Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement

CHAPTER EIGHT
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE

Article 8.1: Scope

1. This Chapter applies to the preparation, adoption and application of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures of national government bodies that may affect the trade in goods between the Parties.

2. Local government bodies and non-governmental bodies are covered by this Chapter only to the extent to which they are covered by the Articles of the TBT Agreement incorporated into this Agreement by Article 8.2.

3. This Chapter does not apply to:

• (a) a purchasing specification prepared by a governmental body for production or consumption requirements of a governmental body; or
• (b) a sanitary or phytosanitary measure as defined in Annex A of the SPS Agreement.

4. All references in this Chapter to technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures shall be construed to include any amendments thereto and any additions to the rules or the product coverage thereof, except amendments and additions of an insignificant nature that do not have an effect on bilateral trade between the Parties.

Article 8.2: TBT Agreement

The following provisions of the TBT Agreementare hereby incorporated into and made part of this Agreement:

• (a) Article 2 (Preparation, Adoption and Application of Technical Regulations by Central Government Bodies);
• (b) Article 3 (Preparation, Adoption and Application of Technical Regulations by Local Government Bodies and Non-Governmental Bodies);
• (c) Article 4 (Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards);
• (d) Article 5 (Procedures for Assessment of Conformity by Central Government Bodies);
• (e) Article 6 (Recognition of Conformity Assessment by Central Government Bodies);
• (f) Article 7 (Procedures for Assessment of Conformity by Local Government Bodies);
• (g) Article 8 (Procedures for Assessment of Conformity by Non-Governmental Bodies);
• (h) Article 9 (International and Regional Systems);
• (i) Annex 1 (Terms and their Definitions for the Purpose of this Agreement); and
• (j) Annex 3 (Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards).

Article 8.3: Cooperation

1. The Parties shall cooperate when there is a mutual interest in the areas of technical regulations, standards, metrology, conformity assessment procedures, market surveillance or monitoring and enforcement activities in order to facilitate the conduct of trade between the Parties. Cooperative activities may include the promotion and encouragement of cooperation between their respective public or private organisations responsible for metrology, standardisation, testing, certification and accreditation, market surveillance or monitoring and enforcement activities and in particular, encouragement of their accreditation and conformity assessment bodies to participate in cooperation arrangements that promote the acceptance of conformity assessment results.

2. The Parties shall positively consider negotiating additional arrangements for the recognition of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, if appropriate.

Article 8.4: Technical Regulations

1. The Parties shall cooperate when practicable to ensure that their technical regulations are compatible with one another.

2. If a Party expresses an interest in developing a technical regulation equivalent or similar in scope to one that has been adopted or is being prepared by the other Party, that other Party shall, on request, provide to the other Party, to the extent practicable, the relevant information, studies and data upon which it has relied in the preparation of that technical regulation. The Parties recognise that it may be necessary to clarify and concur on the scope of a specific request, and that confidential information may be withheld.

3. A Party that has prepared a technical regulation that it considers to be equivalent to a technical regulation of the other Party may request in writing, for the purposes of regulatory recognition, that the other Party recognise it as equivalent to its regulatory requirements. The request must be made in writing and set out the detailed reasons why the technical regulation should be considered to be equivalent, including reasons with respect to product scope.  If a Party does not concur that the technical regulation is equivalent, it shall provide to the other Party, upon request, the reasons for its decision.

Article 8.5: Conformity Assessment

1. The Parties shall cooperate by:

• (a) encouragement of their conformity assessment bodies, including accreditation bodies, to participate in cooperation arrangements that promote the acceptance of conformity assessment results; and
• (b) promotion of the acceptance of results of conformity assessment bodies that have been recognised through bilateral arrangements between their conformity assessment bodies.

2. If a Party does not accept the results of a conformity assessment procedure conducted in the territory of the other Party, it shall explain the reasons for its decision at the request of the other Party.

Article 8.6: Transparency

1. In the event of an inconsistency between this Article and the obligations in Chapter Seventeen (Transparency), this Article prevails.

2. If a Party’s consultation process for the development of technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures is open to the public, the Party shall permit a person of the other Party to participate on terms no less favourable than those accorded to its own persons.

