08:32 Wed 28 Jul 2004 REF: 611BEAL1 Y/R: Aus-USA Free Trade Agreement TO: Senator George BRANDIS Leader Government Senators F: 612-3001 8181 Vice-Chair - Senate FTA Inquiry T: 612-3001 8180 Dear Senator BRANDISSENATORS DUTY TO REVIEW SME COSTS OF AUS-USA-FTA Please find attached copies of relevant documents e-mailed to you re concerns for Australian Small & Medium size Enterprises [SMEs] due to the terms and "secret agenda" of the proposed Australia - United States Free Trade Agreement. These concerns were originally outlined to you at the Senate Inquiry Public Hearing on Tue 08 Jun 2004. These concerns have been verified by an e-mail discovered on Fri 23 Jul 2004 which confirmed: 1 The US has legislated ANSI-X12 as the Standard for Healthcare 2 80% of the businesses in the US involved with Healthcare are SMEs 3 US Value Added Network Services [VANS] make money from "reformatting and rerouting" EDI messages for SMEs NEXT STEPS These additional costs have not been included in any of the FTA reports The Government Senators will fail in their duty to Australian SMEs and electors if the Aus-USA-FTA is not placed on hold for 3 months while the costs to Australian business of this facet of the FTA is examined. Yours sincerely Stephen GOULD Chair - Management Committee XML & E-commerce Special Interest Group OPEN INTERCHANGE CONSORTIUM E 2004/07/23 Confirmation US ANSI-X12 - E-mails from US software developers D 2004/07/20 Minister Defence re comcerns for Defence contracts C 2004/07/08 Australia the Meat in the Standards Sandwich B 2004/07/07 Senator BRANDIS - Chapter 16 very important for SMEs A 2003/07/10 EOI Garrison Support Services in 2003 for SME contracts 2004/05