[CTC] 6 chapters of TPP pact still unresolved

[Arthur Stamoulis]

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002266704

6 chapters of TPP pact still unresolved 
8:01 pm, July 05, 2015
Of the 31 chapters of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, six are expected to require “political settlement” at a ministerial meeting, according to Japanese government sources.

The six include chapters on protection of intellectual property rights, treatment of state-owned enterprises and investment rules.

With some issues also left pending in Japan-U.S. negotiations on tariff removal, outlook for whether the 12 negotiating countries can strike a broad deal by the end of this month as targeted remains shaky.

“On 17 chapters, negotiations have been concluded or will be concluded after double-checking,” Kazuhisa Shibuya, councilor at the Cabinet Secretariat and a member of the government’s TPP task force, told a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in late June.

According to sources familiar with TPP talks, relevant officials have been trying to work out remaining problems after chief negotiators met in Guam in May.

The 12 economies have almost ironed out their differences over sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS, rules for food imports.

According to Japanese government officials, no country has demanded changes in Japan’s food safety rules. If it is true, Japan will not have to substantially ease regulations on residual pesticides and genetically modified foods.

Meanwhile, in eight other fields, including government procurement, some differences persist, but working-level officials have paved the way for agreements.

Negotiations are not proceeding smoothly in the remaining six areas.

In particular, forming a consensus on how long data of new drugs should be protected is difficult, sources said.

While the United States demands such data be protected for up to 12 years, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia complain such excessive protection would block the spread of low-cost generic drugs.

“Unless Washington shortens the requested protection period, there is little chance of an agreement,” a Japanese negotiator said.


The chief negotiators from the 12 countries will start talks around July 23, aiming to enable their ministers to hold their meeting at the end of the month for a broad deal.

Ahead of the chief negotiators’ talks, bilateral issues should be resolved as much as possible, TPP minister Akira Amari said.Spee <>
Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20150706/bf825435/attachment-0001.htm>