What is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)?
Answer
A free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union provisionally in force since September 21, 2017 that eliminates tariffs on most goods and services.
Explanation
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is the free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union, provisionally in force since September 21, 2017. CETA eliminates tariffs on about 98 per cent of Canada-EU trade in goods, opens services markets and government procurement, protects investments, and updates rules on intellectual property, regulatory cooperation, and labour and environmental standards.
Negotiations launched in 2009 and concluded with a political agreement in October 2013. Canada and the EU signed CETA on October 30, 2016 in Brussels. Provisional application began on September 21, 2017, covering most of the agreement's commercial provisions while EU member states ratified the rest. About a dozen EU member states (including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium) had completed full ratification by 2024. Cyprus and several others remain pending. The Investment Court System provisions have been challenged in the Court of Justice of the European Union and France's Constitutional Council.
CETA gives Canadian firms preferential access to a market of about 450 million people and a combined GDP of about $20 trillion. Canadian beef, pork, fish and seafood, lobster, maple syrup, wheat, and ice wine all received improved access. EU exporters gained access to Canadian markets for European cheeses (a 17,700-tonne tariff-rate quota), wines and spirits, fashion, machinery, and chemicals. Canadian provinces and territories committed to opening their procurement markets to European bidders for the first time, a major win for European construction firms.
CETA includes mechanisms for ongoing cooperation including the CETA Joint Committee, eight specialised committees on goods, services, geographical indications, agriculture, biotechnology, and other issues, and the new Investment Court System (replacing investor-state dispute settlement under older treaties). Canadian exporters use Global Affairs Canada's Trade Commissioner Service in Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Madrid, and other European capitals. The Canada-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement, signed alongside CETA, governs political and security cooperation.
Why this matters for your test
CETA is the most comprehensive trade agreement Canada has with the European Union. Recognising the September 21, 2017 provisional entry into force pairs the answer to a specific date, and the agreement's coverage of 98 per cent of bilateral trade is a clean factual anchor.
Source: Global Affairs Canada; European Commission
