Olympics, national dress and "Buy American"

The Olympics is over and the controversy around the U.S. national Olympic dress too silently subsided. I had blogged about it here. However, apart from a Bill being proposed to ensure that the U.S. national parade dress for international events was made in the U.S.A (it was discussed in the IELP blog here), the USOC voluntarily seem to have adopted a "Buy American" policy.

Global Trade Alert, that sound board of protectionism brought to light the amended policy of the USOC on this issue here.

"“All uniforms provided by sponsors, partners, licensees, or suppliers for parade ceremonies shall be ‘Made in the USA’ as defined by the standards of the Federal Trade Commission,” with certain defined exceptions (e.g., when “Obtaining such parade ceremony uniforms would be in violation of U.S. law or would not comply with any applicable trade agreements or treaties to which the United States is a party” or when “Essential materials or parts needed to produce parade ceremony uniforms are not available in the United States”). The USOC also committed to not changing the policy without first consulting with Congress, including the relevant Committees of Jurisdiction in the Senate and the House."

This would start going into effect from 2014. The 2016 Olympics in Brazil will have the U.S. team walking with a national dress "Made in the U.S.A." 

The issue was also inevitably reflected n the IELP blog about whether the measure of USOC (a private entity) would violate WTO law. While a law mandating a "Buy American"would probably not pass the test of international trade rules, a private body's policy may be exempt from WTO rules. However, is USOC exercising "governmental authority" or is the control of Congress on change of the policy indicate "governmental authority" thus making it subject to WTO law?

I had some other queries too, some trivial and some more relevant to the legal issues at hand:

1. This Policy is applicable only for "parade uniforms". I guess the sporting events uniforms are not covered. Thus, sportspersons could continue to use sportswear made anywhere (especially China?) for their sporting events.

2. While the legislation would have been inconsistent with NT principles, will the "USOC policy" which mirrors the legislation be violative of WTO law since the USOC is a "private body"?

3. USOC,in its policy, states that the policy would not be changed "without first consulting the Congress." Does this make it a "State measure" open to challenge?

4. What about the equipment, sports gear and other dress worn by the US team in future Olympics? Will there be pressure now to shift entirely to "Made in the U.S.A."?

Perhaps, the next Olympics and "national pride" will re-engage us with some of these issues.

Russia - Joins WTO and has a locally made national Olympic dress

Russia has formally joined the WTO with the Russian President signing on the legislation that ratified Russia's accession to the WTO. This ended an almost two decade old accession process and brings Russia into the multilateral trading system eleven years after China entered it. The reports of Russia finally joining the WTO are found here, here and here. I had earlier blogged about Russia joining the WTO here, here, here and here.

Apart from the signing of the WTO ratification, President Putin also called on his Russian Olympic Team to "Let London hear the Russian Anthem" in the official Presidential send-off exhorting them to excel in London.

 On a lighter note, I was curious to know about who manufactured the national Olympic dress of the Russian team in the light of the controversy about the U.S. Olympic Team's "Made in China" dress, that I had blogged about here. The Russian national dress is manufactured in Russia by a Russian company, Bosco Sport based in Moscow. Thus, no controversy over outsourcing of Russia's Olympic dress to China though a murmur about a U.S. company American Apparel being offered the deal was doing the rounds here and here.

Just to add colour to the debate, I researched further on China's official national dress for the Olympics - it was perhaps made in China but sponsored by a U.S. company - Nike. Truly globalized world indeed.


As one commentator rightly put it:

"Oddly enough, the Olympics exist as a place where nations can compete — and compete furiously — in place of real world disputes. One sentiment yet to be expressed, that the two nations just settle it in the field/court/pool/track."

Who would have imagined that the Olympics would be the next stage for globalisation and its tensions to take over?