IF YOU WERE SELLING OUT YOUR COUNTRY, WOULDNT YOU BE SECRETIVE TOO? Malaysia could be just a month away from signing the TPPA yet the government has remained secretive about the negotiations, while admitting that it has not fully done a cost and benefit analysis. [EXCERPT] The bottom line is that with these trade treaties, tax payers are committing to pay compensation to foreign investors if arbitrators say that they should. It is a form of subsidy, York University law professor Gus Van Harten from Canada said. Treaties are a kind of vote of no confidence against local courts and allows foreign investors to forgo them. Van Harten warned especially of the clause in treaties that allow them to be applied retroactively, which means if government loses suits, it often has to pay corporate enormous sums for loss of profits even before the law came into effect. And worst of all, the treaties do not always deliver the economic rewards they promise. Van Harten said that many credible research organisations have cast doubt that true investors even care about such treaties. They only consider profits, he added. Instead, if TPPA goes through - medicine cost will rise, labour laws such as minimum wages and hiring of more locals would be challenged, along with any law that tries to cap profiteering for reasons of health, culture or the environment.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 10:08:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015