CETA: Whose laws are they anyway?

01-06-2010

Victoria Carrington

Since mid-2009, Canada has been participating in negotiations with the European Union towards an economic partnership agreement known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

Since mid-2009, Canada has been participating in negotiations with the European Union towards an economic partnership agreement known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

In addition to the strong ties between the EU and Canada as investment partners, the EU is Canada’s second-largest export market after the United States, with two-way merchandise trade totalling almost $91 billion in 2008. A joint study by the EU and Canada indicates that bilateral trade could potentially increase by over 20 percent through the liberalisation of trade between the parties.

Accordingly, the intent is to negotiate an ‘ambitious’ agreement that covers a very broad range of areas, including trade in goods, technical trade barriers, trade facilitation, customs procedures and rules of origin, trade in services, investment, regulatory co-operation, competition policy and intellectual property.


Canada, EU, trade, agreement, trademarks, patents

WIPR