TPP impact on domestic regulation: consumer rights

and public health

Angela McDougall, Policy Advisor

TPPA must not restrict governments from implementing

measures needed to protect health and consumer rights

• Consumer right to informed choice

• Food labelling and regulation

• Access to affordable medicines

Consumer priorities in the TPPA:

• TBT and SPS chapters must not restrict governments’ ability to regulate food and labelling to protect health or consumer rights

• Any expansion of pharmaceutical IP rights must not restrict governments from providing affordable access to medicines

• If there is an ISDS mechanism in the investment chapter, there must be effective exceptions for both consumer rights and health

About CHOICE

• Number one consumer rights advocate in Australia

• More than 160,000 members

• Social enterprise and completely self-funded

• Independent publisher of consumer information

About Consumers International

• Global federation of consumer organisations

• 220 member organisations in 115 countries

• Independent and not-for-profit

• Global research and campaigns through and for our members

United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection

Consumers International summary of consumer rights:

• the right to the satisfaction of basic needs

• the right to safety

• the right to be informed

• the right to choose

• the right to be heard

• the right to redress

• the right to consumer education

• the right to a healthy environment

Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Broad concerns

• Lack of transparency around negotiations

• Privileging of private interests over the public interest

Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Consumer concerns around copyright provisions (CHAPTER: Intellectual property)

• Restrictions on parallel importation of copyrighted goods

• Anti-circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs)

• Copyright infringement enforcement

• Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry into copyright and the digital economy

The TPPA should not restrict governments from regulating food and

labelling to protect consumer rights and public

health

(CHAPTERS: Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary

Standards,)

Right to make informed decisions is well-recognised in Australia

eg energy star ratings on home appliances:

Food regulation in Australia

Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991

Section 18 Objectives of the Authority in developing or reviewing food regulatory measures and variations of food regulatory measures

(1) The objectives (in descending priority order) of the Authority in developing or reviewing food regulatory measures and variations of food regulatory measures are:

(a) the protection of public health and safety(b) the provision of adequate information

relating to food to enable consumers to make informed choices

(c) the prevention of misleading or deceptive conduct

Mandatory labelling - food safety and public health

Nutrition information panels

Date marking

Mandatory labelling to inform consumers

Percentage ingredient labelling

Country of origin labelling

Further regulation is needed …

Health and nutrition claims • Standard 1.2.7 - Nutrition, Health and Related Claims – introduced January

2013

– Health claims eg ‘High in calcium for strong bones’ and ‘High in calcium to reduce the risk of osteoporosis’ limited to healthy products

– But nutrition claims like ‘High in fibre’ can be made on any product even if it is high in saturated fat, sodium or sugar

– Evidence for new high level health claims (eg ‘High in calcium to reduce the risk of osteoporosis’) must evaluated by government authority before claims can appear in the market

– But food companies can evaluate the evidence behind general health claims (eg ‘High in calcium for strong bones’) without independent scrutiny

Further regulation is needed …

Labelling of genetically modified ingredients

• GM labelling is required but only where there is an altered characteristic in the end product

• Loopholes in the regulation:

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/gmfood/labelling/Pages/default.aspx

… therefore, the TPPA must not restrict our governments from implementing measures to: Protect consumers’ health Enable consumers to make informed choices about

what we eat

• Should we be worried about the TPPA?– TBT chapter?– SPS chapter?

• Critical concern – investor-state dispute settlement – investors challenging regulation made by states to serve the public interest?

2. Sovereign states must be able to provide their citizens with access to

affordable medicines

(CHAPTER: Transparency – Healthcare annex)

Access to affordable medicines • Australia’s subsidised medicines program: Pharmaceutical Benefits

Scheme (PBS)

• Potential threats to the PBS? – Rights of pharmaceutical companies to challenge reference pricing

decisions – Entrenching ever-greening of pharmaceutical patents– Banning pre-grant patent oppositions

• Expanding the intellectual property rights (IPRs) of patent-holders could cost individuals and governments – particularly in developing countries

• Any measures to extend IPRs of pharmaceutical companies must not restrict ability of sovereign states to provide citizens with access to affordable medicines

3. Domestic regulations to protect public health and consumer rights must be effectively excepted from any ISDS

provision in the TPPA

(CHAPTER: Investment)

Cigarette plain packaging in Australia

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)

• Phillip Morris challenge to Australia’s cigarette plain packaging laws was rejected by the High Court …

…. so Phillip Morris moved assets to Hong Kong to challenge under the ISDS provision of a trade agreement

• Implications for future efforts to protect public health and consumer rights?

• Multinationals lining up to challenge our government’s progress on issues like food labelling and informing consumers under ISDS mechanism?

If the TPPA is to contain an ISDS mechanism, there must be an effective exception for

domestic regulation that protects consumer rights and public health.

Conclusion

• Remember:

– Consume right to informed choice

– Imperative to protect public health

Thank you