http://aftinet.org.au/cms/ “The APEC
meeting in Hawaii was meant to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Agreement, a new free trade deal between the US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile,
Peru, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.
But the deal has been delayed because of controversial proposals tabled
by the US, and negotiations will continue into 2012,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian
Fair Trade and Investment Network of 60 community groups (AFTINET), said today.
“These US
proposals seek to increase the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical
companies to charge higher prices for medicines, and to reduce the rights of
governments to regulate the price of medicines. These companies want the same
rights to charge high prices for medicines as they have in the US,
where the wholesale prices of prescription medicines are three to ten times
higher than in Australia.
These proposals would undermine Australia’s
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and similar schemes in other countries which
keep medicines affordable,” explained Dr Ranald.
“The US
is also proposing an investor-state dispute process, which would allow a single
company like Philip Morris tobacco company to sue governments for damages over
tobacco regulation or other public interest regulation. Philip Morris is
currently attempting to sue the Australian government for its plain packaging
tobacco legislation under an obscure 1993 Australia-Hong Kong investment
agreement. Community campaigning kept this provision out of the US-Australia
Free Trade Agreement in 2004, but the US
is still pushing it in the Trans-Pacific trade deal.
“The
Australian Government is resisting these proposals. Resistance to them from
health and community organisations in the United
States and other countries, and from some
other governments, has slowed the negotiations,” said Dr Ranald.
For links
to critical statements by the Public Health Association of Australia and US
health groups see
“Health and other social policies should be
determined democratically, not secretly decided in trade negotiations,” said Dr
Ranald. “Despite early promises, the deal does not include commitments to
enforceable labour standards or environmental protections. We support the calls
of unions, health and community groups gathered in Hawaii
for a “Fair Deal or No Deal” on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. We
welcome the fact that the resistance to unfair proposals means there is now
more time for public debate. We call on governments to release the secret texts
for full public and Parliamentary scrutiny,” said Dr Ranald.
Media advice AFTINET www.aftinet.org.au