Great news! On July 8, 2017, The Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada and Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission confirmed that CETA will come into provisional effect as at 21 September 2017.
This means that up to 98% of EU tariff lines on Canadian goods shall be duty free as of and from that date (Statement in the House off Commons of Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade for Canada, May 17, 2017). Provisional application will also have a proportionate effect on European goods imported into Canada. The main objective of CETA in this respect is to arrive at 99% elimination of tariffs within 7 years!
It is good news also with respect to most of the other chapters of the CETA, which become immediately applicable, such as those relating to the accessibility of public markets, trade in services, worker and investor mobility, telecommunications, electronic commerce, competition policy and a host of others.
The contracting parties to CETA have agreed that a limited number of provisions shall not receive provisional application, such as certain provisions relating to Investment (Chapter 8 of CETA) and Financial Services (Chapter 13 of CETA) as well as certain other provisions which are specifically excluded from provisional application as under applicable constitutional law, they remain to be approved by local regional or national authority.
Watch this space for more on CETA!
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