File: /files/New-Files/200104/41_leaked_pages_of

/files/New-Files/200104/41_leaked_pages_of_ftaa.txt

          From: Ecotoday@aol.com
Subject: SNET: 41 Leaked Pages of 'FTAA
Date: 20 Apr 2001 14:29:03 -0400
To: surfingtheapocalypse@egroups.com, CTRL@listserv.aol.com

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Published on Friday, April 20, 2001 in the Toronto Globe & Mail=20
41 Leaked Pages of 'FTAA =E2=80=94 Negotiating Group on Investment'=20
When You Get What You Wish For=20
by Paul Knox=20
 =20
Quebec City =E2=80=94 Be careful what you ask for, the saying goes. You may=20=
get it.=20
And we got it yesterday, 41 leaked pages of the most tortuous, turgid prose=20
you could possibly imagine.=20
Intelligent people who know a lot about this stuff say the document headed=20
FTAA =E2=80=94 Negotiating Group on Investment is a road map for multination=
al=20
corporations to bulldoze governments out of existence. They may well be=20
right. But I have to say, my first reaction to it was a wave of sympathy for=
=20
the poor souls doomed to negotiate trade deals, and the critics whose grim=20
mission is to keep them honest.

Members of various women's organizations hang banners on the 'Wall of Shame'=
=20
security fence that encloses the Summit of the Americas meeting zone in=20
Quebec City, Canada, during a brief demonstration Thursday, April 19, 2001.=20
(AP Photo/CP, Tom Hanson)=20
=20
This is the first leak to trickle out of talks on the proposed Free Trade=20
Area of the Americas =E2=80=94 a new economic constitution for the Western=20
Hemisphere. It is one of nine draft chapters, and you can find it at=20
www.iatp.org =E2=80=94 the home of a U.S. activist group that was lucky or s=
mart=20
enough to score this coup. If by some miracle it leaves you begging for more=
,=20
don't despair. In a few weeks, the whole dreary book will be officially=20
released, thanks to the pressure of activists organizing around this=20
weekend's Quebec City summit.=20

If nothing else, the leaked chapter highlights the serious difficulties=20
facing FTAA negotiators, who are trying to wrap up the agreement next year=20
for implementation in 2005. They range from money to geopolitics to a lot of=
=20
very real questions about just what it is that George W. Bush has in mind fo=
r=20
the Americas, and whether he can be effective enough as president to pull it=
=20
off.

But let's assume for the moment that the process has legs. There's enough in=
=20
this document to indicate that many of the traditional tools of government=20
stand to be stripped away in the name of ensuring equal, non-discriminatory=20
access to markets. Big investors don't want Canada's Jean Chr=C3=A9tien,=20
Venezuela's Hugo Ch=C3=A1vez or any other pesky national leader telling them=
 they=20
cannot go somewhere to make money because they don't carry the right=20
passport. Many of these are U.S. investors, and much of the most radical=20
language is probably inspired, if not directly proposed, by U.S. negotiators=
.

The problem in analyzing the leaked chapter is that right now it's a=20
mish-mash of alternative wordings. You can't tell which country is proposing=
=20
what. And you can't measure the overall impact, since the potential impact o=
f=20
any given section depends on its relationship to all the others, and no one=20
has signed off on anything yet.

Take the short Article 6, headed Fair and Equitable Treatment. It will=20
probably amount to a couple of lines when they get finished with it. It's no=
w=20
four times that length. I counted five parts to it =E2=80=94 with three alte=
rnative=20
wordings for each of the first two, six each for the second two, and two for=
=20
the final one. The general idea is to stop governments from wiping out the=20
value of an investment by imposing arbitrary regulations. But limits as to=20
which investments are covered have been proposed, and some alternatives are=20
much more specific than others on the question of exactly what rights are=20
being guaranteed.

Nevertheless, the broad direction is clear. Drastic limits are obviously=20
being considered on the ability of governments to impose performance=20
requirements on big investors. Again, nothing is certain. But the pact could=
=20
wind up outlawing rules on domestic-content levels, technology transfer,=20
local procurement or the final destination of goods and services produced.

Moreover, somebody =E2=80=94 probably the United States =E2=80=94 is trying=20=
to replicate the=20
much-maligned section of the North American free-trade agreement that allows=
=20
corporations to sue governments, claiming discriminatory treatment. As=20
Toronto trade lawyer Steven Shrybman points out, this amounts to a=20
hemispheric charter of rights for entities that are not even parties to the=20
agreement, and who are not obliged to take on any duties or responsibilities=
=20
in return.

Here's where the arguments of free-trade critics begin to make sense.

Why, on the face of it, should the chapter assure investors' rights and not=20
workers' rights? Or basic human rights, for that matter? They, too, could be=
=20
jeopardized by a sweeping investment regimen.

In return for vastly improved market access, wouldn't it be reasonable to=20
require environmental and social assessments of major investments, disclosur=
e=20
of key details and monitoring of their impact?

In the past, that would have been considered an impermissible infringement o=
f=20
national sovereignty. But we're in a new game now. If free trade's proponent=
s=20
really believe it will better the human condition, why should they be afraid=
=20
of putting it in writing?

Copyright =C2=A9 2001 Globe Interactive

_____
EcoNews Service
http://www.ecologynews.com
econews@ecologynews.com
Vancouver, BC V6M1V8

=20

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