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)

The Irish Times | 20-May-2022
The Irish Government could come under further pressure in the autumn with a Supreme Court judgment on a legal challenge to the EU-Canada trade deal expected soon.
SOMO | 17-Mar-2021
How investment treaties and investor-to-state dispute settlement grant foreign investors greater rights than Dutch and EU law.
European Commission | 1-Feb-2021
The EU and Canada adopted four decisions putting in place the Investment Court System provisions agreed in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
The Irish Times | 17-Dec-2020
Important issues raised by CETA deserve more than a ludicrous 55-minute parliament debate.
EJIL: Talk! | 21-Oct-2020
Why retain ISDS, this neo-colonial vestige that is not supported by consistent evidence that it contributes to advancing development or the rule of law?
SOMO | 28-Jan-2020
CETA strengthens the legal position of North American companies in the EU and exposes European governments and taxpayers to potential claims.
European Commission | 14-Oct-2019
The European Commission today presented to the Council four proposals for specific rules putting in place the Investment Court System provisions in the EU-Canada trade deal.
Mondaq | 12-Sep-2019
The traditional mechanism of investment arbitration between the investor and the host State has been under attack for some time now from a range of actors and for a variety of reasons.