The truth about the Trans Pacific Partnership has now been leaked. The T.P.P will assuredly kill how things “operate” now.
WikiLeaks Reveals The True Purpose Of The TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership
From Their Press Release:
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).
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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. –WIKILEAKS
EMBEDDED PDF:
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FULL WIKILEAKS DOCUMENT EXPOSING THE TRUE MEANING OF THE TPP BELOW:
Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty: Advanced Investment Chapter working document for all 12 nations (January 20, 2015 draft)
WikiLeaks release: March 25, 2015
Keywords: TPP, TPPA, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia,
Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile, Trade, Treaty, Investor-State Dispute Settlement, ISDS, ICSID Restraint: TPP CONFIDENTIAL Information MODIFIED HANDLING
AUTHORIZED Title: Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP): Investment Chapter
Consolidated Text Date: January 20, 2015 Organisation: Trans-Pacific Partnership
Author: Trans-Pacific Partnership Investment Chapter country negotiators
Link: https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/ Pages: 55
Description This is an advanced January 2015 version of the confidential draft treaty chapter from the Investment group of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks between the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei Darussalam. The treaty is being negotiated in secret by delegations from each of these 12 countries, who together account for 40% of global GDP. The chapter covers agreements on investments from one TPP nation to another, including empowering foreign firms to “sue” other states’ governments, as well as regulations around investor-state dispute settlements and tribunals. This document was prepared by TPP investment chapter negotiators in advance of the informal round of negotiations held in New York City 26th January to 1st February, 2015.
20 January 2015
INVESTMENT
Derived from: Classification Guidance
dated March 4, 2010 Reason: 1.4(b) Declassify on: Four years from entry into force of the TPP agreement or, if no agreement enters into force, four years from the close of the negotiations.
* This document must be protected from unauthorized disclosure, but may be mailed or transmitted over unclassified e-mail or fax, discussed over unsecured phone lines, and stored on unclassified computer systems. It must be stored in a locked or secured building, room, or container.
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CHAPTER II
INVESTMENT
Section A
<CNs have agreed that this Chapter will not include an objectives article, subject to the drafting of language on objectives in this Chapter and other Chapters in the preamble.
Four Parties have proposed that the following elements be included in the preamble: to encourage and promote the flow of investment between the Parties on a mutually advantageous basis and as a means to promote economic growth, under conditions of transparency within a stable framework of rules to ensure the protection and security of investments by investors of other Parties within each Party’s territory, while recognizing the rights of Parties to regulate and the responsibility of governments to protect public welfare, including public health, safety and the environment.
Parties have agreed to the following text in the preamble: “Recognizing the inherent right to regulate and resolving to preserve the flexibility of the Parties to protect legitimate public welfare objectives, such as public health, safety, the environment, the conservation of living or non-living exhaustible natural resources, and public morals;”>>
Article II.1: Definitions
For purposes of this Chapter:
Centre means the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) established by the ICSID Convention;
claimant means an investor of a Party that is a party to an investment dispute with another Party. Where that investor is a natural person, who is a permanent resident of a Party, and a national of another Party, that natural person may not submit a claim to arbitration against that latter Party;
covered investment means, with respect to a Party, an investment in its territory of an investor of another Party in existence as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement or established, acquired, or expanded thereafter;
disputing parties means the claimant and the respondent;
disputing party means either the claimant or the respondent;
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enterprise means any entity constituted or organized under applicable law, whether or not for profit, and whether privately or governmentally owned or controlled, including any corporation, trust, partnership, sole proprietorship, joint venture, association, or similar organization and a branch of an enterprise;
enterprise of a Party means an enterprise constituted or organized under the law of a Party, and a branch located in the territory of a Party and carrying out business activities there;1
freely usable currency means “freely usable currency” as determined by the International Monetary Fund under its Articles of Agreement;
ICSID Additional Facility Rules means the Rules Governing the Additional Facility for the Administration of Proceedings by the Secretariat of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes;
ICSID Convention means the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of other States, done at Washington, March 18, 1965;
Inter-American Convention means the Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration, done at Panama, January 30, 1975;
Investment means every asset that an investor owns or controls, directly or indirectly, that has the characteristics of an investment, including such characteristics as the commitment of capital or other resources, the expectation of gain or profit, or the assumption of risk. Forms that an investment may take include:
(a) an enterprise;
(b) shares, stock and other forms of equity participation in an enterprise;
(c) bonds, debentures, other debt instruments, and loans;23
(d) futures, options and other derivatives;
1 For greater certainty, the inclusion of a “branch” in the definitions of “enterprise” and “enterprise of a Party” is without prejudice to a Party’s ability to treat a branch under its laws as an entity that has no independent legal existence and is not separately organized.
