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TPP

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP for short) is a trade and investment agreement that was signed on 7 March 2018 between 11 Pacific Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The pact went into force on 30 December 2018 among the members who have ratified it. The US withdrew from it in January 2017.

The investment chapter includes investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. Civil society groups have blasted the mechanism, as it gives a foreign investor or company disproportionate powers vis-à-vis governments or domestic companies. Foreign investors can resort to a parallel system of justice specifically made for them to challenge public health, the environment and other public-interest ‘safeguards’, and bypass national justice courts.

Photo: Blink O’Fanaye / CC BY-NC 2.0

(March 2020)

Crossbenchers plot to embarrass Labor over Trans-Pacific Partnership
Financial Review | 12-Oct-2018
Crossbenchers are ramping up pressure on Labor at the 11th hour to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, drafting amendments that would force opposition senators to vote against the party’s policy.
Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , labour | workers’ rights
Select committee urged to stop the spread of ISDS under CPTPP
Voxy | 14-Aug-2018
A range of labour, health and environmental organisations are calling for a clause to be inserted into the CPTPP Amendment Bill that would prevent future governments from extending investor-state dispute settlement to countries seeking to join the agreement.
actions | resistance , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , New Zealand
Community groups say no to the TPP-11 at Senate inquiry
AFTINET | 30-Jul-2018
“AFTINET will present evidence today to a Senate inquiry that the TPP-11 increases corporate rights at the expense of people’s rights and the environment and should not be implemented,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today.
actions | resistance , Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
It’s time to stop giving more rights to global corporations
Sydney Morning Herald | 20-Jun-2018
Despite this growing rejection of ISDS, the Australian government claims that ambiguous general “safeguards” in the TPP-11 will protect public interest laws.
Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
CPTPP jeopardises the future of open source software: OSIA
Spatial Source | 13-Jun-2018
Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA) is calling upon the federal government to scrap the CPTPP over provisions that could decimate the Australian open source community.
Australia , CPTPP , e-commerce | digital economy , intellectual property , investor-state disputes | ISDS
The chilling effect: investor-state dispute settlement, graphic health warnings, the plain packaging of tobacco products, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Info Justice | 31-May-2018
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) poses significant challenges in respect of tobacco control, public health, human rights, and sustainable development.
CPTPP , health , investor-state disputes | ISDS
New Zealand signs side letters with five CPTPP members to exclude compulsory investor state dispute settlement
Mondaq | 14-May-2018
New Zealand has recently signed "side letters" to exclude compulsory Investor State Dispute Settlement with five members of the CPTPP – Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Peru, Viet Nam and Australia.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , New Zealand
The Federal Court of Canada and the end of investor-state dispute settlement in NAFTA?
IISD | 9-May-2018
A decision by the Federal Court of Canada should spell the end of the NAFTA renegotiation on the investment Chapter of NAFTA, and ignite a renegotiation of the investment chapters of the Canada-EU trade agreement and the CPATPP.
Canada , CPTPP , EU , investor-state disputes | ISDS , NAFTA | USMCA
Why we must ban secret corporate courts from trade deals
Friends of the Earth Australia | 3-May-2018
The ISDS system impedes on national sovereignty to the benefit of corporations, yet places no obligations on investors to behave responsibly, creating an asymmetric system that gives multinationals the same rights as sovereign states.
Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , RCEP
New Zealand: Agreements with five countries exclude compulsory investor-state dispute settlement processes
Library of Congress | 28-Mar-2018
On March 9, 2018, the New Zealand Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, announced that the government has signed “side letters” with five other countries that are also party to the TPP11 that exclude compulsory investor-state dispute settlement.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , New Zealand