[CTC] April Fools: Negotiators Release the Text!

[Arthur Stamoulis]

http://www.nzweek.com/newzealand-news/end-to-secrecy-and-release-of-draft-tpp-text-hailed-as-triumph-for-democracy-5837/

End to Secrecy and Release of Draft TPP Text Hailed as “Triumph for  
Democracy”
By Thomas Whittle Last updated April 2, 2012 10:08 pm in NZ News
Media Release: Jane Kelsey
Sunday 1 April 2012
End to Secrecy and Release of Draft TPP Text Hailed as “Triumph for  
Democracy”
The nine parties to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA)  
negotiations have made a dramatic and unexpected u-turn, agreeing to  
lift the veil of secrecy on their draft texts and background documents.
Critics of the obsessive secrecy that surrounds the negotiations  
hailed the decision as a triumph for democracy.
Trade Minister Tim Groser was on record as saying: “New Zealand will  
never release texts without the agreement of our negotiating partners  
– end of story”.
“We had almost given up on the trade ministers and negotiators  
remembering they are accountable to their citizens, not to the  
corporate lobbyists who are driving the TPPA,” said Dr Jane Kelsey, a  
staunch critic of the agreement.
“A deal made behind closed doors, which would lock governments into  
the failed neoliberal model for the next century, is untenable in a  
democracy, but those concerns seemed to fall on deaf ears”.
“They ignored petitions from organisations representing millions of  
people across most of the nine countries and blocked hearings within  
parliamentary select committees.”
“Two weeks ago the Democratic Party Chair of the US Senate Trade  
Subcommittee Ron Wyden tabled an amendment in US Congress seeking more  
transparency in the TPPA negotiations, requiring public disclosure of  
the US negotiating positions and proposals”.
“Instead, the negotiations seemed to be retreating further into the  
trenches. We heard that all future rounds would be held in the US.  
That means the US, as host, controls the agenda. A raft of ‘inter- 
sessional’ talks will exclude any troublesome ‘stakeholders’,” said Dr  
Kelsey.
Despite massive internal disagreement, the US says it wants the deal  
tied up in July.
Hence, the surprise at today’s announcement that the negotiators have  
embraced a new free trade doctrine known as the ‘Dracula principle’ –  
pull back the curtains and flood the draft text with the disinfectant  
of daylight, allowing the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership  
Agreement, like Dracula, to wither and die.
Yeah, right!


http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/trans-pacific-partnership-april-fools-hoax-traps-some-media

Trans-Pacific Partnership April Fools hoax traps some media
TPPA documents to stay secret
BY STEPHEN BELL | WELLINGTON | MONDAY, 2 APRIL, 2012
The opposition lobby on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA)  
and some media outlets were momentarily excited over the weekend at  
the news that secrecy on the trade negotiations had been lifted and a  
full text of the current agreement was about to be released.

“The nine parties to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA)  
negotiations have made a dramatic and unexpected u-turn, agreeing to  
lift the veil of secrecy on their draft texts and background  
documents,” said a release distributed on Sunday, bylined by Sam  
Huggard of NZ lobby TPP Watch.

“Critics of the obsessive secrecy that surrounds the negotiations  
hailed the decision as a triumph for democracy,” said the  
announcement,” attributing the turnaround to an amendment tabled in  
the US Congress by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden.

Unfortunately for the opposition lobby, the date on Sunday was April  
1. It quickly became apparent that the story was an April Fools joke  
and there is to be no release of TPPA documents.

The secrecy surrounding negotiations is traditional for international  
agreements, and has been widely criticised. Opponents such as Auckland  
University lecturer Dr Jane Kelsey have called for release and public  
discussion as a precondition to New Zealand’s participation.

The lobby for release of the text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade  
Agreement (ACTA) in 2010 did eventually force release of the text.

Wyden did actually table an amendment to the JOBS [Jumpstart our  
Business Startups] Act last month, asking for the veil of secrecy  
specifically on the internet-related intellectual property provisions  
of the TPPA to be lifted, but under tight time pressure, it was not  
considered.

The spurious release quoted from Computerworld, reporting Trade  
Minister Tim Groser’s statement that: “New Zealand will never release  
texts without the agreement of our negotiating partners - end of  
story.” Against all expectations, it said, Congress had now decided to  
observe “The Dracula principle” – letting sunlight into the  
negotiations.

It was not to be; the darkness still remains.

As at noon on Monday, the TPP Watch site still carried the  
announcement, but media websites who fell into the trap had either  
withdrawn it completely or added a note explaining that it was a hoax.


Public Citizen Applauds President Obama's Decision to Finally Release  
Draft Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Agreement Text Over  
Objections Of U.S. Trade Representative Vlad von Dracula
Posted: 01 Apr 2012 06:53 AM PDT
  WASHINGTON:  Today President Obama removed a mortifying blot from  
his claim of having the most transparent administration ever by  
releasing the draft text of a massive regional trade agreement now in  
its third year of negotiations that will affect wide swaths of U.S.  
federal and state non-trade policy, said Public Citizen.

"We thought the secrecy could not get worse than when the previous  
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk actually admitted under  
Senate Finance Committee questioning in March that he would not  
release the TPP text because doing so would ensure he could never  
complete the deal," said Public Citizen's Sunshine Isthebest. “Then  
the new USTR, Vlad von Dracula, announced that not only would the text  
never be made public until the deal was set in stone and unchangeable,  
but that negotiations could no longer be conducted during daylight  
hours to minimize the chance that those who will live with the results  
could get a peek.”

Although draft trade agreements have been made public by negotiating  
governments in the past, including the last major regional trade deal  
the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and the World Trade Organization  
posts draft negotiating texts, the TPP text has been kept secret.  
Indeed, in a special TPP secrecy agreement signed in 2010, the Obama  
administration agreed for the first time in trade pact history to keep  
negotiating texts secret for four year after a deal was signed or  
abandoned. Only 600 corporate representatives serving as officials  
U.S. trade advisors and officials of the 8 other TPP governments have  
had access to the texts, which is to say everyone but the U.S. public,  
press and most in Congress.

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