01 Jul 2015
From Wikileaks:
WikiLeaks releases today the “Investment Chapter” from the secret
negotiations of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) agreement. The
document adds to the previous WikiLeaks publications of the chapters for
Intellectual Property Rights (November 2013) and the Environment
(January 2014).
The TPP Investment Chapter, published today, is dated 20 January
2015. The document is classified and supposed to be kept secret for four
years after the entry into force of the TPP agreement or, if no
agreement is reached, for four years from the close of the negotiations.
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks editor said: “The TPP has developed in
secret an unaccountable supranational court for multinationals to sue
states. This system is a challenge to parliamentary and judicial
sovereignty. Similar tribunals have already been shown to chill the
adoption of sane environmental protection, public health and public
transport policies.”
Current TPP negotiation member states are the United States, Japan,
Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam,
New Zealand and Brunei. The TPP is the largest economic treaty in
history, including countries that represent more than 40 per cent of the
world´s GDP.
“Increase the power of global corporations by creating a supra-national court … where foreign firms can “sue” states and obtain taxpayer compensation for “expected future profits””
The Investment Chapter highlights the intent of the TPP negotiating
parties, led by the United States, to increase the power of global
corporations by creating a supra-national court, or tribunal, where
foreign firms can “sue” states and obtain taxpayer compensation for
“expected future profits”. These investor-state dispute settlement
(ISDS) tribunals are designed to overrule the national court systems.
ISDS tribunals introduce a mechanism by which multinational corporations
can force governments to pay compensation if the tribunal states that a
country’s laws or policies affect the company’s claimed future profits.
In return, states hope that multinationals will invest more. Similar
mechanisms have already been used. For example, US tobacco company
Phillip Morris used one such tribunal to sue Australia (June 2011 –
ongoing) for mandating plain packaging of tobacco products on public
health grounds; and by the oil giant Chevron against Ecuador in an
attempt to evade a multi-billion-dollar compensation ruling for
polluting the environment. The threat of future lawsuits chilled
environmental and other legislation in Canada after it was sued by
pesticide companies in 2008/9. ISDS tribunals are often held in secret,
have no appeal mechanism, do not subordinate themselves to human rights
laws or the public interest, and have few means by which other affected
parties can make representations.
The TPP negotiations have been ongoing in secrecy for five years and
are now in their final stages. In the United States the Obama
administration plans to “fast-track” the treaty through Congress without
the ability of elected officials to discuss or vote on individual
measures. This has met growing opposition as a result of increased
public scrutiny following WikiLeaks’ earlier releases of documents from
the negotiations.
“Document is classified and supposed to be kept secret for four years after the entry into force of the TPP agreement”
The TPP is set to be the forerunner to an equally secret agreement
between the US and EU, the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership).
Negotiations for the TTIP were initiated by the Obama administration
in January 2013. Combined, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per
cent of global GDP. The third treaty of the same kind, also negotiated
in secrecy is TISA, on trade in services, including the financial and
health sectors. It covers 50 countries, including the US and all EU
countries. WikiLeaks released the secret draft text of the TISA’s
financial annex in June 2014.
All these agreements on so-called “free trade” are negotiated outside
the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) framework. Conspicuously absent
from the countries involved in these agreements are the BRICs countries
of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
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