bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo

RCEP

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a “mega-regional” trade agreement that was signed in November 2020. It had been negotiated since 2012 between the 10 ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) governments and their six FTA partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. But in November 2019, India decided not to join the treaty. The eight years of RCEP negotiations were shrouded in secrecy. Social movements could only rely on leaks to analyse the proposed agreement.

RCEP is largely driven by ASEAN. Indeed, the project originated in, and expands upon, the stitching together of five existing ASEAN+1 trade agreements that ASEAN signed with Japan, South Korea, China, India, Australia and New Zealand. The stated goal of the negotiations was to “boost economic growth and equitable economic development, advance economic cooperation and broaden and deepen integration in the region through the RCEP,” according to the ASEAN website. RCEP covers almost every aspect of economy such as goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property rights (IPR), rules of origin, competition and dispute settlement.

Throughout the negotiations, concerns about the RCEP were voiced in a number of contexts and concern a range of issues. A 2015 leaked text on intellectual property rights proposed by Japan’s negotiators confirmed concerns that the deal could go beyond the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

Various movements and organisations, including environmental groups, trade unions, domestic workers, farmers, hawkers, women groups, and people living with HIV have raised their concerns throughout the negotiations and the current ratification process. Thousands of people marched against the trade deal’s harmful provisions, demanding transparency from governments, in Hyderabad, India, in July 2017, and organised a People’s Convention on RCEP.

In 2019, public pressure forced India to pull out of the negotiations. Several harmful provisions were dropped too, such as the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which allows corporations to sue states before arbitration courts over lost expected profits, and mandatory UPOV91 membership. UPOV is a specialised system of seed patenting, which makes it illegal – in fact, a criminal offence — for farmers to save and reuse protected seeds.

The final text shows that there are no increases in patent monopolies for medicines above the WTO standard of 20 years, advocated by pharmaceutical companies and pushed by Japan and South Korea early in the negotiations, which could have delayed the availability of generic forms of medicines, especially in low income countries, and would have been very damaging in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The electronic commerce chapter left out some of the most dire rules pushed by Big Tech, and present in other trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and is not enforceable.

However the RCEP will worsen the balance of trade of almost all of its member countries, especially ‘developing’ and ‘less developed’ countries, according to a UNCTAD assessment. This can potentially increase the pressure to privatise essential public services, all the more so since such services are, under the deal, governed by international “trade rules” that suit corporations and limit states’ ability to regulate them in the public interest. The same rules that remove barriers to foreign investment can also apply to the agriculture sector, and increase the trend of land grabbing.

A joint statement by seven trade union federations in the Asia-Pacific said that the RCEP would result in the deterioration of working conditions in a race to the bottom under heightened competition, in which migrant workers face the worst consequences. They added that: “instead of furthering a free trade project, countries should be collaborating on reviving their economies and expanding public goods.”

China, Singapore and Thailand were the first countries to ratify the agreement at the beginning of 2021. In order to enter into force, RCEP needs to be ratified by six ASEAN countries and three non-ASEAN countries.

See the full text here

Last update: April 2021 / Photo: bilaterals.org



Sri Lanka to join Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – President
President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced Sri Lanka’s upcoming participation in the RCEP, highlighting the benefits of connecting with the European Union’s trade system.
India did well in not joining RCEP
In the two years since it came into force, RCEP has benefited China much more than other member nations.
Procedures for countries to join RCEP to be ready by 2024
The ASEAN Secretariat said that the preliminary work to allow more countries to join the world’s largest trade deal RCEP was underway, with the procedures for the accession to possibly be ready by next year.
RCEP states already looking to expand trade participation
At a summit on the deal (RCEP) in Indonesia, a review of its implementation is expected to be conducted, with member states agreeing on new measures to intensify intra-deal trade and investment flows.
Go-ahead awaited for Bangladesh’s accession to RCEP bloc
The go-ahead is awaited from the prime minister’s office for Bangladesh’s accession to an emerging economic bloc encompassing the Asia-Pacific region that represents a third of world GDP.
Sri Lanka to join RCEP, signs FTAs with ASEAN countries once debt restructuring completed
Sri Lanka will join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and enter Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries after debt restructuring is complete.
Sri Lanka seeks entry into RCEP trade deal
Sri Lanka has launched a fact-finding mission to explore avenues for an early entry into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement, a statement from the foreign ministry said .
RCEP to take effect in PHL by June — official
The RCEP will likely take effect for the Philippines around June, a Trade official said. This as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) aims to deposit the instrument of ratification for the Philippines’ participation in the mega-trade deal by April 3.
Philippines’ RCEP ratification: a deadly blow for the country’s agriculture
The country’s economic sovereignty that will supposedly provide a ground for the flourishing of local agriculture and production has been once again gnawed by global corporate interests.
No to RCEP! don’t make the Philippines an “ukay-ukay” Republic!!
The Senate should withhold its concurrence with the treaty until the necessary policies, strategies, and programs are emplaced so that the RCEP benefits, and does not harm, the agricultural sector and the economy as a whole.