News

Nairobi MC10 must deliver on development, say CSOs

9 July, 2015
TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jul15/07)
Some 341 global civil society organisations (CSOs) on Wednesday underlined that if the upcoming tenth ministerial conference (MC10) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to be held in Nairobi, Kenya is to be a "success", it must deliver on development and turn around the WTO.

Letter from Civil Society Regarding Future Agenda of the WTO Negotiations

8 July, 2015
341 organizations of civil society from over 100 countries of the global North and South, as consumer groups, environmentalists, trade unions, farmers, and other development advocates, have sent a letter to WTO members regarding the wrong direction of the current WTO talks, and urged the governments to substantially turnaround the negotiations in advance of the December Ministerial in Nairobi.

341 groups from 100+ countries call on WTO Members to Abandon Liberalization Push and Turnaround WTO Agenda

8 July, 2015
Today, 341 global civil society organizations – including development advocates, trade unions, farmers’ organizations, consumer and environmental groups from over 100 countries – sent a letter to WTO members today urging them to abandon the WTO expansion talks and instead focus on an urgent agenda to fix existing damaging rules in the WTO.

TISA Text and Analysis: Annex on Telecommunication Services

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TISA Annex on Telecommunication Services concentrates on standardizing a communications regulatory regime across all TiSA countries, preventing states from discriminating against foreign or foreign-owned telecommunications providers where to do so would create obstacles to trade or result in a loss of competition, and ensuring access for foreign companies to undersea fiber-optic cables and landing facilities. An earlier version of the Annex was previously published by WikiLeaks. This April 2015 text dates from the 12th TiSA negotiating round help from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva Switzerland.

TISA Leaks Part Deux: More Evidence of Concerted Attack on Democracy

2 July, 2015
Common Dreams
One day after it leaked a trove of documents related to the massive, pro-corporate Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), WikiLeaks on Thursday published another four chapters of the proposed 52-nation trade deal, covering key areas ahead of the next negotiating round on Monday.

TISA Text and Analysis: Annex on Domestic Regulation

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TISA Annex on domestic regulation restricts the ability of TiSA states to enact regulations which affect the international trade in services, or which are deemed incompatible with the market philosophy underlying TiSA. WikiLeaks has previously published an earlier version of this Annex. The April 2015 text dates from shortly after the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Time to wave the white flag on TISA secrecy - Prof. Jane Kelsey, July 2, 2015

2 July, 2015
Scoop.co.nz
Today, Wikileaks has posted recent texts from April and May 2015, including the proposed core text and annexes on domestic regulation and transparency, and provided expert analysis of those texts (wikileaks.org/tisa/).

TiSA Financial Services Negotiating Text and analysis

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TiSA Financial Services Annex sets rules which would assist the expansion of financial multi-nationals – mainly headquartered in New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt – into other nations by preventing regulatory barriers. Two earlier versions of the Financial Services Annex have previously been published by WikiLeaks. This April 2015 text dates from the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trade in Services Agreement (TISA): Texts and Analysis released by Wikileaks, July 2, 2015

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
Today, Wednesday July 2, 2015 at 1500 CEST, WikiLeaks continues publishing documents from the secret ongoing TiSA (Trade in Services Agremeent) negotiations, with four Chapters in key areas ahead of the next negotiating round on Monday: Electronic Commerce, Telecommunications Services, Financial Services and Maritime Transport Services.

LEAKED: How the Biggest Banks Are Conspiring to Rip Up Financial Regulations around the World

2 July, 2015
Wolf Street
It’s almost impossible to keep anything secret these days – not even the core text of a hyper-secret trade deal, the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), which has spent the last two years taking shape behind the hermetically sealed doors of highly secure locations around the world. According to the agreement’s provisional text, the document is supposed to remain confidential and concealed from public view for at least five years after being signed! But now, thanks to WikiLeaks, it has seeped to the surface.

