17:22 Thu 02 Sep 2004					REF: 611CACR1 
								Y/R: Aus-USA-FTA 
TO:	The Hon Mark VAILE MP			cc	Prime Minister
	Minister for Trade				Australian Senators
	AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT				State Premiers
			FAX: (02) 6273-4128			8 pages
Dear Minister 

KEY COST ISSUES NOT DISCLOSED IN FTA AGREEMENT

Thank you for your response dated 11 Aug (pdf file) to my letter dated 04 Jul 2004 to the Prime
Minister.  

However the issue was not about whether the "US, given its economic importance, is often a 
standards setter rather than a standards taker."  

The letter to the Prime Minister was about:

1 	US HAS LEGISLATED FOR US STANDARD

The issue is that US has legislated for its own US E-commerce Standard rather than than use 
Standards Bodies to encourage the use of International [ISO] Standards like other Countries.

Hence this will add time, risk of fraud and cost for each transaction from one standard to 
the other for all electronic communications for the rest of the world in perpituity.

2 DIFFERENCE NOT DISCLOSED IN RELEVANT CHAPTER - 16

This difference was not disclosed in any of the documentation prepared by experts for both the 
Australian House of Representatives and Australian Senate.  This documentation included:

A	The National Impact Analysis						24 Mar 2004

B	The Report by Centre of International Economics
	"Economic Analysis of AUSFTA"						24 Apr 2004

C	The JSCOT Inquiry Report						24 Jun 2004

D	Select Committee FTA Inquiry Report					05 Aug 2004

3	ADDITIONAL COSTS NOT FACTORED INTO CALCULATIONS

	There will be considerable cost that has not been factored in to any of the financial
	calculations

4	AUSTRALIA HAS TO PAY ALL COSTS IN PERPETUITY

	These costs for all communications will be paid Australia because Australia does not 
	have a Value Added Network Service [VANS] to carry out the translation between the 
	different e-Commerce standards

DOCUMENTATION TO SUPPORT CONCERNS

A number of documents including the records of the actions by members of the Australian Bankers
Association on the Standards Australia EDI Standards Committee in 1988 are attached to show 
that this issue of E-commerce Standards is a Conspiracy of Fact not theory.

This issue is also supported by a number of American books including:

1	"Rogue Nation" - 	Clyde PRESTOWITZ			2002  

	The relevant chapter on Free Trade Agreements is attached

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Minister, there is still time for these costs to be assessed and included in the 
calculations so that Australian Business and Consumers do not have to bear the total cost.

Article 23.4 "Entry into Force and Termination" and Notes on the FTA states "The Agreement 
shall come into force 60 days after the exchange of diplomatic Notices all the Federal and 
State Government legislation has been there concluded.  The earliest date on 01 Jan 2005".

Yours sincerely

Stephen GOULD 
Chair - Management Committee 
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