UK Joins the CPTPP

Author L.Tak Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

On Sunday 15 Dec 2024, the United Kingdom became the 12th member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership ("the CPTPP").  The others are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.  According to a press release from The Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP and the Department for Business and Trade dated 15 Dec 2024, the combined GDP of those member states amounts to £12 trillion.  HMG states that British membership "creates opportunities for businesses, potentially boosting the economy by £2 billion a year in the long run."

I first mentioned the application to join the CPTPP in my Brexit Briefing for June 2020 on 4 July 2020 and followed the negotiations on the CPTPP page of this website. In Change of Focus, I wrote on 23 Sept 2021, I wrote:

"While bilateral treaties such as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan and the proposed Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement contain provisions on intellectual property, it is unlikely that any of them will require amending legislation. What might are the intellectual property provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership which are incorporated by reference into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Chapter 20 of the Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement."

I also noted in British Intellectual Asset Owners' Rights after Brexit: IP Provisions of Bilateral Investment Treaties and Free Trade Agreements on 17 Aug 2020 that

"The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership contains provisions against expropriation of investments and dispute resolution provisions that are similar to those found in the bilateral investment treaties that the British government has negotiated with a number of countries. Such provisions entitle individual investors to seek compensation from a national government for the expropriation of their investment which could possibly include the revocation of patents or the loss of an opportunity to market products by reference to a trade mark because of a public health concern. Any free trade agreement that is likely to be negotiated with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the USA can be expected to contain similar provisions."

The full text of the Agreement can be found on the website of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The provisions on intellectual property are in Chapter 18.  Those on dispute settlement are in Chapter 28.  Those on investor protection against expropriation are in Chapter 9. I shall return to this topic as and when issues relating to our membership arise.  Two potential developments are the applications for membership by China and Ukraine.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me during UK office hours on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.