The consolidated text of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was officially signed and published by both Canada and the EU on September 26, 2014, during a Canada-EU Summit held in Ottawa.
The disclaimer attached to the Preamble states that the complete text of CETA is presented for informational purposes only and it will still be subject to legal reviews and formatting before becoming binding on Canada and the EU, following a ratification process by both parties. The text as it stands now reflects the understanding between Canada and the EU at the conclusion of the negotiation process.
In the Joint Declaration of September 26, 2014, the Prime Minister of Canada and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, recognize the importance of the CETA as “a vehicle to create new prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic,” and a means to “generate more trade and two-way investment, and promote jobs and growth.” The European Commission describes these provisions in the CETA as promoting and protecting investments and investors by “removing and alleviating barriers” for EU investors entering the Canadian market. The CETA ensures that that all European investors in Canada are treated equally and fairly. A further commitment is that neither Canada, nor the EU will impose any new restrictions on foreign shareholding. The European Commission further notes that the EU introduced strong guarantees into CETA that preserve the member states governments’ rights to regulate, to implement public policy rules, while avoiding any abuse of these rules. Ratification of CETA in the EU may be problematic because of opposition in some countries, notably Germany, to the investor-state arbitration provisions in CETA.
During the summit, Canada and the EU also concluded the negotiations for the Strategic Partnership between Canada and the EU, agreement aiming to further strengthen the relationship between Canada and the EU, in areas such as energy, research and innovation, science and technology, and the Arctic.
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