CONSUMERS AND TPPCHILE

Pablo Rodríguez AriasEgresado de Derecho

FOJUCC - Chile

ABOUT FOJUCC

Youth Consumers Association (FORMADORES DE ORGANIZACIONES JUVENILES DE CONSUMIDORES Y CONSUMIDORAS, FOJUCC) is a group entirely composed by young people.Created on 12 December 2002, FOJUCC works on youth participation in market issues through educational activities, training, analysis and development, creating critical thinking skills in our members and young public. Our aim is enabling them to act in the market building the society and consumption patterns for human development.Also FOJUCC  host and follows a number of issues as livelihood,  responsible consumption , citizen participation and democratic exercise, food sovereignty, market regulation and proper operation, fair trade, including business and social economy , sustainable development , among others. Currently FOJUCC is focused mainly on three topics: - Consumption and Citizenship Education- Mediation, Conciliation and Conflict Resolution- Research and development of educational materials on sustainable consumption.

TPP: Where this agreement is born?

The origin of the TPP negotiation begins in the countries known as the P4 that are currently part of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Partnership between Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. The agreement consists of 20 chapters, sets the establishment of free trade zone. P4 countries contemplating accession of new countries to the treaty. Because of this, in February 2008, the USTR U.S. (USTR) announced that the U.S. would participate in negotiations on investment and financial services scheduled for March between P4 countries (Singapore, Chile, New Zealand and Brunei). Six months after -22 September 2008 - announced the launch of negotiations for the U.S. to participate in the Trans-Pacific Strategic Partnership. Also during the Summit of Leaders Forum Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in November 2008 in Lima, Australia, Peru and Vietnam formalized their interest to adhere to the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Consumers: how the TPP threatens their rights.

Since its genesis the TPP violates the consumers right to information, given the secrecy of the negotiations and the exclusion of the consumer groups from all rounds and meetings. Mostly of the TPP chapters threaten freedom of choice, the access to drugs, access to information and rights for digital consumers (parallel imports prohibition and control of Internet content).

Some sensitive issues in the TPP negotiations

a) Investment and Financial Services: - Limitations on the operation of state enterprises. - Capital Movements (release more capital flows)

b) Environment: - Sanctions protectionist rules by negotiating States.

c) Regulatory Consistency: - Establish commitments to limit significantly the country's autonomy to set regulations in relevant areas. d) Intellectual Property:- Extension of the term of protection for patents and copyrights (including up to 120 years) - this will prevent the development of generic drugs in developing countries. - Extension of the privileges of the owner of the copyright, and increased penalties for violations to consumer

e) Digital Rights: - Restrict access to Internet content. - Powers of police to Internet servers.

What happens in CHILE?

CHILE

In Chile the TPP is the continuation, or rather, the "mutation" of primitive P4 agreement. the text of the agreement.

-   Chile has existing commercial agreements with all the TPP countries.

-  Negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. again as well with the other countries could bring more disadvantages than advantages.

-  The negotiations have been secretly to the general public, consumers, industry and civil society.

-  May 2013: 26 consumer organizations from 14 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean denounce this agreement on a Statement at a meeting in Santiago de Chile.

CHILE

-   June 2013: Open TPP campaign launched in Chile as Latin American reference (integrates Peruvian, Mexican and Chilean consumer groups -22 approx.).

-  August 13, 2013: The Chilean Senate ask the government an open debate on the TPP with no dissenting vote.

- December 8, 2013: Public statement signed by 34 deputies and 15 senators asking Chile stop and transparent the TPP. It was also signed byacademics and civil society.

-   December 9, 2013: the candidate Michelle Bachelet to pronounce for reviewing the TPP

-   March 26, 2014: the new government announced that it will create a space to discuss the TPP with both industry and civil society 

CHILE

Signs that have occurred around the TPP review and transparency:

- Removal of the "Monsanto Law" of parliamentary discussion and review, all around thesigning of the document UPOV 91; 

- Public statements to deputies and senators of Congress have delivered aroundtransparent negotiations and incorporating citizens into the discussion;

- Declarations of the new Government on "read the fine print" of the TPP; 

- A consumer movement-organized citizens demanding more and attends the authorities.

CHILE

CITIZEN MOVEMENT TPP ABIERTO:

TPP ABIERTO is a Latin American character citizens' initiative, which brings together organizations from Chile, Mexico and Peru, seeking an agreement that respects the fundamental rights now threatened by the current conditions of the Strategic Agreement Trans-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Currently FOJUCC is part of this movement, as well as other Chilean organizations ODECU, or CONADECUS, or other Latin American organizations as ASPEC (Peru) or ALCONSUMIDOR (Mexico). This move positions coordinates and consumer associations as relevant in the TPP negotiations or transparency of actors.

CHILE

CAMPAING FOJUCC:

ACCESO.COM-SUMO

ACCESO.COM-SUMO is an educational and informational FOJJUC campaign that seeks to expand understanding of digital consumer rights as the followings ones: a)    Access to knowledge and copyright in the digital age,b)    Net Neutralityc) Personal data protection and internet securityd)    TPP Agreement. Will run nationwide and will work on a virtual platform from the second half of 2014Full implementation will start from the second half of 2014.

CONCLUSIONS

- To fulfil the consumer's right to the satisfaction of basic needs, grant oppositions to patents should be allowed, and there should be no TRIPS+ provisions protecting patents or test data. - There should be no further denegation from the freedom of countries to set their own labelling requirements in the chapter on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade, than under existing WTO rules. Neither should they be forced under the IP chapter to allow patents over animals and plant DNA. - To maximise choice for consumers, and their access to consumer education, parallel imports and temporary “buffer” copies should both be allowed, and there should be no requirement to go beyond the existing TRIPS and WCT provisions as to the terms of copyright or the use of circumvention devices. 

CONCLUSIONS

- Consumer protection measures should be explicitly protected from attack by corporations under the Investment chapter. Ideally, there should be no investor-state dispute resolution mechanism at all, since this gives big businesses a form of redress that consumers don't have. - The disproportionate damages, criminal and digital enforcement provisions of the IP chapter should be scaled back, and the unbalanced obligations to promote intellectual property rights (without promoting other means of access to knowledge) should be eliminated. 

We do not want S.O.P.A!

GRACIAS

contacto@fojucc.cl

www.fojucc.cl

www.tppabierto.net