TPP 'fundamentally flawed,' should be resisted: UN expert

The top UN human rights expert has called on the 12 nations considering to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership to resist it as its current form "is fundamentally flawed" and the massive trade agreement must be ratified to conform with fundamental principles of international law.
"The TPP is fundamentally flawed and should not be signed or ratified unless provision is made to guarantee the regulatory space of States," said Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.
"Trade agreements are not 'stand-alone' legal regimes, but must conform with fundamental principles of international law, including transparency and accountability," de Zayas said.

"Should the TPP ever enter into force, its compatibility with international law should be challenged before the International Court of Justice (ICJ)," de Zayas added.
The appeal from the UN rights expert comes just before 12 trade ministers from the Pacific Rim countries gather in Auckland, New Zealand on February 4 to sign the TPP-a central pillar of US President Barack Obama's trade policy involving the US, Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei Darussalam.
The agreement will strengthen the position of investors, transnational corporations and monopolies at the expense of the public, and will impact negatively on labour standards, food security, health and environmental protection.

In a statememt on February 2, the UN rights expert expressed concern that, despite "enormous opposition by civil society worldwide, twelve countries are about to sign an agreement, which is the product of secret negotiations without multi-stakeholder democratic consultation."

Civil society activists and critics have argued that among other problematic features the TPP will re-write global rules on intellectual property enforcement covering trademark, copyright and patents adopting far more restrictive copyright measures than currently required by international treaties.
In November last year, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan voiced "some very serious concerns" that the massive trade deal covering almost 40 per cent of the global economy could limit the access to affordable medicines and generics -an impact that would severely affect the world's poorest.

Leaders of India's USD 15 billion pharmaceutical industry had echoed Chan's concern about patent protection and generics.
Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that India is preparing to deal with the adverse impacts of TPP and the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) will have "serious bearing" for countries like India who are not a part of the trade deal.