Bilateral Trade Agreements

In this chapter and the next, the recently-signed European Union (EU)-Canada BTA is used as a benchmark to which other Plurilateral Trade Arrangements (PTAs) are compared. This approach is taken in order to attain a consistency in the commentary on BTAs and Preferential Plurilateral Trade Agreements. As the consideration of PTAs from a development perspective is beyond the scope of this chapter, Agreements that have been notified under the Enabling Clause are excluded. The Parties are to encourage closer co-operation between the standardizing entities situated within their territories, with the aim of easing information exchange and the harmonization of standards. This chapter of the EU-Canada BTA does not refer to the Agreement on Trade Facilitation. The Parties must, as far as possible, co-operate and exchange information, in order to further the application and observance of the EU-Canada BTA’s trade facilitation measures.