23. DevelopmentThe TPP Parties seek

23. Development

The TPP Parties seek to ensure that the TPP will be a high-standard model for trade and economic integration, and in particular to ensure that all TPP Parties can obtain the complete benefits of the TPP, are fully able to implement their commitments, and emerge as more prosperous societies with strong markets. The Development chapter includes three specific areas to be considered for collaborative work once TPP enters into force for each Party: (1) broad-based economic growth, including sustainable development, poverty reduction, and promotion of small businesses; (2) women and economic growth, including helping women build capacity and skill, enhancing women’s access to markets, obtaining technology and financing, establishing women’s leadership networks, and identifying best practices in workplace flexibility; and (3) education, science and technology, research, and innovation. The chapter establishes a TPP Development Committee, which will meet regularly to promote voluntary cooperative work in these areas and new opportunities as they arise.

24. Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

TPP Parties have a shared interest in promoting the participation of small- and medium-sized enterprises in trade and to ensure that small- and medium-sized enterprises share in the benefits of the TPP. Complementing the commitments throughout other chapters of the TPP on market access, paperwork reduction, Internet access, trade facilitation, express delivery and others, the Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise chapter includes commitments by each TPP Party to create a user-friendly websites targeted at small- and medium-sized enterprise users to provide easily accessible information on the TPP and ways small firms can take advantage of it, including description of the provisions of TPP relevant to small- and medium-sized enterprises; regulations and procedures concerning intellectual property rights; foreign investment regulations; business registration procedures; employment regulations; and taxation information. In addition, the chapter establishes a Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises Committee that will meet regularly to review how well the TPP is serving small- and medium-sized enterprises, consider ways to further enhance its benefits, and oversee cooperation or capacity building activities to support small- and medium-sized enterprises through export counseling, assistance, and training programs for small- and medium-sized enterprises; information sharing; trade finance; and other activities.

25. Regulatory Coherence

TPP’s Regulatory Coherence chapter will help ensure an open, fair, and predictable regulatory environment for businesses operating in the TPP markets by encouraging transparency, impartiality, and coordination across each government to achieve a coherent regulatory approach. The chapter aims to facilitate regulatory coherence in each TPP country by promoting mechanisms for effective interagency consultation and coordination for agencies. It encourages widely-accepted good regulatory practices, such as impact assessments of proposed regulatory measures, communication of the grounds for the selection of chosen regulatory alternatives and the nature of the regulation being introduced. The chapter also includes provisions to help ensure regulations are written clearly and concisely, that the public has access to information on new regulatory measures, if possible online, and that existing regulatory measures are periodically reviewed to determine if they remain the most effective means of achieving the desired objective. In addition, it encourages TPP Parties to provide an annual public notice of all regulatory measures it expects to take. Toward these ends, the chapter establishes a Committee which will give TPP countries, businesses, and civil society continuing opportunities to report on implementation, share experiences on best practices, and consider potential areas for cooperation. The chapter does not in any way affect the rights of TPP Parties to regulate for public health, safety, security, and other public interest reasons.

26. Transparency and Anti-Corruption

The TPP’s Transparency and Anti-Corruption chapter aims to promote the goal, shared by all TPP Parties, of strengthening good governance and addressing the corrosive effects bribery and corruption can have on their economies. Under the Transparency and Anti-Corruption chapter, TPP Parties need to ensure that their laws, regulations, and administrative rulings of general application with respect to any matter covered by the TPP are publicly available and that, to the extent possible, regulations that are likely to affect trade or investment between the Parties are subject to notice and comment. TPP Parties agree to ensure certain due process rights for TPP stakeholders in connection with administrative proceedings, including prompt review through impartial judicial or administrative tribunals or procedures. They also agree to adopt or maintain laws criminalising offering to, or solicitation of, undue advantages by a public official, as well as other acts of corruption affecting international trade or investment. Parties also commit to effectively enforce their anticorruption laws and regulations. In addition, they agree to endeavor to adopt or maintain codes or standards of conduct for their public officials, as well as measures to identify and manage conflicts of interest, to increase training of public officials, to take steps to discourage gifts, to facilitate reporting of acts of corruption, and to provide for disciplinary or other measures for public officials engaging in acts of corruption. In an Annex to this chapter, TPP Parties also agree to provisions that promote transparency and procedural fairness with respect to listing and reimbursement for pharmaceutical products or medical devices. Commitments in this annex are not subject to dispute settlement procedures.

27. Administrative and Institutional Provisions

The Administrative and Institutional Provisions Chapter sets out the institutional framework by which the Parties will assess and guide implementation or operation of the TPP, in particular by establishing the Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission, composed of Ministers or senior level officials, to oversee the implementation or operation of the Agreement and guide its future evolution. This Commission will review the economic relationship and partnership among the Parties on a periodic basis to ensure that the Agreement remains relevant to the trade and investment challenges confronting the Parties. The chapter also requires each Party to designate an overall contact point to facilitate communications between the Parties, and creates a mechanism through which a Party that has a specific transition period for an obligation must report on its plans for, and progress toward, implementing that obligation. This ensures greater transparency with respect to the implementation of Parties’ obligations.