Today, as the European Parliament’s trade committee considers amendments to its position on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Access has published a brief to help people on both sides of the Atlantic understand what’s at stake in the negotiations.
The brief, T-TIP: 10 Things You Should Know About the EU-US Trade Agreement [PDF], explores the impact these closed-door negotiations could have — including opening up new avenues for foreign corporate influence over national legislation and undermining our rights to privacy and data protection, digital security, and freedom of expression.
As a companion to the brief, we have also created an infographic: 7 Reasons You Should Care about TTIP.
It was a little over a year after the European Parliament rejected the infamous Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that talks on TTIP began. Unfortunately, as we explain in our brief, even the most controversial provisions from failed trade agreements are frequently reanimated in others. Content from one agreement is simply copied and pasted into another. Since several such agreements are currently under negotiations across the globe — TTIP and its “siblings” — the threats to users’ rights have multiplied.
The best way to counter these threats is to raise awareness about what’s in these agreements, and then put pressure on our representatives either to revise the agreements or, if all else fails, reject them outright.
You can help by sharing our infographic and the brief itself [PDF]. Let’s show our representatives that we understand what’s going on, and that they need to respond to our concerns before they proceed any further in the negotiations.
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