PRNewswire
January 17, 2006


The Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports today filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit setting out in detail the ways in which the NAFTA Chapter 19
dispute settlement panel system violates the United States Constitution. The
complaint was originally filed with the Court on September 13, 2005.

In the brief, the Coalition outlines how Chapter 19 has unconstitutionally
outsourced the interpretation and application of U.S. law. The Coalition
brief demonstrates how U.S. companies are deprived of their due process rights
by a system that permits panels which include Canadians appointed by the
Canadian government to decide issues under U.S. law affecting U.S. lumber
companies.

Coalition Chairman Steve Swanson reiterated the importance of this case,
pointing to a recent NAFTA panel order that has once again "demanded that the
United States government abandon enforcing the U.S. trade laws and remove
relief against subsidized Canadian lumber." Mr. Swanson added that "it may be
great politics in Canada to announce billions of dollars in new taxpayer
funded lumber subsidies and to have NAFTA panels order the United States to
stop enforcing its trade laws, but here at home it means real hardship and
lost jobs for the working men and women of the U.S. lumber industry and their
communities."

Mr. Swanson expressed frustration that the NAFTA Chapter 19 dispute
settlement system allows Canadian exporters to circumvent U.S. trade laws.
Mr. Swanson stated that "by denying the U.S. industry its constitutional right
to due process and judicial review, the NAFTA Chapter 19 system has brought
about a situation where Canada can openly announce over U.S. $2.3 billion
dollars of additional federal and provincial taxpayer-funded subsidies for its
forest products industry, on top of the substantial subsidies already
provided, without worrying about Canadian exports being subject to the U.S.
trade laws." He added further that "even non-citizens on U.S. soil have
constitutional rights that are protected, yet under NAFTA the constitutional
right to due process and judicial review is denied to U.S. citizens."

Constitutional concerns regarding the Chapter 19 dispute panel system have
been raised since before the NAFTA was negotiated. U.S. Department of Justice
officials advised Congress in 1988 that there were fundamental constitutional
flaws with the Chapter 19 dispute settlement system. In testimony before
Congress, Justice Department officials explained that the NAFTA panels would
exercise "significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States" and
would thus be unconstitutional since NAFTA panelists are not appointed by the
President of the United States, nor confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Mr. Swanson
explained that "the U.S. Justice Department came to the obvious conclusion
that foreigners should not assume the power of U.S. courts or the President of
the United States, and that allowing this to occur would clearly be
unconstitutional."

"Never before in the history of the Republic has the U.S. government
completely outsourced final decision-making about application of U.S. law to
its citizens," Swanson added. "To make matters worse, with NAFTA Chapter 19,
the government has outsourced this decision-making to people who are not even
U.S. citizens."

Coalition Executive Director Barry Cullen concluded by stating that "the
U.S. lumber industry will continue to pursue every alternative to seek the
full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws until Canada stops its unfair
subsidies programs and begins trading fairly. The Coalition has been willing
to see this problem settled by negotiation, but the Canadian government has
refused to negotiate."