4 May 2017: A broad coalition of civil society organisations from the Asia Pacific region are mobilising in Manila and calling on their governments to say 'No to the RCEP’ as negotiators meet there this week.
3 May 2017: The next round of RCEP negotiations are being held in Manila, the Philippines, on May 2-12. There is still a push from some countries, including Australia, to use TPP language in the RCEP.
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 and e-commerce provisions in favour of corporations at the expense of consumers. Many legal 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). ISDS has been opposed by civil society groups and some RCEP governments and in September 2019 the Malaysian trade Minister announced it had been excluded from the negotiations. But the text was still secret, and this cannot be confirmed until the the text is released after signing in 2020.
Leaked documents revealed that harmful intellectual property provisions were 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.
If the