By Bruce Cochrane.
Despite opposition to CETA, the Canadian Meat Council remains hopeful provisions that pertain to meat will move forward by next year.
Canada's Minister of Trade and the European Union's Chief of Trade are moving to ease concerns raised by EU member states over provisions of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement following protests calling for abandonment of the pending trade deal between Canada and the EU.
Ron Davidson, the Director of International Trade, Government and Media Relations with the Canadian Meat Council, says if the deal receives approval from the heads of government in the European Council in September, it could be signed in October and then it will go for ratification to the Parliaments in Canada and the European Union and, once ratified, the two will come to a decision on an implementation date.
Ron Davidson-Canadian Meat Council:
CETA could be implemented sometime in 2017 and I believe the Canadian government has given every signal that this country will move forward with CETA as quickly as the European process unfolds.
When the European Council receives approval to go and sign the agreement and then the European Parliament provides its approval, it is probably going to possible for the European Union to implement all of the provisions of the agreement which depend on the competency of the European Union as a group.
They may not be able to implement, at that time, the provisions which depend on member state competency, so they call it a mixed agreement.
Essentially, provided the Council approval and the Parliamentary approval occur in Europe, in excess of 90 percent of agreement which actually would be all of the factors which affect trade in meat products would be implemented on the implementation date.
Davidson acknowledges discussions aimed at resolving technical barriers to the export of Canadian meat are ongoing and, until those issues are resolved, Canada's meat processors could have access on paper but won't have commercially viable access.
Source: Farmscape