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TiSA

TiSA: Trade in Services Agreement

TiSA is a new trade agreement being negotiated on services. The TiSA talks are taking place outside the frame of the World Trade Organisation and its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), even though they began among a group of WTO members. TiSA is explicitly meant to go beyond the WTO/GATS. If it is finalised, it may eventually become part of the WTO or simply stand on its own, but either way, its provisions will certainly be carried into other bilateral and plurilateral trade deals.

The countries negotiating TiSA are: Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, European Union, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States. These countries account for about two-thirds of global trade in services. However, major world economies such as China, India or Brazil are not present in these negotiations and that the BRICS and ASEAN groupings are not included. In September 2015, Uruguay and Paraguay dropped out of the TiSA negotations, after massive popular opposition to the deal.

TiSA seeks the elimination of regulations and national legislation concerning services. There is a strong North-South asymmetry in the negotiating positions, creating significant distortions in the manoeuvring space that governments have to design and implement domestic policies in a wide variety of topics. TiSA’s “sectoral annexes” (key chapters) are: movement of persons, financial services, telecommunications, shipping, air services, postal services, professional services, electronic commerce, freight, public procurement, environment, direct distribution, subsidies, energy and services related to health. In addition to the “sectoral annexes”, the parties are negotiating other “specific disciplines” such as domestic regulation, transparency and location. The United States is particularly interested in liberalisation of financial services, information and communication technology, postal services and seeing progress on domestic regulation. The European Union also has a strong interest in liberalising financial services. Both the EU and the US are home to transnational leaders in these sectors, so they would gain the most.

Of particular concern are the “status quo” clause, the “ratchet” clause, “national treatment” and the use of “negative lists”. This approach involves making commitments based on lists indicating sectors which each negotiating party wants to exclude from the negotiations. It creates major distortions and departs from the provisions of the multilateral framework of the WTO. These clauses and the negative list approach are meant to secure greater and deeper market openings, liberalisation and deregulation, at the same time reducing the role of the state.

Wikileaks has played a critical role in exposing the draft TiSA texts under negotiation and helping to provide analysis and understanding of what is at stake. In many countries, labour unions are on the front line of the resistance to TiSA because so many people are employed in the service sector. Whether they are people working in the ports of Canada or the hospitals of India, TiSA directly threatens to take away jobs.

Eventually the negotiations failed in 2016 and they have been put on hold since then because the governments of the rich countries could not agree among themselves.

with the contribution of REDES (Friends of the Earth, Uruguay)

last update: August 2020

Photo: Public Eye


Commission rejects MEPs’ request for full ban on ratchet and standstill clauses in TiSA
The European Commission has rejected a recommendation put forward by the European Parliament in February’s resolution to fully exclude the application of the standstill and ratchet clauses in the Trade in Services Agreement
TISA ’free trade’ deal to force draconian social, environmental, financial deregulation
A leaked text from the ’Trade In Services Agreement’ negotiations shows that TISA is set to unleash a massive wave of deregulation affecting social, environmental and financial standards.
Cracks emerging in plurilateral talks for TiSA
Cracks are finally emerging in the grossly imbalanced, plurilateral talks on a Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) being pursued by 23 countries.
Trade in Services Agreement ministerial round in Paris
Ministers from the WTO economies negotiating the Trade in Services Agreement met but made no substantial improvements on any of the thorniest issues,
TiSA undermines COP21 action says analysis of leaked annex on Energy
Greenpeace, trade unions and the global trade network Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) claim TiSA is the latest secretly negotiated trade deal that undermines climate change action.
The leaks go on: before another secret round of negotiations on the proposed “trade in services agreement (TiSA)”
The annexes would restrict the job-stimulating localization requirements; restrict how governments and professional associations regulate market access; affect notably the global Internet community of users and innovators.
EU publishes revised TISA market access offer
The European Commission released its revised market access offer for the Trade in Services Agreement at the start of a formal round of talks in Geneva.
Secret new Internet rules in the Trade in Services Agreement
New materials from the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) were released by Wikileaks, revealing that negotiators from around the world have been continuing to craft new rules that will affect all Internet users.
Takeaways from the leaked TISA documents
Whistleblower platform and free trade agreement critic Wikileaks posted draft documents - and its own opinions - from the Trade in Services Agreement talks, on the eve of the 18th round of negotiations.
Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA): Consumers International makes urgent call for greater transparency in negotiations
As the 18th round of negotiations on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) starts on May 26th, consumer organisations are making an urgent call for greater transparency.

    Links


  • ADETRA
    Nouvelles sur le TiSA et le TTIP, sur le site de l’Association de Défense des Travailleuses et Travailleurs
  • TiSA uncovered
    A coalition of concerned groups have created this site to give people across the world a chance to see what their governments are signing up to on their behalf and to create an international network of engaged activists and citizens. Maintained by Public Services International and Our World is Not For Sale. (EN, ES)
  • WikiLeaks on TiSA
    Leaks and analyses of the Trade in Services Agreement. Maintained by WikiLeaks.