TPP Colloquium: Culture

by Jock Given, Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University, Melbourne

Australia’s position on audiovisual and cultural goods and services ranges from agreements preserving extensive powers to implement and adapt policy measures to agreements preserving much more limited powers:

The potential to incorporate climate change provisions into the TPP

Tracey Epps, Faculty of Law, University of Otago

This informal paper looks at the possibility of the TPP including provisions dealing with the environment. It looks at both exception clauses and the possibility of positive obligations to ensure environmental protection, as well as the potential effects on and requirements for agriculture and industry.

Australian Government Procurement and FTAs

by Ted Murphy, National Assistant Secretary, NTEU (Australia's Tertiary Education Union)

The Australian trade union movement has a strong interest in the impact of current and potential free trade agreements (FTAs) on domestic government procurement. Advocates of free trade have criticized the 2009 ACTU Congress resolution on industry policy and the NSW Government’s decision to provide   domestic preference in procurement of up to 25%. According to media reports, some foreign governments have sought information about the NSW decision. Against this background there is a risk of both excessive caution on the part of other State governments and more restrictive proposals when negotiations commence for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

This paper is intended to increase awareness of the commitments, the threshold values at which the commitments apply, and the exclusions and exceptions that are contained in Australia’s existing FTAs. These have a bearing on the ability of NSW and other Australian governments to grant preference and potentially also on Australia’s approach to the TPPA negotiations.

The TPP and International Capital Management

by Bill Rosenberg, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA)

A number of factors have underlined the need for regulation of financial markets, and in particular management of international capital flows, in recent months. There is broad agreement that the current global financial crisis amply demonstrates the need for more regulation of financial markets; whether that will move beyond rhetoric to effective action and what form it might take is as yet far from clear, but the Stiglitz Commission of the UN General Assembly[1] has put a broader range of regulatory measures on the table, bringing opposition from the US and other advanced economies. New Zealand politicians, officials and commentators have as a result of the global crisis and statements of Standard and Poor’s in considering New Zealand’s sovereign credit rating[2] become much more aware of the effects of the chronic and large current account deficit, which is overwhelmingly due to the deficit on income from overseas investment, a large part of which is extensive overseas borrowing by the four Australian banks which dominate New Zealand’s financial system. Finally it is becoming increasingly clear that with open capital markets, New Zealand’s monetary authorities have severely weakened influence on New Zealand’s monetary settings. The Reserve Bank has repeatedly expressed concern that the Australian owned banks in particular are not reducing their interest rates in line with the Official Cash Rate[3].

Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations: Notes on Investment

by Amokura Kawharu, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland

The current P4 agreement requires the parties to commence negotiations on an investment chapter, meaning the investment negotiations will effectively start from scratch.  That said, there are several bilateral and regional agreements in place between the TPP negotiating parties covering investment, and the TPP is likely to be viewed by them as a way of expanding and improving on these.  These notes describe some of the investment related interests of Australia, the United States, and New Zealand, and comment on specific ‘legal’ issues such as investor-state dispute settlement.

Intellectual Property and the Trans-Pacific Partnership

by Susy Frankel, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington

The expansion of P4 is likely to result in a much greater level of TRIPS–plus intellectual property protection.

TPP & Selected Aspects of the P4 Exchange

by Meredith Kolsky Lewis, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington

The P4 Agreement has a number of unique and/or interesting provisions.  In general, the Agreement is notable for its avowedly strategic nature.  The member countries do not have significant economic synergies, nor are they an obvious geographical grouping.  While the Agreement is less driven by economic considerations than many other RTAs, it does have a clearly thought out strategic purpose.  The Agreement seeks to be a model for a broader Asia-Pacific agreement.  The fact that there will soon be negotiations to expand the P4 into a broader TPP that will include the United States, Australia, Peru and Vietnam is completely in keeping with the goals of the Agreement.  This document will highlight a few unique and/or otherwise interesting aspects of the P4 text, drawing comparisons with the existing FTAs of the current P4 members as well as the countries that will be involved in the initial TPP expansion.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations - Services

Jane Kelsey, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland

A very aggressive approach will be taken to the services/investment negotiations for the TPP. The goal is less about opening markets than a desire to create an integrated set of precedents on structure, rules, regulatory disciplines, systemic sectoral coverage, financial services, capital movements and investor rights and protection within a single text that can be advanced as a benchmark in the GATS, other FTAs and APEC.

by Dave Adamson, School of Economics, University of Queensland

The goal of this section on agriculture is to look at: the problems with international trade and agriculture; Australia’s current free trade
approach; and examine the sticking points for agriculture in any FTA.