines its legitimacy to engage in standard-setting in
highly-regulated areas such as water services.
¨ ISO has a history of setting weak environmental standards lacking
performance requirements and enforcement. ISO should not be setting further
standards in the environmental area.
¨ In many countries, water services are largely provided by governmental
bodies. In the U.S., water services are primarily delivered by local
municipal governments. It is completely inappropriate for a private sector
organization like ISO to be developing standards for public sector
activities.
¨ Given the complex array of physical, hydrological, socio-economic,
cultural, and political factors that come into play, generic international
standards are likely to seriously conflict with local needs, regional
legislation, and national standards.
¨ Because of ISO special status under the World Trade Organization, poor
water standards developed in the ISO could be used to attack conflicting
domestic standards in the WTO's binding dispute resolution system,
generating a race to the bottom in international water services.
We believe that the global fresh water supply is a shared legacy, a public
trust and a fundamental human right. The intrinsic value of the Earth's
fresh water precedes its utility and commercial value and therefore must be
respected and safeguarded from commodification, privatization and harmful
trade rules.
The proposal for an ISO water services committee should be rejected, and
ISO should refrain from generating further standards in the environmental
area or in any other highly-regulated area.
Sincerely,
Public Citizen
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
International Forum on Globalization (IFG)
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment(GRACE)
If you wish to sign on to this letter please reply to svarghese@iatp.org
with your
Name,
Organisation,
Address,
Telephone/Fax (If available)
e-mail address (If available)
and a clear statement indicating support for the letter above.
To see the AFNOR proposal visit:
http://www.iatp.org/watershed/library/admin/uploadedfiles/Standardization_of
_Service_Activities_Relating.pdf
To see the memorandum on the AFNOR proposal by us visit:
http://www.iatp.org/watershed/library/admin/uploadedfiles/MEMORANDUM_on_Prop
osal_for_Global_Rules_on_Wat.doc
To get the contact information and list of ISO members worldwide visit:
http://www.iatp.org/watershed/library/admin/uploadedfiles/ISO_members_world_
wide_Contact_Information.doc
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