UIA Toronto Congress - CETA Special Session

By Riyaz DATTU

(Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP) 

The CETA Special Session discussed the implications for Canada and EU of this landmark comprehensive economic trade agreement for lawyers advising international businesses. CETA is the first agreement implemented, as of September 21, 2017, between the EU and a G-7 economy country, and provides for 30 chapters covering trade and investment between the two parties. The Special Session had high calibre speakers that made up three panels. 

The first panel made up the CETA Director for Canada and a senior official from the EU delegation to Canada discussed the negotiating history, the objectives for the agreement from the perspective of each of the two parties, and what has been achieved. While the implementation from the EU perspective is provisional until each of the E.U. member countries have ratified the agreement, the provisional application still means that almost 99 percent of the CETA is being applied as of September 21. The first panel also consisted of a private practitioner who was at the relevant time Canada’s legal advisor for the CETA negotiations. The presentation by this panelist covered the contentious areas during the negotiations include investor-state arbitration mechanisms.

The second panel provided a detailed review of the substantive provisions of CETA including trade in goods and services and explained how CETA can provide businesses in each country the basis for establishing stronger economic and trade ties between the EU and Canada.

The final panel discussed mobility provisions of CETA which will be important to allow skilled workers and business executives to engage in services trade and establishing new businesses.

Riyaz DATTU (Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP) Toronto, ON, Canada