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<h1>Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) - Investment
Chapter</h1>
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<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.html">https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.html</a></small></small></b><br>
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<p>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).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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