Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement

CHAPTER ONE
INITIAL PROVISIONS AND GENERAL DEFINITIONS

Section A – Initial Provisions

Article 1.1: Establishment of the Free Trade Area

The Parties to this Agreement, consistent with Article XXIV of the GATT 1994, hereby establish a free trade area.

Article 1.2: Objective

The objective of this Agreement, as elaborated more specifically in its provisions, is to eliminate obstacles to trade in, and facilitate the movement of, goods between the Parties, thereby to promote conditions of fair competition and increase substantially investment opportunities in the free trade area.

Article 1.3: Relation to Other Agreements

1. The Parties affirm their existing rights and obligations with respect to each other under the WTO Agreement and other agreements to which both Parties are party.

2. In the event of any inconsistency between this Agreement and the agreements referred to in paragraph 1, this Agreement prevails, except as otherwise provided in this Agreement.

Article 1.4: Extent of Obligations

The rights and obligations of the Parties relating to the observance of this Agreement by regional and local governments shall be governed by Article XXIV:12 of the GATT 1994.

Article 1.5: Relation to Environmental and Conservation Agreements

In the event of an inconsistency between an obligation of a Party under this Agreement and an obligation of that Party under an agreement listed in Annex 1.5, the latter obligation prevails provided that the measure taken is necessary to comply with that obligation and is not applied in a manner that would constitute, when the same conditions prevail, arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination, or a disguised restriction on international trade.

Article 1.6: Reference to Other Agreements

1. When this Agreement refers to or incorporates by reference other agreements or legal instruments in whole or in part, those references include related footnotes, interpretative notes, and explanatory notes that are binding on both Parties.

2. When this Agreement incorporates by reference other agreements or international legal instruments in whole or in part, except when the reference affirms existing rights, this reference also includes, as the case may be, a successor agreement or subsequent agreement to which both Parties are party or an amendment binding on both Parties.

Section B – General Definitions

Article 1.7: Definitions of General Application

For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise specified:

Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters means the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the State of Israel on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters, done at Ottawa on 11 December 2012;

Commission means the Joint Commission established under Article 18.1 (Joint Commission);

Coordinators means the Coordinators established under Article 18.2 (Coordinators);

Customs Valuation Agreement means the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;

day means calendar day;

enterprise means any entity constituted or organised under applicable law, whether or not for profit, and whether privately-owned or governmentally-owned, including a corporation, trust, partnership, sole proprietorship, joint venture, or other association;

GATS means the General Agreement on Trade in Services, contained in Annex 1B of the WTO Agreement;

GATT 1994 means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement;

good or goods of a Party means domestic products as these are understood in the GATT 1994, or any other good that the Parties may decide, and includes any originating good of a Party;

Harmonized System (“HS”) means the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, including its General Rules of Interpretation, Section Notes, Chapter Notes, and subheading notes;

heading means a four-digit number, or the first four digits of a number, used in the nomenclature of the Harmonized System;

measure covers any measure whether in form of a law, regulation, rule, procedure, decision, administrative action, practice, or any other form;

New York Convention means the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, done at New York on 10 June 1958;

originating means qualifying under the rules of origin set out in Chapter Three (Rules of Origin);

person means a natural person or an enterprise;

sanitary or phytosanitary measure means any measure referred in paragraph 1 of Annex A of the SPS Agreement;

SPS Agreement means the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;

subheading means a six-digit number, or the first six digits of a number, used in the nomenclature of the Harmonized System;

tariff classification means the classification of a good or material under a chapter, heading or subheading of the Harmonized System;

tariff elimination schedule means Annex 2.1 (Tariff Elimination) and its Schedules;

telecommunications means the transmission and reception of signals by electromagnetic means;

territory means:

• (a) for Canada,
  the territory to which its customs laws apply, including any areas beyond the territorial sea of Canada within which, in accordance with international law and its domestic law, Canada may exercise rights with respect to the seabed and subsoil and their natural resources;
• (b) for Israel,
  the territory where its customs laws are applied;

TRIPS Agreement means the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, contained in Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement; and

WTO Agreement means the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, done on 15 April 1994.

ANNEX 1.5
MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS

The multilateral environmental agreements are:

• (a) the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, done at Washington on 3 March 1973, as amended on 22 June 1979;
• (b) the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, done at Montreal on 16 September 1987, as amended 29 June 1990, as amended 25 November 1992, as amended 17 September 1997, as amended 3 December 1999;
• (c) the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, done at Basel on 22 March 1989; and
• (d)  the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, done at Rotterdam on 10 September 1998.