Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement: Timeline

May 2019

Bill C-85, An Act to amend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act and to make related amendments to other Acts, obtained royal assent on May 27, 2019.Canada and Israel will now determine a date for the agreement to enter into force.

October 2018

Bill C 85, An Act to amend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act and to make related amendments to other Acts, was introduced in the House of Commons on October 23, 2018, after having completed its 21-sitting-day period.

June 2018

Under the Policy on Tabling of Treaties in Parliament, on June 20, 2018, Canada tabled the modernized Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) treaty, with all binding side instruments, in the House of Commons for 21 consecutive sitting days.  

May 2018

François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, and Eli Cohen, Israel’s Minister of the Economy and Industry, meet in Montréal, Quebec, to sign the Protocol Amending the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA), which includes both the 2015 amendments and the recently negotiated progressive elements.

These changes make CIFTA a 21st-century trade agreement that strengthens the two countries’ commercial relationship and improves Canadian access to the Israeli market.

June 2017

Cabinet authorizes the signature, implementation and ratification of the 2015 amendments, as well as the negotiation, implementation and ratification of the agreement’s new, progressive elements.

2017

Canada and Israel agree to a further expansion of CIFTA to include new, progressive sections dealing with trade and gender, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

July 2015

Canada and Israel announce the conclusion of the revised CIFTA. Amendments to the 1997 agreement include four updated chapters (Dispute Settlement, Goods Market Access, Governance, and Rules of Origin) and seven new ones (E-commerce, Environment, Intellectual Property, Labour, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, and Trade Facilitation).

January 2014

The prime ministers of Canada and Israel announce the launch of CIFTA negotiations.

October 2011

The Government of Canada begins consultations with Canadians on an expanded and modernized CIFTA.

1999 to 2003

Canada and Israel negotiate agricultural and agri-food tariff reductions on goods previously excluded from CIFTA. Tariffs are reduced on many of Canada's top agricultural and agri-food exports to Israel.

January 1997

The Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, a goods-only agreement, enters into force on January 1, 1997, eliminating tariffs on all industrial products manufactured in Canada and Israel.