2 Some forms of debt, such as bonds, debentures, and long-term notes, are more likely to have the characteristics of an investment, while other forms of debt, such as claims to payment that are immediately due and result from the sale of goods or services, are less likely to have such characteristics.
3 Loans issued by one Party to another Party are not investments.
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(e) turnkey, construction, management, production, concession, revenue-sharing,
and other similar contracts;
(f) intellectual property rights;
(g) licenses, authorizations, permits, and similar rights conferred pursuant to
domestic law;4 and
(h) other tangible or intangible, movable or immovable property, and related
property rights, such as leases, mortgages, liens and pledges;
but investment does not mean an order or judgment entered in a judicial or administrative action.
[investment agreement means a written agreement5 [that takes effect after the date of entry into force of this Agreement] between a national authority6 of a Party and a covered investment or an investor of another Party, on which the covered investment or the investor relies in establishing or acquiring a covered investment other than the written agreement itself, that grants rights to the covered investment or investor:
(a) with respect to natural resources that a national authority controls, such as for their exploration, extraction, refining, transportation, distribution, or sale;
(b) to supply services to the public on behalf of the Party, such as power generation or distribution, water treatment or distribution, or telecommunications; or
4 Whether a particular type of license, authorization, permit or similar instrument (including a concession, to the extent that it has the nature of such an instrument) has the characteristics of an investment depends on such factors as the nature and extent of the rights that the holder has under the law of the Party. Among such instruments that do not have the characteristics of an investment are those that do not create any rights protected under domestic law. For greater certainty, the foregoing is without prejudice to whether any asset associated with such instruments has the characteristics of an investment.
[5 “Written agreement” refers to an agreement in writing, executed by both parties, whether in a single instrument or in multiple instruments, that creates an exchange of rights and obligations, binding on both parties under the law applicable under Article II.24(2). For greater certainty, (a) a unilateral act of an administrative or judicial authority, such as a permit, license, or authorization issued by a Party solely in its regulatory capacity, or a subsidy or grant, or a decree, order, or judgment, standing alone; and (b) an administrative or judicial consent decree or order, shall not be considered a written agreement.]
[6 For purposes of this definition, “national authority” means (a) for the United States, an authority at the central level of government; and (b) for [Country], [ ].]
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(c) to undertake infrastructure projects, such as the construction of roads, bridges, canals, dams, or pipelines, that are not for the exclusive or predominant use and benefit of the government;]
[investment authorization7 means an authorization that the foreign investment authority of a Party8 grants to a covered investment or an investor of another Party;]
investor of a non-Party means, with respect to a Party, an investor that attempts to make,9 is making, or has made an investment in the territory of that Party, that is not an investor of a Party;
investor of a Party means a Party, or a national or an enterprise of a Party, that attempts to make,10 is making, or has made an investment in the territory of another Party;
negotiated restructuring means the restructuring or rescheduling of a debt instrument that has been effected through (i) a modification or amendment of such debt instrument, as provided for under its terms, or (ii) a comprehensive debt exchange or other similar process in which the holders of no less than 75 percent of the aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt under such debt instrument have consented to such debt exchange or other process;
New York Convention means that United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, done at New York, June 10, 1958;
non-disputing Party means a Party that is not a party to an investment dispute;
[7 For greater certainty, actions taken by a Party to enforce laws of general application, such as competition, environmental, health, or other regulatory laws, are not encompassed within this definition.]
[8 [As of the entry into force of this Agreement,] For purposes of this definition, “foreign investment authority” means (a) for Australia, the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia under Australia’s foreign investment policy including the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975; (b) for Mexico, the National Commission on Foreign Investment (Comisión Nacional de Inversiones Extranjeras);] [and (c) for Singapore and Japan, the term “foreign investment authority of a Party” is not applicable as it does not have such an authority at the time of entry into force of this Agreement. <>].
9 For greater certainty, the Parties understand that an investor “attempts to make” an investment when that investor has taken concrete action or actions to make an investment, such as channeling resources or capital in order to set up a business, or applying for permits or licenses.
10 For greater certainty, the Parties understand that an investor “attempts to make” an investment when that investor has taken concrete action or actions to make an investment, such as channeling resources or capital in order to set up a business, or applying for permits or licenses.
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protected information means confidential business information or information that is privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under a Party’s law, including classified government information;
respondent means the Party that is a party to an investment dispute;
Secretary-General means the Secretary-General of ICSID;
UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules means that arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.
Article II.2: Scope and Coverage
- This Chapter applies to measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to:
(a) investors of another Party;
(b) covered investments; and
(c) with respect to Articles 11.9 (Performance Requirements) and II.15 (Investment and Environmental, Health and other Regulatory Objectives), all investments in the territory of the Party.
