Consumers’ protections and privacy are at risk,
along with national governments’ sovereignty, at the sole benefit of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) corporations.
This is what emerges from the latest leaked document of the Trade In Service Agreement (TISA) negotiations, that PSI has opposed since the
beginning, in March 2013, for lack of transparency.
The document – leaked by Associated
Whistle-Blowing Press - refers to a proposal by the US Trade Representative
(USTR) dated 25 April 2014. It focuses on e-commerce, technology transfer,
cross-border data flows and net neutrality.
The US proposal aims to advance the
commercial interests of its services industry that supplies services across the
border, mainly through e-commerce, and foreign direct investment in
manufacturing and services.
This would provide particular gains to the
information telecommunications and technology sector, and would protect US
competitive advantage and monopoly rights over intellectual property and
technology.
If approved, “the proposal would also consolidate data
repositories to the benefit of the US government, transnational companies and
third party commercial interests,” comments Jane
Kelsey, law professor at the University of Auckland, and Burcu Kilic, from
US-based Public Citizen.
“This serves a range of ‘national security’ and commercial purposes.”
In addition to that, the agreement would
prevent or restrict government regulation that impedes the activities and
profits of the major global services industries, and guarantees unrestricted
cross-border data flows, which impacts on consumer protections, privacy laws,
regulatory constraints and competition policy.
“It is unacceptable that citizens must rely on leaked
documents to find out what laws their governments are negotiating on their
behalf,” says Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of PSI.
“We now know that TISA will further deregulate the
financial sector, stop failed privatisations being brought back into public
hands and undermine data privacy laws. What else are our governments keeping
secret from us?”
According to Daniel Bertossa, Director of Policy at
PSI: “These rules would allow the most sensitive of personal and commercial
data to flow out of your country. In the wake of the recent spying scandals it
seems extraordinary that this is even being considered”.
The TISA is currently being negotiated between 23 parties (counting the EU as one) whose aim is to extend the scope and rules of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Unlike the GATS, the TISA negotiations are
being conducted in secrecy and the parties refuse to release the negotiating
text or supporting documents. Some countries have released limited
documentation about their offers (for example Switzerland and the EU). However
most documents remain highly classified including USTR documents.
The cover sheet of the leaked USTR
proposal is marked CONFIDENTIAL and “Declassify on: Five years from entry into
force of the TISA agreement or, if no agreement enters into force, five years
from the close of negotiations”. This is an even higher level of secrecy than
previous agreements such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Prior to Public Services International
(PSI) publishing the first available critique, TISA
Vs Public Services, in March 2014, the negotiations had been
shrouded in secrecy.
PSI’s report outlines how TISA would
prohibit failed privatisations being brought back into public hands and
restrict governments from regulating privatised public services and other area
of public interest such as laws to protect workers, consumers, small business
and the environment.
The leaked
financial services text from Wikileaks in May 2014 confirmed many
of these fears as they applied to financial regulation.
For more information:
·
Associated
Whistle-Blowing Press document
·
PSI Special Report: TISA
Vs Public Services
