CETA

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was concluded in 2014 between the European Union and Canada. It entered into provisional application in September 2017.

The agreement covers most aspects of new generation trade deals, including intellectual property, public procurements, regulatory cooperation, services and elimination of tariffs.

It also includes an investment chapter with a revised investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, dubbed investment court system. Many critics on both sides of the Atlantic say that this new system is largely window-dressing and does not address the core of the problem behind investor-state dispute measures which enable foreign corporations to sue states if they deem their profits or investment potentials affected by new laws or changes in policy.

Photo: Council of Canadians

(March 2020)

EurActiv | 12-Nov-2014
Only small changes can be made to an investment protection clause in a trade pact between Canada and the European Union, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on Monday (10 November).
TDM | 6-Nov-2014
The editors of Transnational Dispute Management journal invite contributions to a special edition on CETA
Vrijschrift | 3-Nov-2014
On 15 September Vrijschrift informed the European Parliament international trade committee that investor-to-state arbitration (ISDS) in the draft trade agreement with Canada is rigged to the advantage of the US. Today Vrijschrift informed the committee the same is true for the draft trade agreement with Singapore.
EU Trade Insights | 28-Oct-2014
As the debate in Europe over investors’ rights to sue States is growing, Singapore has been asking the European Commission to agree to a decoupling of the bilateral trade agreement as the country is concerned the investment protection part of the deal could hold up the entire pact.
Bloomberg | 8-Oct-2014
Canada is bracing for a dispute with Germany over whether its newly-agreed free trade pact with the European Union should be re-opened to erase arbitration clauses.
The Tyee | 12-Sep-2014
The survival of the new trade deal hammered out in secret between Canada and the European Union is threatened by opposed Green politicians in Germany’s most populated state, writes Andrea Rexer.
The Tyee | 29-Aug-2014
Latest version of trade deal leaves too much up to non-existent commission, lawyers say.
Reuters | 28-Aug-2014
EU lawmakers are threatening to block a multibillion-dollar trade pact between Canada and the European Union – a blueprint for a much bigger EU-US deal – because it would allow firms to sue governments if they breach the treaty.
S&D Group in the EP | 27-Aug-2014
The Socialist & Democrat Group in the European Parliament has always opposed the inclusion of the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism in CETA, says their president G. Pitella, and it will be up to the Parliament to decide whether or not to ratify the agreement.
ContreLaCour | 26-Aug-2014
Le chapitre relatif aux investissements, avec notamment la partie relative au mécanisme de règlement des différends Etat-investisseur, étant traduit, ContreLaCour s’attache en ce moment à la traduction du projet de Traité dans son ensemble.