Canada-EU trade deal text leaked ahead of fall summit

Submitted by admin on Thu, 08/28/2014 - 18:08

A German news outlet appears to have published a portion of the final text of Canada's free trade deal with the European Union, just over a week after negotiators reached a mutual agreement.

The 519-page document, posted by the broadcaster ARD, was issued by the EU on Aug. 5. That coincides with the day Canada announced it had reached a deal with the European Union on a complete text said to be approximately 1,500 pages long.

...Canada and the EU will release the final details of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement on Sept. 25 in Ottawa...

With the technical negotiations over, International Trade Minister Ed Fast said last Tuesday Canada was submitting the complete text of the trade agreement to the provinces and territories before proceeding with translation and a final legal review.

Similarly, the document leaked today was shared by the EU with its member states...

The final quotas for cheese, beef and pork appear to be similar than those made under the agreement in principle.

Quotas for fine cheese, according to the leaked document, are set at 16,000 metric tonnes while quotas for industrial cheese are set at 17,000 metric tonnes.

The final quotas for Canadian beef and pork remain at approximately 50,000 and 80,000 metric tonnes respectively, also in line with quotas published under the agreement in principle.​..

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in intellectual property, started reviewing the leaked text Wednesday and said parts of it look favourable to the Canadian government.

When it comes to patents, Geist said, Canada “ended up caving” on the applicability of dispute resolution and litigation cases. But the copyright provisions appear to reflect Canadian law, which would be a win for the Conservative government.

There are a lot of watered-down provisions throughout the agreement that are “permissive,” rather than requiring specific things. Geist said this appears to be “pretty good” for the Canadian government.

This has been excerpted from 13 August 2014 articles by CBC News and Ottawa Citizen.