| Angela Parkin, Manager, Trade Compliance | Hello again! Welcome back to our ongoing CETA analysis. Let’s get right into it: Today I’ll be looking the services and investment, labor mobility and geographical indicator sections outlined in Canada’s “technical summary” of CETA.
Services and investmentCanada’s 2011 direct investment in the EU totaled $172.5 billion, and in 2012 Canada exported $14.5 billion in services to the EU. Sectors and services of direct investment included research and development, mining, energy services, technical assessment and analysis, environmental. Professional services covered areas such as legal, engineering and environmental. EU foreign direct investment into Canada totaled $160.7 billion in 2011, and in 2012 the EU exported $16.8 billion in services to Canada. The EU and Canada will both achieve increased and new market access in the CETA agreement since both parties negotiated preferential access to each other’s lucrative government procurement markets. Each party will be subject to the thresholds set out in the agreement, as well as to areas where procurement activities will not apply. Labor mobilityCETA includes provisions on licensing and qualifications, as well as the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. It includes a detailed framework such that regulators or professional organizations may negotiate mutual recognition agreements. Professional associations in Canada and the EU have already begun discussions on mutual-recognition agreements. CETA will also include temporary entry rules which will allow personnel in both countries access to easily conduct business. These rules will include coverage of intra-corporate transferees, investors and business visitors for investment purposes, short-term business visitors, and contract service suppliers and independent professionals with contracts of 12 months or less. Geographical indicatorsGeographical indicators (GI) are used to describe and differentiate food product names which are representative with a physical geography of the origin of the product. For example, Canada currently recognizes a number of EU GIs for wines and spirits such as Cognac and Bordeaux. The EU has many more GIs than Canada, and Canada has agreed to address the EU requests regarding 179 terms covering foods and beer. Canada in turn has preserved space for Canadian trademark holders and for users of commonly used English and French names for food products. The following terms continue to be available for use in the Canadian market, in both official languages (English and French), regardless of product origin: valencia orange, black forest ham, tiroler bacon, parmesan, Bavarian beer and Munich beer. Canadian producers will be able to use English and French but not the German language for black forest ham (Schwarzwaelder Schinken). The EU will be granted limited GI rights on the following: asiago, feta, fontina, gorgonzola and munster. Current Canadian users of these names will be able to continue to use these names in Canada however, future users will only be able to use the names when accompanied by expressions such as “kind,” “type,” “style,” “imitation” or the like. Importers and exporters should use the time prior to the agreement coming into force to determine if their products are affected by name changes due to concessions with GIs. Join me next time for the fifth and final installment of our CETA series, where I’ll discuss the ways in which CETA and NAFTA might cross paths, and offer an outlook for the future under CETA. Check out the other installments in our CETA series: |