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Goods and services trade
CETA will remove tariffs on most traded goods and services. It also provides for the mutual recognition of certification for a wide range of products. This means that if an EU firm wants to export toys, for example, it will only need to get its product tested once, in Europe, to obtain a certificate that is valid for Canada, thus saving time and money.
Canada is to open up its public procurement markets at both federal and municipal levels, to ensure symmetrical access. EU service suppliers ranging from maritime services through telecoms and engineering to environmental services and accountancy are to benefit from access to the Canadian market.
Safeguards for agricultural goods and environmental and social standards
In negotiations, the EU secured protection for over 140 European geographical indications for food and drinks sold on the Canadian market. Sustainable development provisions were included to maintain environmental and social standards and ensure that trade and investment enhance both.
To allay citizens’ concerns that the deal gives too much power to multinational companies and that governments will not be able to legislate to protect health, safety or the environment, the EU and Canada recognise in both the preamble to the deal and an attached joint declaration that these provisions preserve the domestic right to regulate. [...]
New investor protection rules
Parliament tracked the negotiations closely, voicing its opinion in its resolution of June 2011 on EU-Canada trade relations and also in a 2015 resolution on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks. In response to parliamentary pressure, the controversial investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism was replaced by the Investment Court System (ICS), which aims to ensure government control over the choice of arbitrators and enhances transparency.
Next steps
The deal will be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole at the February plenary session in Strasbourg. If Parliament approves the CETA deal, it could apply provisionally from as early as April 2017. As CETA was declared a mixed agreement by the European Commission in July, it will also need to be ratified by national and regional parliaments.