August 13, 2019: In a submission to the UNCITRAL review of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), ClientEarth, an environmental law organisation, has detailed the threat that ISDS poses to action on climate change.
August 8. 2019: Stephen Grenville from the Lowy Institute, formerly with the OECD, argues in The Interpreter that Australia should not uncritically join US attacks on Chinese theft of intellectual property (IP) on patents and copyright. He says that the current system is “so distorted by vested interests that the main beneficiary may be the army of patent lawyers and the legal process which support them.”
August 7, 2019: Amiti Sen writing in the Hindu Business Line argues that India had a clear mandate at the recent Bejing RCEP negotiations to refuse further concessions and say no to any pact which does not meet its needs.
August 5, 2019: The official statement from the RCEP Ministerial Meeting held on August 2-3 said the RCEP talks “must keep the momentum towards concluding negotiations within the year.” But actual progress of the negotiations is slow.
August 1, 2019: Business Today of India reports that India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is not attending the RCEP ministerial meeting being held in Beijing today and tomorrow, but will be represented by a more junior official. The RCEP negotiations include China, India, Japan, South Korea, the 10 ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand.
July 29, 2019: After an 18-month inquiry, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which is independent of government, has produced a Report on Digital Platforms with 23 recommendations for regulation to protect consumer privacy, prevent extremist and misleading digital content, address the market dominance of Facebook and Google and support public interest journalism.
July 25, 2019: A report in the BBC has suggested that trade downturn in Singapore could be the result of the US-China trade war and a sign of things to come across the Asia-Pacific region.
July 24, 2019: Canadian academic Kyla Tienhaara argues in an article in the Conversation that a recent ISDS ruling, which ordered Pakistan to pay US$5.8 billion to mining company Tethyan Copper, is a sign that the global economic governance model is broken.
July 17, 2019: Read AFTINET's new fact sheet on the impact that trade and investment agreements can have on the environment and our ability to address climate change.
July 16, 2019: Media reports from South Korea have suggested that South Korean Prime Minister Mr. Lee Nak-Yeon is considering abolishing ISDS from Korean Trade agreements. The reports state that Prime Minister Lee Nak-Yeon made the remark in the National Assembly while responding to a lawmaker, Mr. Song, at the plenary session of the Budget and Accounting Committee.