- A Party’s obligations under this Chapter shall apply to measures adopted or maintained by:
(a) the central, regional, or local governments and authorities of that Party; and
(b) any person, including a state enterprise or any other body, when it exercises any governmental authority delegated to it by central, regional, or local governments or authorities of that Party.11
- For greater certainty, the provisions of this Chapter do not bind any Party in relation to any act or fact that took place or any situation that ceased to exist before the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
11 For greater certainty, governmental authority is delegated under the law of the Party, including through a legislative grant, or a government order, directive or other action transferring, or authorizing the exercise of, governmental authority.
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Article II.3: Relation to Other Chapters
- In the event of any inconsistency between this Chapter and another Chapter, the other Chapter shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
- A requirement by a Party that a service supplier of another Party post a bond or other form of financial security as a condition of the cross-border supply of a service does not of itself make this Chapter applicable to measures adopted or maintained by the Party relating to such cross-border supply of the service. This Chapter applies to measures adopted or maintained by the Party relating to the posted bond or financial security, to the extent that such bond or financial security is a covered investment.
- This Chapter does not apply to measures adopted or maintained by a Party to the extent that they are covered by Chapter KK (Financial Services).
Article II.4: National Treatment12
- Each Party shall accord to investors of another Party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own investors with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory.
- Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to investments in its territory of its own investors with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, and sale or other disposition of investments.
- For greater certainty, the treatment to be accorded by a Party under paragraphs 1 and 2 means, with respect to a regional level of government, treatment no less favorable than the most favorable treatment accorded, in like circumstances, by that regional level of government to investors, and to investments of investors, of the Party of which it forms a part.
12 [For greater certainty, whether treatment is accorded in “like circumstances” depends on the totality of the circumstances, including whether the relevant treatment distinguishes between investors or investments on the basis of legitimate public welfare objectives.] <<xx is still consulting; xx still considering>>
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Article II.5: Most-Favored-Nation Treatment13
- Each Party shall accord to investors of another Party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to investors of any other Party or of any non- Party with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory.
- Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to investments in its territory of investors of any other Party, or of any non-Party with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, and sale or other disposition of investments.
- For greater certainty, the treatment referred to in this Article does not encompass international dispute resolution procedures or mechanisms such as those included in Section B.
Article II.6: Minimum Standard of Treatment14
- Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment in accordance with applicable customary international law principles, including fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security.
- For greater certainty, paragraph 1 prescribes the customary international law minimum standard of treatment of aliens as the standard of treatment to be afforded to covered investments. The concepts of “fair and equitable treatment” and “full protection and security” do not require treatment in addition to or beyond that which is required by that standard, and do not create additional substantive rights. The obligations in paragraph 1 to provide:
(a) “Fair and equitable treatment” includes the obligation not to deny justice in criminal, civil, or administrative adjudicatory proceedings in accordance with the principle of due process embodied in the principal legal systems of the world; and
13 [For greater certainty, whether treatment is accorded in “like circumstances” depends on the totality of the circumstances, including whether the relevant treatment distinguishes between investors or investments on the basis of legitimate public welfare objectives.] <<xx is still consulting; xx still considering>>
14 Article II.6 (Minimum Standard of Treatment) shall be interpreted in accordance with Annex II-A (Customary International Law).
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(b) “Full protection and security” requires each Party to provide the level of police
protection required under customary international law.
- A determination that there has been a breach of another provision of this Agreement, or of a separate international agreement, does not establish that there has been a breach of this Article.
Article II.6bis: Treatment in Case of Armed Conflict or Civil Strife
- Notwithstanding Article II.11(5)(b) (Non-Conforming Measures), each Party shall accord to investors of another Party, and to covered investments, non-discriminatory treatment with respect to measures it adopts or maintains relating to losses suffered by investments in its territory owing to armed conflict or civil strife.
- Notwithstanding paragraph 1, if an investor of a Party, in the situations referred to in paragraph 1, suffers a loss in the territory of another Party resulting from:
(a) requisitioning of its covered investment or part thereof by the latter’s forces or
authorities; or
(b) destruction of its covered investment or part thereof by the latter’s forces or
authorities, which was not required by the necessity of the situation,
the latter Party shall provide the investor restitution, compensation, or both, as appropriate, for such loss.
- Paragraph 1 does not apply to existing measures relating to subsidies or grants that would be inconsistent with Article II.4 (National Treatment) but for Article II.11(5)(b) (Non-Conforming Measures).
Article 11.7: Expropriation and Compensation15
- No Party may expropriate or nationalize a covered investment either directly or indirectly through measures equivalent to expropriation or nationalization (“expropriation”), except:
(a) for a public purpose1617;
15 Article II.7 (Expropriation and Compensation) shall be interpreted in accordance with Annex II-B and is subject to Annex II-C.
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