July 8: 2019: The Times of India reports that some proposals for stronger medicine monopolies, which would delay the availability of cheaper medicines, have been withdrawn from the RCEP negotiations. This follows strong campaigning by public health and other community groups which pressured the Indian government to reject them.
July 4, 2019: Sam Cossar from Friends of the Earth explains in The Ecologist why investor rights to sue governments when they act to protect people and the environment should be kept out of the RCEP and other trade deals.
July 3, 2019: Australian Academics Deborah Gleeson, Belinda Townsend and Brigitte Tenni have written an op-ed in Croaky about the risks that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership poses to public health in Australia and across the region.
July 3, 2019: AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald and Dr Deborah Gleeson from Latrobe University were interviewed about the RCEP by Philip Adams on ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live programme. This follows a report in the Melbourne Age and other Fairfax media about the letter to the Trade Minister from 52 community groups condemning the secrecy and harmful proposals in the RCEP negotiations.
July 1, 2019, Media Release:The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations between 16 countries continue in Melbourne behind closed doors. The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) and other organisations* are hosting a Public Forum to discuss the social and environmental risks of the RCEP trade deal today at 6:30-8:30pm at Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street, Carlton.
June 27, 2019: Fifty-two diverse community groups representing millions have written an open letter to the Trade Minister opposing damaging proposals in the RCEP.
June 24 2019: Leaders of the ten ASEAN countries met in Bangkok on June 22 and urged support for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade and investment deal between ASEAN and India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. But community organisation advocates meeting before the ASEAN summit argued that the RCEP development model favours international investor interests over people and the environment.
June 3, 2019: Based in Victoria and concerned about the social and environmental risks of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement? Join AFTINET's campaign events in Melbourne on July 1-2, as the Australian government hosts the next round of RCEP negotiations.
May 27, 2019: A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and European research groups analyses the history of trade agreement provisions that seek to “harmonise” government regulation dealing with health and environmental regulation. The study includes World Trade Organisation agreements, and more recent regional and bilateral trade agreements.
May 14, 2019: A new article by Shalini Bhutani, a legal researcher and policy analyst based in New Delhi, India, looks at the role that international trade rules have played in expanding intellectual property (IP) rights for global seed and biotech corporations and undermining farmers’ right to collect and use seeds.