Yesterday Wikileaks posted a near-ready investment chapter of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) dated January 20. It shows the Government has not listened to New Zealanders opposing special rights for foreign investors and their enforcement in controversial, private, offshore tribunals.
Nor has it protected the New Zealand Government’s right to regulate from being attacked by foreign investors and from rogue interpretations by investment arbitration tribunals, as promised.
The text shows the main rules relied on by foreign investors are largely unchanged from the previous leak in 2012. In one important case, the worst option was chosen.
There is no agreement on restricting capital flows in a financial crisis; the choice is between a weak exception and a meaningless one.
