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ARTICLE · 04 NOVEMBER 2016

The CETA Saga: Can Final Negotiations Save The Agreement?

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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The road to completion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union has been a rough ride since negotiations began in 2009.

CanadaInternational Law
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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The road to completion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union has been a rough ride since negotiations began in 2009, and it did not get any smoother in October 2016, when the French-speaking region of Wallonia in Belgium declared it could not accept the agreement.

It took five years of negotiations before the CETA was declared to be concluded on August 5, 2014, although what was described as the final text of the agreement was not released until two months later, on September 26, 2014.

The agreement is described as a "second generation" free trade agreement as it covers both direct and indirect barriers to trade and investment and contains 30 chapters covering such topics as: trade in goods, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs and trade facilitation, investment, cross-border trade in services, financial services, electronic commerce, government procurement, intellectual property,

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