Trade officials from nine Pacific Rim nations—Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam— are in intensive, closed- door negotiations to sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement in 2012. Every Pacific Rim nation from China and Russia to Indonesia and Japan could eventually be included. There are draft texts for many of this pact’s 26 chapters, most of which have nothing to do with trade, but rather impose limits on domestic food safety, health, environmental, and other policies.

After more than two years of negotiations under conditions of extreme secrecy, on June 12, 2012, a leaked copy of the investment chapter for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement was posted at http://tinyurl.com/tppinvestment. Public Citizen has verified that the text is authentic.  

Trade officials from nine Pacific Rim nations—Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam— are in intensive, closed-door negotiations to sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement in 2012. Every Pacific Rim nation from China and Russia to Indonesia and Japan could eventually be included. There are draft texts for many of this pact’s 26 chapters, most of which have nothing to do with trade, but rather impose limits on domestic food safety, health, environmental, and other policies.

The draft investment text in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which was leaked yesterday (June 13) by a U.S. civil society group, reveals that TPP countries are offering up radically different visions when it comes defining when a specific government action constitutes "indirect expropriation" of a company's property.

Recently, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has proposed a Draft Chapter on Labor and Dispute Settlement relating to labor for TPP basing on the U.S. – Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) (two members of TPP). The draft may have certain role in TPP negotiations and so, Vietnam should carefully consider every possible proposal of other TPP Parties, especially the U.S.

In its campaign of advocating policies on TPP negotiations, VCCI has made a Draft Recommendation on negotiation strategy for intellectual property (IP) rights on medicine in the TPP. In order to ensure that this recommendation represents the interests of the whole economy and all stakeholders, the Committee on International Trade Policies (CITP Committee) of VCCI is conducting a survey to collect opinions from Vietnamese business associations, enterprises and other related agencies, on the issue. Download the survey questionnaire here:

In its campaign of advocating policies on TPP negotiations, VCCI has made the a Recommendation of Vietnam Business Community on negotiation strategy for Labor and Dispute Settlement Chapters in the TPP. In order to ensure that this recommendation represents the interests of the whole economy and all stakeholders, the Committee on International Trade Policies (CITP Committee) of VCCI is conducting a survey to collect opinions from Vietnamese business associations, enterprises and other related agencies, on the issue.

The “Rule of Origin” is one of the most important issues in the TPP negotiations. According to leaked documents, the U.S. is proposing a strong “rule of origin”, which is not favorable for Vietnamese exports which depends largely on imported materials. If the U.S. proposals are approved in TPP, Vietnamese exports will face numerous difficulties to meet requirements to be considered as “originated” and so they it will be hardly for them to get preferential tariff treatment in TPP.

As Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) required, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has collected business community’s opinions and made a recommendation on negotiation strategies for the Chapter of investment and dispute settlement between government and foreign investor to support the TPP negotiations. On 20 January 2011, VCCI sent this recommendation to MPI and other related agencies. Download the full Recommendation here: