The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was concluded in October 2015 between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Indonesia and Taiwan declared their intention to join in. The treaty has yet to be ratified.
The investment chapter has revealed the deal includes investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). 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 would be able to bypass national justice courts and resort to a parallel system of justice specifically made for them.
Public health, the environment and other public-interest ‘safeguards’ would be undermined under the ISDS provisions in the TPP.
(November 2015)
