>>5957089
3/26/19
The keys to understanding TPP11
Although it takes the TPP provisions as a basis, the CPTPP or TPP11 has some differences. The most relevant: 20 provisions that, with the departure from the US, were left "suspended".
In 2005, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore signed the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, which would enter into force in 2006. As of 2008, more countries joined: Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam completed the 12 signatory countries, which later formed the Trans-Pacific Economic Cooperation Agreement (TPP, for its acronym in English). That until 2017, when Donald Trump decided to withdraw the United States from the treaty.
It was then when the 11 remaining countries "rescued" the content of the agreement and began to negotiate the Integral and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Partnership ( CPTPP ), also known as TPP11, to differentiate it from the previous TPP12.
The bilateral director of Direcon and chief negotiator of TPP11, Felipe Lopeandía , explains the current situation of the agreement, signed in Santiago on March 8, 2018, but that must be ratified by Congress, which he joined at the end of October 2018. Since that date it was reviewed and approved by the Foreign Affairs and Finance Commissions. During March, the agreement was also discussed by the Agriculture and Labor Commissions.
"After having been approached by these two commissions, last week he went to the chamber of the Chamber [of Deputies], his discussion began in the room last Wednesday [March 20] and, as a result of this week is district , the discussion in the room is resumed next week, "details Lopeandía in an interview with PAUTA Bloomberg .
Lopeandía relates that the negotiation of the TPP was very complex, with many participating countries, with different economic and regulatory realities, and with complex proposals, especially by the United States. The negotiations, in fact, extended from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2015.
Suspicions
The complexity of the negotiation of the TPP would explain, in Lopeandía's opinion, many of the concerns that the TPP11 now generates, especially regarding intellectual property issues, although it is quick to clarify that, although the TPP11 includes part of the contents of the TPP12 , leaves 20 provisions unapplied, 11 of which have to do with intellectual property, pharmaceutical patents and copyright on the internet. "I think there were many of those elements of suspicion or doubts about the content of this agreement," he says.
Another element that has generated doubts, recognizes Lopeandía, is an obligation that is in the CPTPP, but that had already been acquired by Chile with the ratification of the agreement UPOV 91 in 2011, which protects new plant varieties. Although the regulations for their full application have not been generated, it is a norm that is already ratified by Congress and, therefore, TPP11 does not change anything in this regard, he explains.
The rule, he says, refers to new varieties and plant products, achieved through research and innovation, and does not affect the country's plant heritage, for example the original seeds in the hands of small communities, emphasizes Lopeandía.
"Notwithstanding that Chile already has bilateral agreements with all the member countries of this agreement, the tariff benefits for Chile are very significant," says Lopeandía, who explains that they include nearly 3,000 new tariff preferences, Chilean export products that go to access with better conditions to markets such as Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada and Mexico, mainly from the agricultural, agroindustrial, forestry and fishing sectors.
Lopeandía stresses the importance of the approval of the agreement, since it is in force for the seven countries that have already approved it since December 30, 2018. Chilean producers are at a disadvantage compared to those of countries that have already ratified the treaty.