Canada and the European Union have finally agreed on a date for provisional application of the oft-delayed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

The provisional application of the massive deal will come into effect on Sept. 21, according to a joint-statement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, issued at the G20 summit meeting in Hamburg Saturday morning.

Speaking to reporters before leaving Germany, Trudeau said 98 per cent of the deal will come into effect on the Sept. 21 date…

The joint statement from the two leaders says the agreement “will enter definitively into force once the parliaments in all member states of the EU ratify the text according to their respective domestic constitutional requirements.”

Four EU countries have held ratification votes and approved CETA to date: Latvia, Denmark, Spain and Croatia…

Most of CETA was supposed to be provisionally applied by July 1, but it snagged on a dairy dispute…

The deal will drop barriers between the EU’s economy of half a billion people and Canada’s of 35 million. Trade between the two sides amounts to more than 60 billion euros ($88 billion Cdn) a year, and the EU expects CETA to boost this by 20 per cent by removing almost all tariffs…

This is excerpted from the 8 July 2017 edition of CBC News.

Disputes over cheese and pharmaceuticals are holding up the start of a EU-Canada free trade agreement that both sides have championed as a landmark deal for open markets against a protectionist tide.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has received all the clearances required for it to enter force provisionally, with officials on both sides hoping for implementation by July 1.

However, the European Union is not satisfied that Canada will effectively open up its markets to 17,700 additional tonnes of EU cheese and provide guarantees for the patents of European pharmaceuticals.

Canada is pushing for implementation as soon as possible, but the European Union is reluctant to start up the agreement before the problems are resolved…

The EU dairy industry is concerned about Canada’s commitment to import EU cheese. As part of the CETA deal, Canada is supposed to assign 30 percent of its cheese import quota to “new entrants”, but there is an argument over what the term means.

The EU pharmaceutical industry is also demanding that Canada clear up planned changes to rules for generic medicine manufacturers. Under CETA, patent protection can be extended by up to two years.

This was excerpted from 29 June 2017 edition of BNN.

As you may have heard, the CETA trade agreement has been ratified by the EU Parliament.

Canada is currently in the process of passing the implementation bill (currently in the senate) and the EU member country parliaments must each do the same.

We expect that the trade agreement will be in effect at some time this spring.

Two important government website links:

1. Click here for the full text of the CETA agreement.
2. Click here for the Protocol on rules of origin and origin procedures

It is important to note that, while over 90% of goods that qualify for European Origin will be duty free immediately upon implementation of the accord, there are some sectors which will be subject to quota. These sectors include goods such as cheese and other dairy products, automobiles, textiles and garments, as well as some others – complete list can be found in the Protocols on rules of origin and origin procedures. Also, there are a number of sectors which have “product specific rules of origin” over and above the general origin provisions. The details can all be found in the Protocols on rules of origin and origin procedures.

We have attached a copy of the CETA origin declaration on our Forms and Docs page under the Client Resources tab (in English and French) for you to share with your suppliers – The origin declaration in every official language spoken in EU can be found in the Protocols on rules of origin and origin procedures. In preparation of this important trade agreement we strongly urge all of our customers to reach out to your suppliers and make certain that they (suppliers) understand the CETA rules of origin, are able to correctly determine whether or not their goods qualify as EU origin under CETA and that they are keeping full records of origin compliance as set out in the CETA agreement.

We can assist in advising you on the specific rules of origin for your products, however only your suppliers can certify that the goods qualify as EU origin under CETA and only they can provide you with the EU origin declaration as well as keeping records not only for their products but also for the components used in the manufacture of their products that they have sourced from other companies. Should you require our assistance in determining specific rules of origin for your products please contact Muriel or Emilio to arrange a CETA Trade Compliance consultation.