TPP Will Establish International Court Allowing Corporations to Sue States Taxpayers
Leaked on Wikileaks
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.
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.
“INCREASE THE POWER OF GLOBAL CORPORATIONS BY CREATING A
SUPRA-NATIONAL COURT … WHERE FOREIGN FIRMS CAN “SUE” STATES AND OBTAIN TAXPAYER
COMPENSATION FOR “EXPECTED FUTURE PROFITS””
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.
Read More
Read Leaked Doc.
