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2017 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

15. Enhancing Labour Protection Through TPP Labour and Investment Chapters

verfasst von : Tsai-Yu Lin

Erschienen in: Paradigm Shift in International Economic Law Rule-Making

Verlag: Springer Singapore

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Abstract

States increasingly prefer to conclude comprehensive trade and investment rules in the same instrument under FTAs. How labour rights protection, an important non-economic matter, which can be effectively enforced across chapters might become an emerging challenge to FTAs. The TPP provides a new platform to look at labour matters from the perspective on labour, trade and investment linkages. Certain types of labour-linkage provisions are shifted away from the current bilateral investment treaties to the Labour Chapter, which may indicate a new focus on labour-trade-investment links. The Investment Chapter and investment arbitration in general might function as a complement to the Labour Chapter by enhancing the compliance of domestic labour laws of host states and foreign corporations. However, insofar as labour rights protection is concerned, it seems that the Investment Chapter does not go very far than those taken by other FTAs. Perhaps neither the Labour Chapter nor the Investment Chapter can address the genuine concerns of workers in Asia-Pacific region. From this perspective, one might not easily ascertain that the TPP has reached “the strongest protections for workers of any trade agreement in history” as the United States Trade Representative has stated.

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Vorheriges Kapitel WTO to the TPP: Evolution of Environmental Provisions in Trade Agreements

Nächstes Kapitel TPP’s Coup de Grâce: How the Trademark System Prevailed as Geographical Indication System

Kimberly Ann Elliott, ‘Labour standards and the TPP’, in C.L. Lim and others (eds), The Trans-Pacific Partnership (CUP 2012) 201–202.

GATT Article XX only refers to products of prison labour.

According to the ILO, 21 trade agreements contain labour provisions in 2005 and 58 in 2013. See International Labour Organization, Social Dimensions of Free Trade Agreements (ILO 2015) 3–4.

See the statement of the United States Trade Representative on the TPP, available at www.vox.com/2015/11/12/9716400/tpp-labour-vietnam accessed 1 August 2016. Based on the words of the president Obama of the United States, the higher level of labor protection created in the Asia-Pacific region is ‘one of the hallmarks of the TPP trade deal.’ See Alana Semuels, ‘The TPP’s Uneven Attempt at Labor Protection’ (The Atlantic, 2016) available at www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/tpp-mexico-labour-rights/426501/ accessed 1 August 2016.

For the purpose of this Chapter, ‘ILO Declaration’ means the International Labour Organization (ILO) ‘Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up (1998).’

Franz Christian Ebert, ‘Labour Standards in Mega-Regional Trade Agreements: the Case of TPP and TTIP’, in Thilo Rensmann (ed.), Mega-Regional Trade Agreements and the Future of International Trade and Investment Law (forthcoming).

From the perspective of regulatory model, it has included the element of process and production methods (PPMs) as the cause of action, which goes beyond the approach in the WTO.

Notably, Footnote 4 of article 19.3 provides: ‘To establish a violation of an obligation under Article 19.3.1 (Labour Rights) or Article 19.3.2, a Party must demonstrate that the other Party has failed to adopt or maintain a statute, regulation or practice in a manner affecting trade or investment between the Parties.’

The 2002 Belgium Model BIT also maintains the reference to the ILO and relevant international labour standards. Paragraph 6 of Article 1 The 2002 Belgium Model BIT specifies ‘acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health’ as its labour standards. Examples can be found in agreements concluded Belgium/Luxembourg with Congo, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Lybia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama and Sudan. Cited from Bertram Boie, ‘Labour Related Provisions in International Investment Agreements’, ILO Employment Sector Employment Working Paper No. 126 (2012) 18 available at www.ilo.org/employment/Whatwedo/Publications/working-papers/WCMS_191245/lang--en/index.htm accessed 1 August 2016.

See Office of the United States Trade Representative, ‘TPP Made in America: Labour’ available at https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/TPP-Chapter-Summary-Labour-1.pdf accessed 1August 2016.

Kofi Addo, Core Labour Standards and International Trade, Lessons from the Regional Context (Springer 2015) 102.

See Article 13(2) of the U.S. Model BIT.

Rafael Peels and others, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in International Trade and Investment Agreements: Implications for States, Business and Workers’, ILO Research Paper No. 13 (2016) 22 available at www.ilo.org/global/research/papers/WCMS_476193/lang--en/index.htm accessed 1 August 2016.

Rafael Peels and others, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in International Trade and Investment Agreements: Implications for States, Business and Workers’, ILO Research Paper No. 13 (2016) 20 available at www.ilo.org/global/research/papers/WCMS_476193/lang--en/index.htm accessed 1 August 2016.

See Article 19.11 of TPP (Cooperative Labour Dialogue).

See Article 19.10.3 and Article 19.10.6 of TPP.

See Article 19.12 of TPP.

See Article 19.9 of TPP.

See Article 28.3 of TPP.

See Article 19.15 of TPP.

See Article 19. 15.13 of TPP.

Some may argue that suspension of benefits could create the purpose on the private sectors where labor violations took place.

The United States has been heavily criticized to be very slow to take legal actions against countries like Guatemala when they violate FTAs. See The editorial board, ‘Pacific Trade and Worker Rights’ New York Times (New York, 2015), available at www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/opinion/sunday/pacific-trade-and-worker-rights.html accessed 1 August 2016.

