Wikileaks Releases New Secret Trade Documents
Secret information service provider WikiLeaks has released new secret documents from the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) which is being negotiated by the US, EU, and 22 other countries that, according to Wikileaks, account for 2/3rds of the global GDP.
This release includes a previously unknown annex to the TiSA core chapter on “State Owned Enterprises” (SOEs), which imposes unprecedented restrictions on SOEs and will force majority owned SOEs to operate like private sector businesses.
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According to Wikileaks, this corporatisation of public services – to nearly the same extent as demanded by the recently signed TPP – is a next step to privatisation of SOEs on the neoliberal agenda behind the “Big Three” (TTIP, TiSA, TPP).
Other documents cover updated versions of annexes to TiSA core chapters that were published by WikiLeaks in previous releases.
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These updates show the advances in the confidential negotiations between the TiSA parties on the issues of Domestic Regulation, New Provisions, Transparency, Electronic Commerce, Financial Services, Telecommunication Services, Professional Services and the Movement of Natural Persons. WikiLeaks is also publishing expert analyses on some of these documents.
The annexes on Domestic Regulation, Transparency and New Provisions have further advanced towards the “deregulation” objectives of big corporations entering overseas markets.
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WikiLeaks says the local regulations like store size restrictions or hours of operations are considered an obstacle to achieve “operating efficiencies” of large-scale retailing, disregarding their public benefit that foster livable neighbors and reasonable hours of work for employees.
The TiSA provisions in their current form will establish a wide range of new grounds for domestic regulations to be challenged by corporations – even those without a local presence in that country.
Photo courtesy: Wikileaks
