[349] SECRET TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (TPP) - INVESTMENT CHAPTER [25mar2015]

 

SECRET TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (TPP) - INVESTMENT CHAPTER [25mar2015]

Source: Wikileaks; on 2015-03-25

https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.html

Access RAS in 24jan2017

1.       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).

2.       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.

3.       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."

4.       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.

5.       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.

6.       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.

7.       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.

8.       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.

9.       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.

10.   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).

11.   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.

12.   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.

Read the Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) - Investment chapter

SECRET TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (TPP) - INVESTMENT CHAPTER

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/WikiLeaks-TPP-Investment-Chapter/page-9.html#

1. Article II.1: Definitions
2. Article II.2: Scope and Coverage
3. Article II.3: Relation to Other Chapters
4. Article II.4: National Treatment
5. Article II.5: Most-Favored-Nation Treatment
6. Article II.6: Minimum Standard of Treatment
7. Article II.6bis: Treatment in Case of Armed Conflict or Civil Strife
8. Article II.7: Expropriation and Compensation
9. Article II.8: Transfers
10. Article II.9: Performance Requirements
11. Article II.10: Senior Management and Boards of Directors
12. Article II.11: Non-Conforming Measures
13. Article II.12: Subrogation
14. Article II.13: Special Formalities and Information Requirements
15. Article II.14: Denial of Benefits
16. Article II.15: Investment and Environmental, Health and other Regulatory Objectives
17. Article II.16: Corporate Social Responsibility
18. Article II.17: Consultation and Negotiation
19. Article II.18: Submission of a Claim to Arbitration
20. Article II.19: Consent of Each Party to Arbitration
21. Article II.20: Conditions and Limitations on Consent of Each Party
22. Article II.21: Selection of Arbitrators
23. Article II.22: Conduct of the Arbitration
24. Article II.23: Transparency of Arbitral Proceedings
25. Article II.24: Governing Law
26. Article II.25: Interpretation of Annexes
27. Article II.26: Expert Reports
28. Article II.27: Consolidation
29. Article II.28: Awards
30. Article II.29: Service of Documents
31. Annex II-A Customary International Law
32. Annex II-B Expropriation
33. Annex II-C Expropriation Relating to Land
34. Annex II-D Service of Documents on a Party Under Section B
35. Annex II-E Transfers
36. Annex II-F DL 600
37. Annex II-G Public Debt
38. Annex II-H
39. Annex II-I
40. Annex II-J Submission of a Claim to Arbitration
41. Annex II-L
42. Article CCC.3: Temporary Safeguard Measures
43. Annex II-K: Non-Conforming Measures for Ratchet Mechanism
44. Annex II-M Annex on Health