TISA Text and Analysis: Transparency Negotiating Text

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TISA Annex on transparency aims to make governments more transparent to global commercial actors, creating obligations to notify and consult with transnational corporations on decisions and measures which may affect their interests. Two earlier versions of the Annex have previously been published by WikiLeaks. This April 2015 text dates from shortly before the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Just Before Round of Negotiations on the Proposed “Trade in Services Agreement (TISA),” Wikileaks Releases Second Set of Updated Secret Documents

2 July, 2015
Today, Wikileaks released a second batch of the most updated draft texts on the proposed TISA, along with substantive analysis, on each of four cross-cutting annexes: Financial Services, Telecommunications, Electronic Commerce, and Maritime Transport. This follows on their release yesterday of texts on Domestic Regulation, the “Movement of Natural Persons,” Transparency, and Government Procurement, along with what WikiLeaks called the journalistic holy grail: the TISA’s Core Text.

TISA Text and Analysis: Annex on Electronic Commerce

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TiSA Annex on Electronic Commerce places restrictions on the regulation of electronic commercial services, disallows requirements for local data storage and processing, and obliges states to allow private data gathered in connection with the provision of e-commerce services to flow freely over borders. An earlier version of the Electronic Commerce Annex was previously published by WikiLeaks. This April 2015 text dates from shortly after the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

TISA Text and Analysis: Annex on Government Procurement

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TISA Annex on Government procurement aims to regulate the processes by which TiSA governments procure services to ensure that service markets are opened up to international competition and to give foreign services suppliers footing to contest domestic services suppliers in government tendering and procurement procedures. This April 2015 text dates from shortly after the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Core Text and Analysis

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft core text of Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) contains the most general provisional language agreed by the Parties, establishing the overall legal architecture of TiSA. Specialist areas, such as maritime transport services, or electronic commerce, are dealt with in "Annexes", which are negotiated alongside the core text. WikiLeaks has previously published a large number of secret TiSA Annexes. WikiLeaks' publication of the present core text for the first time gives the public a picture of the scale and scope of TiSA, and illustrates the overarching legal framework for previously published Annexes. The draft core text dates from April 2015, shortly after the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Wikileaks Releases Updated Secret TISA Documents Just Before Negotiations - The Huffington Post, July 2, 2015

2 July, 2015
The Huffington Post
Today, Wikileaks released a second batch of the most updated draft texts on the proposed TISA, along with substantive analysis, on each of four massive services sectors: Financial Services, Telecommunications Services, Electronic Commerce, and Maritime Transport. This follows on their release yesterday of cross-cutting annexes on Domestic Regulation, the "Movement of Natural Persons," Transparency, and Government Procurement, and the Agenda for next week's negotiations, along with what Wikileaks called the journalistic holy grail: the Core Text of the proposed agreement.

TISA Text and Analysis: Annex on International Maritime Transport Services

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TiSA Annex on International Maritime Transport Services concentrates on the privatization of maritime transport services in TiSA countries, opening up the maritime services industries to transnational companies and contractors. Affected services would include cargo and passenger transport, cargo handling, storage, warehousing and loading services. WikiLeaks has previously published an earlier version of the Maritime Transport Services Annex. This April 2015 text dates from the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held from 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

TISA Text and Analysis: Annex on Movement of Natural Persons

2 July, 2015
Wikileaks
The draft TISA Annex on movement of natural persons aims to harmonize limitations on the ability of national governments to restrict the ingress, movement or egress within their territory of employees, contractors or agents of services companies. An earlier version of this Annex was previously published by WikiLeaks. This April 2015 text dates from the 12th round of TiSA negotiations held 13-17 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

TiSA WikiLeaked: Winners & losers of multinational trade deal - RT

2 July, 2015
Russia Today
WikiLeaks has published secret “core text” related to the controversial trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors between the US, EU and 23 other countries. Big corporations look to be the biggest winners in the deal.

Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Press release by Wikileaks, July 1, 2015

1 July, 2015
Wikileaks
Today, 1500 CEST Wednesday, 1 July 2015, WikiLeaks releases a modern journalistic holy grail: the secret Core Text for the largest 'trade deal' in history, the TiSA (Trade In Services Agreement), whose 52 nations together comprise two-thirds of global GDP.