The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and European Union came into force on September 21, 2017. The CETA is a progressive free trade agreement that covers virtually all sectors and aspects of Canada-EU trade in order to eliminate or reduce barriers. It eliminates most of the customs duties on goods imported into Canada from the European Union or the member states either immediately, or via a tariff phase out through stages. For example, before the CETA’s entry into force, only 25% of EU tariff lines on Canadian goods were duty-free. Upon CETA’s entry into force, the EU will remove tariffs on 98% of its tariff lines. Once CETA is fully implemented, the EU will have eliminated tariffs on 99% of its tariff lines.
The European Union countries consist of 28 countries, such as Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. Importer needs to ensure all their imports from the EU have the most beneficial rate of duty applied by acquiring the signed and dated Origin Declaration for their shipments from the exporter in the EU country as well as any necessary permits required for imports of textile and apparel products.
