Read on-line: http://www.world-psi.org/en/massive-leak-tisa-trade-documents-highlights-madness-secrecy
The largest ever leak of negotiating documents from
the controversial Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) highlights the madness of
secrecy and provides no comfort for users of public services.
Seventeen separate secret documents were released
today including working papers and nine critical annexes on sensitive sectors
such as financial services, postal services, maritime, domestic regulation,
telecommunications, professional services, and labour migration.
"It is outrageous that our
democratically elected governments will not tell us the laws they are making.
What has our democracy come to when the community must rely on Wikileaks to
find out what our governments are doing on our behalf" Rosa Pavanelli, PSI General Secretary said.
"The irony of
the text containing repeated references to transparency, and an entire Annex on
transparency requiring governments to provide information useful to business,
being negotiated in secret from the population exposes in whose interests these
agreements are being made" she said.
The latest leaks
highlight the cat and mouse game being played by the nations negotiating the
TISA. A large part of the negotiations is now in the public eye yet there is
still huge uncertainty about the actual consequences of the negotiations as
understanding the full implications requires the whole text. Pavanelli said:
"Both the European Union and
the United States of America have made broad statements about the protections
afforded public services but these leaks provide little support for that claim.
In fact, the scope and nature of the proposed liberalisation suggested by these
leaks heightens our concerns."
Wikileaks today
released secret draft text from the Trades in Services Agreement. 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.
The TISA will 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.
For more information:
·
See the leaked documents on Wikileaks
·
PSI Special
Report: The Really Good Friends of Transnational
Corporations Agreement
·
PSI Special
Report: TISA versus Public Services
·
More on PSI's work
on Trade issues and TiSA
Public Services
International is a global trade union federation representing
20 million working women and men who deliver vital public services in 150
countries. PSI champions human rights, advocates for social justice and
promotes universal access to quality public services. PSI works with the United
Nations system and in partnership with labour, civil society and other
organisations.