There is a Bear trap hidden behind a seemingly benign term ‘certification’ it hides extraordinary power that the US is expected to exercise once TPP agreement is concluded.
A website was launched Wednesday 13 August 2014 (http://tppnocertification.org/) to expose what Professor Jane Kelsey has called a dirty little secret.
Elizabeth Jane Kelsey is a professor of law at the University of Auckland and a prominent critic of globalization. Jane Kelsey has an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Auckland
‘Effectively, the US claims the right to decide what a country’s obligations are under a trade and investment agreement and refuses to bring the agreement into force in relation to that country until it has changed its laws, regulations and administrative processes to fit the US interpretation’, Professor Kelsey explained.
We should have known that when congressional conservatives and Obama agree on the same thing, there is something rotten in Denmark, in this case the TPPA.
As a Progressive American , I can tell our possible future TPPA partners that it is best to read the “Fine Print“ of any agreement that American Conservatives are involved in before signing the dotted line.
Here is how the trap is going to work
“The US withholds the final steps that are necessary to bring a trade and investment treaty into force until the other party has changed its relevant domestic laws and regulations to meet US expectations of its obligations under the agreement. In the past, US 'expectations' have gone beyond what is in the actual text, and even included matters that were rejected in negotiations.”
“US officials can define another country's obligations; become directly involved in drafting that country's relevant law and regulations; demand to review and approve proposed laws before they are presented to the other country's legislature; and delay certification until the US is satisfied the new laws meet its requirements.”
In other word even though other partner countries think everything is fixed and locked in after the agreement if ratified , the US reserves the right to come back demanding changes to domestic laws and regulation until they are satisfied with it. This is not a theoretical concept it was used against
Peru in the PER-US FTA and
Australia with their Free trade agreement (AUFTA)
‘The other eleven governments are aware of the certification process and many are concerned. But no one has told the public how the US can effectively redraft their laws.’
There also has be an
Open letter from past US free trade agreement partner to TPP nations warning them of this issue.
‘Everyone knows the US is driving the TPPA. But agreeing to a final text, in the knowledge that the US will then play the certification card, would mean conceding the right of US officials to oversee the making of it's TPPA partner nations laws and regulations.’
In conclusion all I can say about this is beware of Conservative Republicans bearing gifts especially when they are arm in arm with a President they claim is a Tyrant..