Background

                  The government has formulated a policy to use a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as one of Thailand's economic strategies and has entered into six rounds of bilateral FTA negotiations with the United States.  In these negotiations the government has given priority to business interests in opening trade markets with the United States, Thailand's number one export market, to expand Thailand's export markets in certain categories of industrial and agricultural products.

However, the topics discussed in the negotiations such as intellectual property, liberalization of the service sector, finance and investment, labor, and the environment are related to national interests and the livelihood of every fabric of Thai society.  Once Thailand signs the FTA, it will have to comply with provisions of the Agreement and be bound by international agreements, which means that the interests of the nation and its people will be tied to long term trading commitments.  The results of the FTA negotiations may lead to significant changes in the development strategies and the people's way of life.   As a result of these changes, some sectors will gain economically and others will lose.  This issue has led to movements to resist the Thailand-United States FTA, such as the gathering in Chiangmai Province during the sixth round of the negotiations.   Demands were made for full disclosure of the negotiation process including the U.S. positions on all issues, and for non-governmental participation in the negotiations and, among other things, the decision to sign the Agreement.

Based on the follow-up and analysis of the Thailand – United States FTA, the National Human Rights Commission has made several comments and preliminary observations regarding the situation, problems, and impacts of the FTA negotiations, such as:

          1. Liberalization under the FTA may impact options for development, because the development of business, trade and imports under the FTA may block some aspects of development such as tropical resources research and development, folk wisdom, and promotion of traditional Thai medicine.

          2. The substances of the FTAs that the United States has signed with other countries such as Singapore, Vietnam and Chile have obliged those countries to accept the U.S. demands that are of a uniform standard with respect to intellectual property, investment liberalization,  the environment, etc., all of which have impacted people’s livelihood and national sovereignty.  Moreover, liberalization under Thailand’s FTAs with some countries such as China and Australia has affected the right to access resources and rights over intellectual property.

          3. There has been little disclosure of the results of research on the impact of or damage arising from the FTA arrangements.  Besides, such studies tend to focus mainly on tax reduction and the opening of trade markets while ignoring the costs and other aspects of the impact such as intellectual property, environment and labor protection.  The public has not been accorded an opportunity to be thoroughly informed of both the positive and negative impacts, and whether the government has failed to consider or lacked comprehensive information on the impact.    

          4. The government has not disclosed U.S. demands or Thailand’s positions to the public.  There has not been any arrangement to allow public participation or to listen to the comments of the Parliament.  This has led to doubts regarding the interests and the effects of signing an FTA with the United States.

          5. The U.S. negotiation rules and processes do not reflect fairness and equality for Thailand. U.S. Trade Law has been used has a demand in the negotiations.  The negotiating team has been under the restrictions of negotiating under the said framework.  This could be equivalent to applying U.S. Trade Law to Thailand.  This may impact the nation’s sovereignty in all three branches of government, i.e., executive, administrative, and judicial.

          6. Problems and concerns regarding the preparedness of the Thai government to assist those who have been affected by the execution of the FTA.

The National Human Rights Commission has reviewed the aforesaid situation and is of the opinion that, in having an FTA with the U.S., there are several issues that have raised doubts and concerns on the extensive impact on the national and the people’s interests.  This is particularly true in the case of the impact on various aspects of human rights, including the right to development, socio-economic and cultural rights, community rights, the right to access resource bases, the right to access drugs and public health services, all of which are guaranteed and protected under the 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand.[1]

Thus, by virtue of Section 25, paragraph one of the National Human Rights Commission Act, B.E. 2542 (1999), the National Human Rights Commission deemed it appropriate to review possible human rights violations in four aspects:  agriculture, environment, intellectual property, and services and investment.  The Ad Hoc Coordinating Sub-Committee for Review and Examination of the Establishment of the Thailand – United States Free Trade Area; the Ad Hoc Sub-Committee for Review and Examination of the Establishment of the Thailand – United States Free Trade Area with Respect to Agriculture, Environment and Intellectual Property;  and the Ad Hoc Sub-Committee for Review and Examination of the Establishment of the Thailand – United States Free Trade Area with Respect to Service and Investment have been assigned to carry out the review.         

Examination of Facts

The Ad Hoc Coordinating Sub-Committee for Review and Examination of the Establishment of the Thailand – United States Free Trade Area;  the Ad Hoc Sub-Committee for Review and Examination of the Establishment of the Thailand – United States Free Trade Area with Respect to Agriculture, Environment and Intellectual Property, and the Ad Hoc Sub-Committee for Review and Examination of the Establishment of the Thailand – United States Free Trade Area with Respect to Service and Investment have conducted reviews and examinations as follows: 

The key negotiation topics (See details in Appendix A) included:

1) Market Access for Industrial Products

               2) Market Access for Agricultural Products

           3) Market Access for Textiles and Apparel Products

                 4) Trade Remedies

                 5) Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)

6) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

7) Rules of Origin

8) Customs Administration and Procedures

9) Cross-Border Services

  10) Financial Services

11) Investment

       12) Mobility of Business Persons

13) Labor

        14) Environment

        15) Intellectual Property

16) E-Commerce

17) Telecommunications

18) Government Procurement

19) Competition Policy

20) Science and Technology

21) Trade Capacity Building

22) Dispute Settlement

23) Transparency

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