We have produced a hard copy flyer explaining the main issues in the RCEP, titled 'Is the RCEP the TPP by another name?'. You or your organisation can help by distributing the RCEP flyer to your members or networks. Leaflets can be picked up for free from our Sydney office or we can post them to you - we just ask that you pay the postage. Find out more here.
AFTINET's Dr Patricia Ranald speaks about the future of trade beyond the TPP and gives an introduction to the RCEP at an event hosted by Jubilee Australia in March 2017.
Thanks to AFTINET supporter Phil Jones for putting together this video.
29 March 2017: If TPP-like provisions on medicine monopolies are adopted in the RCEP, new medicines will remain expensive for longer periods of time. India’s Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme could be hit badly. Read more
Parts of the RCEP’s intellectual property chapter could be modelled on the flawed TPP, which extended copyright provisions in favour of corporations at the expense of consumers. Many copyright experts are concerned that this could stifle creativity, free speech, and even economic growth.
Like the TPP, the RCEP could contain rights for foreign corporations to bypass national courts and sue governments in unfair international tribunals. This system is called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
Harmful TPP-like intellectual property provisions are being proposed in the RCEP. These could raise the price of medicines by extending monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies and delaying access to cheaper versions of these medicines.
The RCEP is even bigger than the TPP with its 16 countries representing half the world’s population. It's also more secretive than the TPP, which was infamous for its lack of transparency. What we do know from leaked documents is that there is a push to use the failed TPP as a model - which means the RCEP could also be a bad deal for democracy, health, the environment and working people.
23 March 2017: The chief RCEP negotiator has urged members to avoid introducing TPP clauses into the deal.
“My immediate response is simply don’t TPP-enize this RCEP,” Iman Pambagyo, RCEP trade negotiating committee chief told Bloomberg.
If the