Legal Verification Of TPP Agreement Text To Continue In Coming Weeks

Last month, Ministers of the twelve Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries announced the conclusion of their negotiations that resulted in an agreement that will promote comprehensive economic growth and better governance. The countries include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam.

The website of New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade says that the text of the TPP was released by TPP Parties on Thursday, adding that the legal verification of the text will continue in the coming weeks.

The released text contains fairly detailed chapters on market access and establishment of free trade area; cross border trade in services; electronic commerce; financial services; competition policy; intellectual property; transparency and anticorruption; regulatory coherence and much more.

Peter Maybarduk, of non-profit consumer rights organisation, pointed out that the chapter on E-Commerce has serious implications for online privacy, Techcrunch reported.

“The text reveals that policies protecting personal data when it crosses borders could be subject to challenge as a violation of the TPP”, said Maybarduk. “In some cases, our data may be vulnerable in another country – to surveillance or marketing abuses — in ways that it is not at home...The TPP could limit governments’ ability to protect us against such threats.”

Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb, however, welcomed the negotiated TPP text.

“Along with the landmark North Asian bilateral trade agreements we have concluded with China, Japan and South Korea, the TPP forms a transformational series of agreements that will contribute substantially to the diversification of our economy in this critical post mining boom phase. This will reduce our reliance on any one sector or any one market, regardless of how strong they are,” Mr Robb said.