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ARTICLE · 16 JANUARY 2020

The Revised CUSMA: An Overview Of The Upcoming Changes

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The Canada-US-Mexico Agreement ("CUSMA") was signed on November 30, 2018 to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA").

CanadaInternational Law
Clifford Sosnow
Clifford Sosnow
Peter Kirby
Peter Kirby
Karen Cheung
Karen Cheung
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The Canada-US-Mexico Agreement ("CUSMA") was signed on November 30, 2018 to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"). On December 10, 2019, the three countries signed a Protocol of Amendment (the "Protocol") to CUSMA. This bulletin summarizes key amendments and next steps for each country to bring this amended CUSMA ("revised CUSMA") into law.

THE PROTOCOL'S KEY ADDITIONS

1. Environment

The Protocol introduces new compliance obligations under existing multilateral environmental agreements ("MEAs") and rules of evidence to prove that a Party is not complying with any other environmental obligation set out in the CUSMA.

First, a Party that has ratified any of the Protocol's seven listed MEAs must implement the MEAs' obligations into domestic law. Canada is a Party to and has laws implementing five MEAs:

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