Joint Committee Recommendation on Trade and gender | Collaboration on: - Update Trade and gender work plan and implement up to two activities in 2023-2024
- Trade and gender in the WTO.
| - Trade and gender presentations by Canada and the EU at: the CETA Civil Society Forum and CETA Joint Committee on Trade and sustainable development (Ottawa, February 2022).
| - Work with Other CETA Committees
- Explore the possibility of applying a gender lens to all CETA committee work (reviewing the work plans of each committee and identifying opportunities to integrate gender considerations).
- Continue Canada-EU video conferences/webinars to exchange information on a variety of related as outlined in the EU-Canada work plan for implementing CETA Trade and Gender recommendation.
- Work together at WTO to implement trade and gender activities at the WTO, mainstreaming and within the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender
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Follow-up to the Joint Committee recommendation on Trade, Climate and the Paris Agreement | Collaboration on: - Clean technologies
| - Completed: The CETA Clean Tech Summit took place on 15-16 September 2022.
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- Carbon pricing
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- Cooperation in trade and climate at WTO
- Working together through the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) at the WTO on environmental goods and services, trade-related climate measures, circular economy, and subsidies
| - As part of TESSD at the WTO, Canada and like-minded countries, such as the EU undertook initial work in 2022/2023 through newly formed working groups on environmental goods and services, trade-related climate measures, circular economy, and subsidies
| - As more focussed work will be undertaken by the four TESSD working groups in 2023/24, leading up to the February 2024 Ministerial Conference, assess the feasibility of organizing a Canada-EU expert exchange, subject to available resources, on the following topics:
- Environmental Goods & Services
- Trade-related climate measures
- Circular Economy
- Subsidies
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Implementation of CSR/RBC commitments | Collaboration on: - Look at forward planning on the CSR/RBC commitment.
| - | Next steps: |
- Explore collaboration opportunities in approaching countries and companies to encourage good labour and environmental practices.
| Completed | Explore collaboration opportunities in approaching countries and companies to encourage good labour and environmental practices. |
- Respective CSR contact points to exchange contacts and compare notes.
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- Canada to share best practices (handbook for SMEs on OECD Guidelines) and GCNC compendium on how Canadian companies can contribute to the SDGs.
| Completed | Share experience and best practices to address forced labour and child labour. (cross-cutting with the trade and labour cooperation) |
Implementation of Environment Chapter Commitments | Collaboration on: - Chemicals management
- Sharing experience and best practices on:
- enhancing supply chain transparency for chemicals in products
- integrating green chemistry principles across
- industries and policy frameworks
- initiatives and methodology to determine the environmental footprint of products
- initiatives on sustainable products
| - Completed: A discussion on chemicals management was held during the Canada-EU High-Level Dialogue on Environment held in July 2022
| - Consider organizing a Canada EU expert exchange to share information and best practices on:
- environmental footprint of products;
- sustainable products;
- ecodesign;
- terminologies (e.g. Value Retention Processes)
- data collection;
- informed substitution of chemicals;
- social science research on the effectiveness of product labelling.
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- Plastics pollution and circular economy
- Supporting collaboration on plastics pollution through various initiatives, including the Ocean Plastics Charter.
- Contributing to the development of a new global agreement on plastic pollution in support of the global shift to a circular economy.
| - Completed: The Canada-EU Action on Plastic Waste project was finalized in 2022.
- Completed: High level dialogue meeting to exchange information on respective actions on plastics.
- Completed: Canada actively participated in the first session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC-1) towards an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, which took place in 2022 as well as preparatory meetings, including those held by the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040 (HAC). Additionally, Canada hosted the second ministerial meeting of the HAC during COP-15.
| - Explore next steps and opportunities to continue collaborating beyond the Plastic Waste project.
- Consider organizing a Canada-EU expert exchange to share information on initiatives and best practices on key agenda components such as reuse, labelling, biobased products and biodegradable & compostable plastics.
- Attend future INCs, as well as intersessional meetings, including those held by the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040 to develop an ambitious global agreement on plastic pollution and cooperate towards a successful INC-4 in Canada.
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- Circular economy
| - Completed: Canada organized an event at COP27 on “Circularity for climate” with Canadian and EU panellists.
- The Canada-EU High-Level Dialogue on Environment, held in July 2022, included discussions on circular economy.
| - Canada-EU webinar on circular economy and plastic waste during European Sustainable Energy Week, on June 7 2023.
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Implementation of Labour Chapter Commitments | Share EU and Canada's respective actions on labour in selected third countries (unilateral, bilateral and multilateral) to identify next steps and coordinate where appropriate. | Completed: EU and Canada have shared respective labour initiatives and engagements in third countries. | Discuss further areas of cooperation in third countries to promote decent work. |
Canada and EU to address impact of COVID-19 on labour rights and workers around the world, and to brainstorm potential collaborative responses to protect vulnerable workers. | Completed: Canada and the EU discussed need for international cooperation and measures to mitigate socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in least developed countries. Agreed on the need to focus on inequalities in supply chains. | Continue to participate in multilateral fora (such as the UN, G20, G7 and ILO) to work towards a global recovery. |
Canada and EU to provide updates on ILO projects and technical assistance work in third countries, so that Parties can see where priorities align and find synergies in practical operations. | Completed: Canada and the EU have discussed various ways of tackling forced labour and child labour, as well as the continued importance of promoting freedom of association and collective bargaining. | Compare notes on the respective domestic initiatives related to forced labour, including in third countries. Share experience and best practices to combat forced labour and child labour |
Implementation of small and medium enterprises Commitments | Continue to implement the CETA SME Action Plan. | In March 2023, Canadian and EU officials held an internal data exchange discussion focused on sharing experiences on how to consult and engage SMEs on trade policies and domestic programmes related to trade. | Consulting and engaging Canadian and EU SME associations or business support networks on their information needs on CETA, based on feedback from SMEs |
Implementation of Institutional Commitments (Civil Society Forum) | Hold the sixth CETA Civil Society Forum | The fifth CETA Civil Society Forum took place on April 25- & 26th, 2023. | Next steps: Organise firth Civil Society Forum, date TBD. Canada to host. |
TSD Chapter Early Review | The Trade and Sustainable Development Committee committed to holding at least three dedicated meetings on this issue. | The first dedicated session took place on February 1, 2020, and the second dedicated session took place on October 23, 2020. | Next steps: Continue discussion to enhance discussion on the effective enforceability of provisions in the TSD chapter. |