Article 9.9.3(a) (performance requirements) of the Investment Chapter states that ‘[n]othing in para 2 shall be construed to prevent a Party from conditioning the receipt or continued receipt of an advantage, in connection with an investment of an investor of a Party or of a non-Party in its territory, on compliance with a requirement to locate production, supply a service, train or employ workers, construct or expand particular facilities, or carry out research and development, in its territory.’(emphasis added) Article 9.9.4 adds, for greater certainty, “nothing in para 1 shall be construed to prevent a Party… from imposing or enforcing a requirement, or enforcing a commitment or undertaking, to employ or train workers in its territory provided that the employment or training does not require the transfer of a particular technology, production process or other proprietary knowledge to a person in its territory (emphasis added). On performance provision, the TPP at least allows states to impose or enforce a requirement to employ or train workers in its territory.

Article 13(1) of the U.S.-Uruguay BITs states that ‘[i]n the event that a contracting Party considers that the other contracting Party sought to encourage investment by offering to relax its labor standards, that Party can instead request consultations with the other Party.’ See e.g. Articles 6(4) of the BLEU-Mauritius BIT provides that ‘[T]he Contracting Parties recognise that co-operation between them provides enhanced opportunities to improve labour standards. Upon request by either Contracting Party, the other Contracting Party shall accept to hold expert consultations on any matter falling under the purpose of this Article.’ The BITs concluded by the BLEU in principle retain the possibility for the labor clause to be invoked in investor-State arbitration.

Arguably, whether ILO principles can apply through treaty interpretation or general principle of international law can be another point.

Notably, Article 12.15 of the TPP investment chapter (the June 2012 leaked version) creates an exception for measures that a Party considers appropriate, to ensure that ‘investment activity is undertaken in a manner sensitive to environmental [, health, safety, or labour] [, health or safety] concerns.’ As indicated, labour has been bracketed as no consensus.

See United Parcel Service of America Inc. v. Government of Canada, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, Investor’s Memorial (Merits Phase) (23 March 2005); cited from Vid Prislan and Ruben Zandvliet, ‘Labor Provisions in International Investment Agreements: Prospects for Sustainable Development’, Grotius Centre Working Paper Series 2013/003-IEL (2013) 39 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2171716 accessed 1 August 2016.

For instance, Denmark-Poland Bilateral Investment Treaty Article 1(a), Definition of ‘Investment’; Czech Republic-Costa Rica Bilateral Investment Treaty Article 1(1); Australia-Philippines Bilateral Investment Treaty Article 1, s. 1(a).

Vid Prislan and Ruben Zandvliet, ‘Labor Provisions in International Investment Agreements: Prospects for Sustainable Development’, Grotius Centre Working Paper Series 2013/003-IEL (2013) 52 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2171716 accessed 1 August 2016. The tribunal in Rumeli Telekom A.S. and Telsim Mobil Telekomikasyon Hizmetleri A.S. v. Republic of Kazakhstan states that “…investments […] will only be excluded from the protection of the treaty if they have been made in breach of fundamental legal principles of the host country.” ICSID Case No. ARB/05/16, Award (29 July 2008) para. 319.

See Stephan W. Schill, ‘Illegal Investments in International Arbitration’ (2012) 11 J World Inv & Trade 281, 302. For instance, the tribunal in Yaung Chi Oo Trading v. Myanmar held that there is a “general rule that for a foreign investment to enjoy treaty protection it must be lawful under the law of the host State.” Yaung Chi Oo Trading Pte. Ltd. v. Government of the Union of Myanmar, ASEAN I.D. Case No. ARB/01/1, Award (31 March 2003), 42 ILM 540 (2003) para 58. Also see Tamar Morchiladze, ‘Impact of Investment Wrongdoing on Arbitration Proceedings How Far Should an Investment Wrongdoing Get?’(Master thesis, University of Oslo 2012) 38–53.

See Peter Muchlinski, ‘“Caveat Investor”? The Relevance of the Conduct of the Investor under the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard’ (2006) 55 ICLQ 527, 536–556. See Emilio Agustín Maffezini v. The Kingdom of Spain, ICSID Case No. ARB/97/7, Award (13 November 2000) paras 70–71.

See Article 13 of the COMESA Investment Agreement.

United Parcel Service of America Inc. v. Government of Canada, Amicus Submission—CUPE & ‘Council of Canadians’ (20 October 2005) paras 26–28, available at http://naftaclaims.com/Disputes/Canada/UPS/UPSCUPE_CC_Amicus_Submission-20-10-05.pdf accessed 1 August 2016.

As seen in Philip Morris v Uruguay regarding tobacco packaging measures, the amicus curiae submission jointly submitted by the WHO and the FCTC’s Secretariat has been accepted by the ICSID tribunal. The unique position of the WHO as the world authority on public health matters in providing information on tobacco control is particularly recognized in the decision accepting the submission. Philip Morris Brand Sàrl (Switzerland), Philip Morris Products SA (Switzerland), and Abal Hermanos SA (Uruguay) v Oriental Republic of Uruguay, ICSID Case No. ARB/10/7, Procedural Order No. 3 (17 February 2015), paras 24 & 25(c).

See Article 9.22.2 of TPP: ‘A non-disputing Party may make oral and written submissions to the tribunal regarding the interpretation of this Agreement.’

In 2013, Bangladesh’s garment industry has led to severe workplace conditions, and factory fires and building collapses killed 1134 people and injured hundreds of people. See Jason Burke and Rebecca Smithers, ‘Many dead as garment factory building that supplied west collapses’ The Guardian (Dhaka, 2013) available at www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/24/bangladesh-building-collapse-shops-west accessed 1 August 2016.

Titel: Enhancing Labour Protection Through TPP Labour and Investment Chapters
verfasst von: Tsai-Yu Lin
Verlag: Springer Singapore
Buch: Paradigm Shift in International Economic Law Rule-Making
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6730-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-10-6731-0

Copyright-Jahr: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6731-0_15