The EU Committee on International Trade expects to vote on the Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada today so that, if approved, it can be voted on in the European Parliament's plenary session on February 14, which would allow them to provisionally apply it from that date.
The Economic and Global Agreement between Canada and the EU was signed by both parties on October 30. According to Article 30.7 of the Agreement, it will enter into force once the European Parliament and the Member States have approved it. The approval process in each EU country can last a considerable time, so the agreement would be provisionally applied once it has been favorably voted on by the plenary of the European Parliament and if Canada has also approved it.
The provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is limited to the provisions of exclusive competence of the EU, including the access of goods and tariffs. The provisional application of the CETA will eliminate 92.2% and 90.9% of agricultural tariffs, respectively, and after a transition period of seven years these figures will increase to 93.8% and 91.7%, respectively.
Tariffs will be eliminated according to a negative list approach, i.e. a product's applicable tariff will be automatically eliminated unless it is a product that is considered sensitive.
Canada will stop tariffs on all fruit and vegetable imports once the CETA enters into force. According to FEPEX, the ratification of the agreement will boost Spanish exports to this market after tariffs decrease.
In 2015, Community exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Canada amounted to 78,673 tons and was worth 95 million euro, 28,173 tons of which were vegetables and 66,758 of which were fruit, according to the European Statistics Office, Eurostat. Exports that year were diverse. The main vegetable products exported were: tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, mushrooms, eggplant, beans, and others; while the main fruit exports consisted of: citrus, apples, pears, plums, kiwis, persimmons, and others. Canadian exports to the EU totaled 1,779 tons.
According to the data of the first eight months of the year, in 2016 EU exports to Canada amounted to 39,914 tons, 2% more than in the same period of 2015. The main fruit exports in this period were kiwi, citrus, and apple. Community imports of fresh fruit and vegetables from Canada in the same period stood at 945 tons, 4% less than in the same period of 2015, according to Eurostat data processed by FEPEX.
