What will happen when Japan joins the TPP?

―TPP as a Means of Regulatory Reform ―

May 24, 2012 6:30 PM (finished)


Junji NAKAGAWA, Professor of International Economic Law, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo
Date/Time May 24, 2012 6:30 PM
Location Room 549 Akamon Sōgō Kenkyūtō Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo　 [map]
Abstract Should Japan join the proposed TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement)? Among the wide range of subjects covered by TPP, the most heated debates have focused on liberalization of agricultural trade. The impact on Japan’s regulatory reform, in contrast, has attracted almost no attention. In fact, TPP will exert a profound influence on regulatory systems in all member countries, not least Japan. In light of the impasse of the WTO as a forum for regulatory reform, TPP and other FTAs/EPAs will be at the forefront of regulatory reform in a host of areas, including trade facilitation, E-commerce, services regulation, competition law and policy, investment regulation, intellectual property, environmental regulation and labor law. Moreover, arrangements for regulatory coherence in TPP will open the possibility of drastically improving how the Japanese government enacts and reviews its regulations. After analyzing the likely impact of TPP on regulatory systems, I will argue that Japan should join quickly so as to take the lead in promoting regulatory reform in the Asia-Pacific and ultimately the world.
Bio Junji Nakagawa is Professor of International Economic Law at the Institute of Social Science (ISS), University of Tokyo. He is a member of an informal group of experts examining the effects of TPP on Japan established in 2011 at the National Policy Unit (NPU), Prime Minister’s Office. He is also a member of a study group of WTO dispute settlement cases at the Trade Policy Bureau, METI. He is a member of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) Executive Council and is a chairman of the Asian International Economic Law Network (AIELN) Steering Committee. Born in Hiroshima in 1955, he earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in law from the University of Tokyo. Before joining the ISS in 1995, he was Associate Professor of Law at Tokyo Institute of Technology (1990-1995). He has also taught at University of Denver, El Colegio de México, University of Georgia, City University of Hong Kong, Tufts University and Shantou University, China. Major publications that are relevant to the presentation: International Harmonization of Economic Regulation (Oxford University Press, 2011); Multilateralism and Regionalism in Global Economic Governance: Finance, Trade and Investment (Routledge, 2011); “Japan’s FTA (EPA) and BIT Strategy in the Light of Competitive Dynamics,” in Ross P. Buckley, Richard Weixing Hu and Douglas W. Arner eds., East Asian Economic Integration: Law, Trade and Finance (Edward Elgar, 2011), pp.83-103. “Competitive Regionalism through Bilateral and Regional Rule-Making: Standard Setting and Locking-in,” in Mireya Solís, Barbara Stallings and Saori Katada eds., Competitive Regionalism: FTA Diffusion in the Pacific Rim (Palgrave/MacMillan, 2009), pp.74-93.