3. Each Party shall recommend to the standardisation bodies in its territory that they observe paragraph 2 with respect to their consultation processes for the development of standards or voluntary conformity assessment procedures.

4. A Party shall transmit electronically to the other Party’s Enquiry Point, at the same time it submits its notification to the WTO Central Registry of Notifications in accordance with the TBT Agreement:

• (a) its proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures; and
• (b) technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that it has adopted to address urgent problems of safety, health, environmental protection or national security that arise or that threaten to arise.

5. A Party shall, when practicable, transmit electronically to the other Party’s Enquiry Point, its proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that are in accordance with the technical content of relevant international standards and that may have an effect on trade.

6. Except when urgent problems of safety, health, environmental protection or national security arise or threaten to arise, a Party should allow a period of at least 60 days following its transmission to the WTO Central Registry of Notifications of a proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure for the public and the other Party to provide written comments.  A Party shall give positive consideration to a reasonable request from the other Party to extend the comment period.

7. At the request of a Party, the other Party shall, if appropriate, make available to the requesting Party, in print or by electronic means, its responses or a summary of its responses, to significant comments it receives on a proposed technical regulation or a conformity assessment procedure, no later than the date it publishes the adopted technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure.

8. A Party, at the request of the other Party, shall provide information to the other Party regarding the objectives of, legal basis and rationale for, a technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure that the Party has adopted or is proposing to adopt.

9. Except when a delay would be ineffective in fulfilling the legitimate objectives pursued, a Party shall give positive consideration to a reasonable request from the other Party, received prior to the end of the comment period following the transmission of a proposed technical regulation, to establish or extend the period of time between the adoption of the technical regulation and the day upon which it is applicable.

10. Each Party shall ensure that all of its adopted technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are publicly available on official websites.

11. When a Party detains at a port of entry a good originating from the other Party on the grounds that the good does not comply with a relevant technical regulation, it shall without undue delay notify the importer of the reasons for the detention of the good.

Article 8.7: Information Exchange

If a Party makes a reasonable enquiry pursuant to Article 10.1 or 10.3 of the TBT Agreement, the other Party shall respond, in print or by electronic means, normally within 60 days from the date of receipt of the enquiry, but may extend the period of time for responding by giving notice to the enquiring Party prior to the end of the 60 day period.

Article 8.8: Contact Points and Committee on Trade in Goods

1. Contact Points are responsible for communications relating to matters arising under this Chapter. Those communications include:

• (a) the implementation and administration of this Chapter;
• (b) issues relating to the development, adoption or application of standards, technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures under this Chapter or the TBT Agreement;
• (c) exchanges of information on standards, technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures; and
• (d) cooperation by the Parties, pursuant to Article 8.3.

2. The Contact Points are:

• (a) for Canada, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, or its successor; and
• (b) for Israel, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, or its successor.

3. A Contact Point is responsible for ensuring communication with the relevant institutions and persons in its territory as necessary for the implementation and administration of this Chapter.

4. If the Parties are unable to resolve a matter arising under this Chapter through an exchange of information via the Contact Points, the matter shall, at the request of a Party, be brought before the Committee on Trade in Goods established under Article 4.8 in Chapter Four (National Treatment and Market Access for Goods). This process is without prejudice to the rights of a Party under Chapter Nineteen (Dispute Settlement).

Article 8.9: Definitions

1. For the purposes of this Chapter:

• (a) Enquiry Point means the enquiry point established under Article 10 of the TBT Agreement;
• (b) TBT Agreement means the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade;
• (c) TBT Committee means the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade.

2. Except where this Agreement defines or gives a meaning to terms, general terms for standardisation and procedures for assessment of conformity normally have the meaning given to them by definitions adopted within the United Nations system and by international standardising bodies, taking into account their context and in the light of the object and purpose of this Chapter.

ANNEX 8
ICEWINE

“Icewine”, “ice wine”, “ice-wine”, or a similar variation of those terms, refers to wine that is made exclusively from grapes naturally frozen on the vine.