Opportunities and Benefits of CETA for Canada’s Forestry Sector
How does CETA benefit Canadian forestry exporters?
- While most Canadian forest products already enter the EU duty-free, with CETA, all Canadian forestry products now enjoy duty-free, quota-free market access to the EU. Pre-CETA EU tariffs for forest products ranged from 2% to 10%.
- Canadian companies can also benefit from provisions in CETA related to regulatory cooperation, government procurement, temporary entry, and trade in services.
- Canada now has a preferential trade advantage with the EU that many competitors won’t have.
| Product | Pre-CETA Tariff | Under CETA |
|---|---|---|
| Components of wooden seats | 2.7% | 0% |
| Fiberboard | 7% | 0% |
| Maple wood | 2.5% | 0% |
| Plywood | 7 to 10% | 0% |
| Ash wood | 2.5% | 0% |
| Oriented strand board | 7% | 0% |
Bilateral Dialogue on Forest Products
- A Bilateral Dialogue on Forest Products enhances Canada’s ability to influence the development of EU measures, reduces potential negative impacts of EU measures on Canadian exports, and helps ensure continued access for Canadian forest products to the EU.
- This provides Canada with a unique window into the regulatory development process in the EU. Canada will be able to raise industry concerns with proposed regulations at an early stage.
Sanitary and phytosanitary measures joint management committee
- A new Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Joint Management Committee facilitates discussions between Canadian and EU experts and provides a venue for experts to resolve issues impeding trade before they become major problems.
- CETA establishes a framework for cooperation on the full scope of animal-health, plant-health, and food-safety provisions.
Opportunities in government procurement
- Under CETA, Canada gains new access at the sub-central level (regions and municipalities) to procurement by local contracting authorities, bodies governed by public law (e.g. hospitals, schools, academic institutions), as well as utilities.
- The EU is required to ensure interested suppliers have all the information necessary to decide whether to pursue a procurement opportunity, including all the bid documents, technical specifications, evaluation criteria, etc.
Under CETA, Canadian exporters of forest products and services can now enjoy the advantages created from the agreement over competitors based in countries that do not have a preferential trade agreement in force with the EU.
Benefits for Canadian service exporters in the forestry sector
Temporary entry
CETA provisions make it easier for short-term business visitors, intra-company transferees, investors, contract service suppliers, and independent professionals to conduct business in the EU.
Trade in services
- CETA establishes greater transparency in the EU Services market, resulting in better, more secure and predictable market access in areas of interest to Canada, such as professional services, environmental services, and related scientific and technical consulting services.
- Canadian service suppliers and firms can compete on equal footing with their EU competitors.
For more detail on how CETA benefits your company, contact a Trade Commissioner today.
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