Trade in Services Agreement - EDRi’s position
The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) is a trade agreement currently
under negotiation between the European Union (EU) and 22 countries,
including the United States of America (USA), Australia, Canada, Chile,
Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru and Turkey. Since March 2013,
representatives from these countries are discussing the content of this
agreement and seeking to liberalise trade in services, such as
financial services, telecoms or electronic commerce (e-commerce). TiSA
is based on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), but its
purpose is to go beyond the GATS and eventually replace it.
With regard to the content of the currently accessible documents, the
leaked “core” text contains the general provisional language agreed by
the negotiating countries,
establishing the overall legal architecture of TiSA. Topics such as
telecommunications, e-commerce or financial services are dealt
with in separate “Annexes”, which are negotiated alongside the core
text.
On the basis of the currently limited available information
and leaked texts, the greatest concerns regarding TiSA involve the
introduction of greater limitations on the government’s right to
regulate or legislate and the inclusion of potentially harmful
provisions for the protection of the fundamental rights to privacy and
data protection, as well as net neutrality.
Click here for the full statement
