The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Corporate Rights vs Peoples’ Rights

Map of TPP negotiating countries:

What is the TPP? A trade agreement being negotiated since 2010 between 12 countries The US is driving the agenda to suit its most powerful industries and corporations: pharmaceuticals, media, information technology Aim is to remove tariffs and “barriers to trade” but most of the 29 chapters are not actually about traditional trade issues The TPP threatens to change Australian laws and policies to suit US corporate interests Negotiations are secret

Longer patents leading to higher medicine prices The TPP could extend patents on medicines meaning higher prices for longer Companies could be able to continually extend patents through “evergreening,” and even surgical methods could be patentable “Most harmful treaty ever for access to medicines” – Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Other impacts on public health The TPP would undermine Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) by restricting governments’ ability to make medicines affordable Restrict government public health regulations for warning labels on food, tobacco or alcohol

Threats to sustainable, healthy food The TPP could also restrict mandatory labelling of genetically modified food, or nutrition information The TPP will restrict governments’ ability to give preference to sustainably and locally grown foods for public programs Investors could challenge new legislation designed to protect our food security or public health

Rights for foreign investors to sue governments over health and environment laws This is known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS A single investor can sue for hundreds of millions of dollars if their investments are ‘harmed’ by a law or policy The previous ALP Government had a policy against ISDS The Howard Coalition government did not agree to ISDS in the 2004 US-Australia Free Trade Agreement But the current Coalition government is prepared to agree to it in the TPP

ISDS threatens democracy and sovereignty: Tobacco Australia’s tobacco plain packaging law was passed by our Parliament, and our High Court found that tobacco companies were not entitled to compensation Philip Morris shifted assets to Hong Kong to use an obscure 1994 investment treaty to sue Australia for hundreds of millions in damages This undermines our Parliament and High Court

ISDS would prevent regulation of mining Just the threat of ISDS can have “freezing” effect on public health or environmental legislation A US energy company is suing the Canadian provincial government of Quebec for $250 million because it suspended shale gas mining pending an environmental study ISDS could threaten the regulation of coal seam gas mining in Australia

Internet freedom under threat Copyright should balance creative rights with consumer rights Copyright laws could be extended from 70 years to 90 or more years after the author’s death, meaning higher costs for schools, universities and libraries Restricted access and higher costs for downloading temporary copies on the internet Criminal penalties for internet users without safeguards for legitimate use

Reduced Australian content in media Australia has laws for minimum levels of Australian content in film, television and other media to ensure Australian stories are told US media companies see these laws as a barrier to trade and want to reduce or abolish them This threatens our ability to preserve and develop our culture

TPP: Workers’ rights and environmental protection Competition for investment can lead to a race to the bottom on workers’ rights and the environment unless effective standards are in place. Leaked documents show the TPP contains only weak environmental standards which are not enforceable There is still no agreement for enforceable workers’ rights Contrast with expansion of corporate rights In April 2013, Bangladeshi clothing factory workers left an unsafe building but were ordered back to work. The building then collapsed, killing 1200 people.

Australian Trade Agreement Process lacks democracy No release of text before signing Cabinet signs off on text, which cannot then be changed After Cabinet signs, becomes public, tabled in Parliament for 20 sitting days and reviewed by Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, but cannot change text Parliament votes only on legislation required for implementation: Eg., ISDS does not require legislation Other restrictions on future regulation, eg food regulation, may not require legislation Can lock in existing legislation and prevent future reform, eg. IP law Final ratification after legislation

Local and international resistance to the TPP: impacts on negotiations Negotiations for five years as community groups have pressured governments to resist US demands Strong campaigns in many TPP countries Could be signed by August 2015

The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) AFTINET is a network of 60 unions, community organisations and many individuals campaigning in Australia for fair trade based on human rights, labour rights and environmental sustainability Coordinates with similar groups in other TPP countries Website: www.aftinet.org.au