ABSTRACT
The 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) members launched the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in March 2018 in Chile. Part of the Commission’s work is to identify State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) with duplicative functions, with functions that the private sector can perform better, that no longer have outlived their raison d’etre, or those that are no longer cost-efficient. Not all SOEs of the Philippines are covered by the rules of TPP on SOEs. The agreement requires members, however, to ensure that such SOEs, state enterprises and designated monopolies function in a ‘manner that is not inconsistent with that Party’s obligations under this Agreement’. SOEs that may have likely impact on international trade in goods and services are covered by TPP’s rules on SOEs. Both goods and services are the subject of the existing multilateral agreement. In its SOE rules, the TPP agreement covers investment concerns as well.
