August 26, 2019: Indonesian civil society groups protested against the RCEP trade agreement last Friday, arguing that the agreement promotes corporate rights over people’s rights. The protest coincided with intersessional RCEP negotiations that took place in Jakarta from 23-25 August.
August 22, 2019: The Canadian government has been ordered to pay US$7 million plus compound interest from 2007 to US concrete company Bilcon, which sued the government using ISDS in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
August 19, 2019: The Financial Times is reporting that a future UK Labour government could face a flood of ISDS claims if it were to attempt to nationalise utility services. The report comes after the Labour Party announced its plan to nationalise the energy grid and other unities if it were elected in the next general election, and warned that compensation could be below market value.
August 14, 2019: a new 16-minute video by UK organisations Global Justice Now and War on Want documents the threat that ISDS is posing to democratic protest in Armenia.
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.