Press Release - Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex 2014-06-19 Today, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, which covers 50 countries and 68.2%1 of world trade in services. The US and the EU are the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint changes, which also covers cross-border data flow. In a significant anti-transparency manoeuvre by the parties, the draft has been classified to keep it secret not just during the negotiations but for five years after the TISA enters into force. Despite the failures in financial regulation evident during the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis and calls for improvement of relevant regulatory structures2, proponents of TISA aim to further deregulate global financial services markets. The draft Financial Services Annex sets rules which would assist the expansion of financial multi-nationals – mainly headquartered in New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt – into other nations by preventing regulatory barriers. The leaked draft also shows that the US is particularly keen on boosting cross-border data flow, which would allow uninhibited exchange of personal and financial data. TISA negotiations are currently taking place outside of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. However, the Agreement is being crafted to be compatible with GATS so that a critical mass of participants will be able to pressure remaining WTO members to sign on in the future. Conspicuously absent from the 50 countries covered by the negotiations are the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The exclusive nature of TISA will weaken their position in future services negotiations. The draft text comes from the April 2014 negotiation round - the sixth round since the first held in April 2013. The next round of negotiations will take place on 23-27 June in Geneva, Switzerland. Current WTO parties negotiating TISA are: Australia, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, which includes its 28 member states Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. China and Uruguay have expressed interest in joining the negotiations but so far are not included. [1] Swiss National Center for Competence in Research: A Plurilateral Agenda for Services?: Assessing the Case for a Trade in Services Agreement, Working Paper No. 2013/29, May 2013, p. 10. [2] For example, in June 2012 Ecuador tabled a discussion on re-thinking regulation and GATS rules; in September 2009 the Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, convened by the President of the United Nations and chaired by Joseph Stiglitz, released its final report, stating that All trade agreements need to be reviewed to ensure that they are consistent with the need for an inclusive and comprehensive international regulatory framework which is conducive to crisis prevention and management, counter-cyclical and prudential safeguards, development, and inclusive finance. Download the full secret TISA Financial Services Annex as PDF here. Download Analysis Article of secret TISA Financial Services Annex as PDF here or read it online here. Recommended reading On the Wrong Side of Globalization, by Joseph E. Stiglitz, March 15, 2014. U.S. Foreign Trade in Services: Trends and Policy Challenges, by the Congressional Research Service, May 15, 2014. TISA versus Public Services, a Public Services International study by Scott Sinclair and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, April 28, 2014. Public Citizens Finance Regulation Factsheet Our World is Not for Sale Factsheet on TISA For Comment AFL-CIO Media Outreach Department, 202-637-5018 Josh Goldstein [email protected] Jeff Hauser [email protected] Gonzalo Salvador [email protected] Celeste Drake, Trade and Globalisation Policy Specialist [email protected] Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives https://policyalternatives.ca National Office: tel: 613-563-1341 fax: 613-233-1458 [email protected] Our World is Not for Sale ourworldisnotforsale.org/ Public Services International world-psi.org/en/ Tel: +33 (0)4 50 40 64 64Fax: +33 (0)4 50 40 73 20 E-mail:[email protected] Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer [email protected] Public Citizens Global Trade Watch division https://citizen.org/[email protected] Joseph E. Stiglitz Chair of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, Nobel Prize winner, and professor at Columbia University josephstiglitz/ Phone: (212) 854-0671 Fax: (212) 662-8474 [email protected] Public Submissions The only avenue TISA negotiators offer for public input is via public submissions. Each country has their own method for handling submissions. Below are the public submissions from the biggest proponents of TISA. Australia: All submissions will be made publicly available on the DFAT website unless the author specifies otherwise. Submissions may be lodged electronically to:[email protected] website United States Request for comments submissions from September to October 2013. European Union Public consultation Results of the public survey on TISA Canada: Submissions may be sent by e-mail to: [email protected] Consultations on a Plurilateral Services Agreement Photos, courtesy of PSI: For more information and photos that can be republished by media see our web pages TISA rally photos that can be freely used by media (Photo credit: Public Services International) world-psi.org/en/photos-anti-tisa-demonstration-geneva https://flickr/photos/53821442@N06/sets/72157644130945749/ More TISA graphics and materials (in English): world-psi.org/en/campaign-release-kit-tisa In French : world-psi.org/fr/issue/ACS In Spanish: world-psi.org/es/issue/TISA -- Deborah James Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) network Director of International Programs Center for Economic and Policy Research 1611 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 400 Washington DC 20009 +1.202.293.5380 x111 [email protected] cepr.net *************** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Daniel Bertossa Date: 2014-06-19 10:26 GMT-04:00 Subject: [wto-intl] Wikileaks TISA Leak - PSI PRESS RELEASE and response To: wto-intl To business editors, European and N. American newswires: For immediate release – 19 June 2014 Secret trade deal puts public services at risk around the world Wikileaks release today confirms alarm raised by Public Services International Wikileaks today released secret draft text from the Trades in Services Agreement negotiations that confirms the concerns first raised by the global trade union Public Services International in the recent ground-breaking report ‘TISA versus Public Services.’ Fronting themselves as the ´Really Good Friends of Services,’ a group of 50 countries—representing an estimated 70 per cent share of the world’s trade in services—are secretly negotiating the TISA. This deal will open up a wide range of public services to be sold permanently for private profit. This massive trade deal will put public health care, child care, postal, broadcasting, water, power, transport and other services at risk. The TISA will lock in the privatisations of services—even in cases where private service delivery has failed—meaning governments can never return water, energy, health, education or other services to public hands. The TISA will also restrict a government’s right to regulate stronger standards in the public’s interest. For example, it will affect environmental regulations, licensing of health facilities and laboratories, waste disposal centres, power plants, school and university accreditation and broadcast licenses. The proposed deal will also restrict a government’s ability to regulate key sectors including financial, energy, telecommunications and cross-border data flows. The TISA will specifically limit the ability of governments to regulate the financial services industry at exactly the time when the global economy is still recovering from a crisis caused by financial deregulation. Responding to today’s leak, Public Services International General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli says, “This agreement is all about making it easier for corporations to make profits and operate with impunity across borders. The aim of public services should not be to make profits for large multinational corporations. Ensuring that failed privatisations can never be reversed is free market ideology gone mad. “The secrecy surrounding these negotiations to extend controversial GATS arrangements into a wide range of areas previously rejected is anti-democratic in the extreme. If our governments are doing nothing wrong – why are they hiding these texts? Pavanelli adds, “The attempts by governments still reeling from the global economic crisis to further deregulate the financial system shows that our trade ministers really have been captured our by large corporate interests. When you understand this, you understand why the texts are being kept secret. This is a bad deal for people and our planet. We demand that the texts be released for public scrutiny now.” A new analysis by Professor Jane Kelsey, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, shows that the TISA risks stopping governments from tightening rules on the financial sector. Read today’s leaked text and Professor Kelsey’s analysis here: wikileaks.org/tisa-financial TISA rally photos are available for media use (Photo credit: Public Services International): world-psi.org/en/photos-anti-tisa-demonstration-geneva More TISA graphics and materials English: world-psi.org/en/campaign-release-kit-tisa French : world-psi.org/fr/issue/ACS Spanish: world-psi.org/es/issue/TISA END Media: Please contact Teresa Marshall +33 6 19 17 60 50 [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:41:31 +0000
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