PH starts accession process to CPTPP
The Philippines has already started its accession process to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) region, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
DTI Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo, who is also managing head of Board of Investments, said the Philippines has already written to New Zealand, the depository country of the CPTPP, and Japan, chair of the CPTPP last year on the process of accession.
“We have conveyed our interest with the parties to the CPTPP through our bilateral engagements and so far, we have been receiving supportive messages from them,” Rodolfo said.
The CPTPP is a 21st century, comprehensive, multilateral free trade agreement between 11 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
This new FTA was formed after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in January 2017. The remaining 11 signatories, known as the TPP-11, successfully developed a new trade agreement CPTPP without the US.
The CPTPP was signed in Chile in March 2018 and entered into force on December 30, 2018. Members of the CPTPP cover a combined 13.5 percent of the global economy, making this one of the largest free trade agreements in the world.
Most provisions of the CPTPP are similar or identical to the original TPP. However, 22 provisions of the TPP that were once favored by the U.S. but generally opposed by other signatories were suspended in the CPTPP.
One of the main differences in the CPTPP is the removal of certain provisions regarding intellectual property. Though the US favored longer copyright terms, automatic patent extensions, and separate protections for new technologies, these provisions were unpopular among the remaining signatories and ultimately removed from the CPTPP.
The CPTPP also features modifications to the investment chapter, certain implementation timelines, and labor and environmental rules from the original TPP. These suspended provisions, however, can also be reinstated, leaving the door open for the US to join the agreement.
As of May 2019, seven countries have ratified the CPTPP: Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam. The agreement entered into force between these seven countries on December 30, 2018 but has yet to enter into force for the remaining four signatories – Brunei, Chile, Peru, and Malaysia – that have not yet ratified the agreement.
The Philippines still has other pending proposed FTA negotiations with other countries.
So far, the country’s participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership still hangs as Senate has yet to concur the executive ratification. President Duterte ratified the trade treaty in September last year yet.
However, several various organizations, composed of farmers, producers, and non-government organizations, have put up a strong lobby against RCEP.
The Senate will adjourn session on Feb. 5 to pave the way for the political campaign period for the May 9 election. If Senate fails to concur the RCEP ratification, the treaty has to wait for the next administration and the new Senate by the second semester this year.