Will the Anti-corruption Chapter in the TPP11 Work? Assessing the Role of Trade Law in the Fight Against Corruption Through International Law
In: New Zealand Yearbook of International LawSearch for other papers by José-Miguel Bello y Villarino in
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Abstract
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, also known as cptpp or TPP11, entered into force on 30 December 2018. The TPP11, a revival of the defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (“ tpp ”), signed in 2016, kept one of its (claimed-to-be) biggest achievements of the original text: Chapter 26 on Transparency and Anti-Corruption.
This article assesses the actual value of that chapter, comparing its plausible effects to the track record of existing anti-corruption conventions. The author concludes that the wording of the clauses in Chapter 26 will undermine most of the benefits derived from incorporating anti-corruption clauses in a trade agreement.
To do this, the article relies on previous research by the author on anti-corruption conventions and their shortcomings and demonstrates that most of the defects identified in those conventions have been transplanted to the tpp and, subsequently, to the TPP11.