CALL FOR EVIDENCE

FOR AN EVALUATION

This document aims to inform the public and stakeholders about the Commission's work, so they can provide feedback and participate effectively in consultation activities.

We ask these groups to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to share any relevant information that they may have.

Title of the evaluation

EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) - evaluation

Lead DG – responsible unit

DG TRADE.D1

Indicative timetable

(planned start date and completion date)

Start date: Q4-2023

Completion date: Q2-2025

Additional information

Trade with Canada: EU-Canada Trade agreement (CETA) (europa.eu) 

A. Political context, purpose and scope of the evaluation

Political context

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) provides the framework for a sustainable, mutually beneficial and forward-looking trade and economic relationship between the EU and Canada.

The EU and Canada signed CETA on 30 October 2016 and the Agreement entered provisionally into force on 21 September 2017, following ratification by the European Parliament and the Council. So far, 17 Member States have ratified the Agreement (as of November 2023).

CETA’s objectives include: (i) further strengthening the parties’ close economic relationship; (ii) creating an expanded and secure market for the parties’ goods and services by reducing and eliminating barriers to trade and investment; (iii) establishing clear, transparent, predictable and mutually-advantageous rules to govern trade and investment relations between the parties; (iv) promoting sustainable development and ensuring that international trade contributes to economic, social and environmental objectives; and (v) ensuring that the Agreement respects international labour and environmental standards.

CETA commits to extensively eliminate tariffs on trade in goods and to reduce non-tariff barriers. Other commitments include regulatory cooperation and dispute settlement, cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary measures, services and investment (market access and protection), subsidies, competition, trade and sustainable development provisions, public procurement and protection of intellectual property rights, and extensive rules of origin.

In the first 5 years of CETA, bilateral merchandise trade increased by 66% to reach EUR 77 billion, up from EUR 46.3 billion in 2016. For services, imports stood at EUR 13.6 billion and exports at EUR 17.4 billion in 2021. 

Purpose and scope

The Commission has published a call for tenders for a study to evaluate how CETA has worked in practice. The outcome of this study will feed into the evaluation of CETA, which will take the form of a staff working document to be prepared by the Commission after the end of the project.

In particular, this evaluation will examine:

(a)the effectiveness and efficiency of CETA in achieving its policy objectives; 

(b)CETA’s relevance to current trade and economic needs, and challenges faced by the EU and Canada; 

(c)the economic, social and environmental (especially climate) impacts of CETA including its effects in/on particular areas/stakeholders: SMEs, consumers, key/sensitive products, preference utilisation rate, specific economic sectors and its contribution to the overall objectives of EU’s trade and investment policy in terms of openness, sustainability and assertiveness, as mentioned in EU Trade Policy review.

On geographical scope, the evaluation will cover the whole of the EU and Canada. Relevant impacts on other countries, especially on less-developed countries, will also be covered.

Thematically, the evaluation will cover all areas of the Agreement, except for those that are not yet applied (pending ratification by all Member States).

B. Better regulation

Consultation strategy

The overall objective of the stakeholder consultation is to ensure that all relevant parties have an opportunity to express their views on:

·the effectiveness of the Agreement in promoting trade and investment and in contributing to sustainable development (including economic, social, human rights and environmental dimensions);

·its efficiency in relation to the resources used (including whether there are unnecessary costs and legal complexities relating to the achievement of the objectives);

·its relevance to current trade and economic needs and challenges facing the EU, Member States and Canada; and

·its coherence with the objectives of the EU’s trade and other external policies.

The added value criteria is not assessed because Trade is an exclusive competence of the EU.

In particular, the consultation process will seek to gather concrete examples, evidence and experiences to complement the quantitative analysis, as well as other information to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges resulting from the Agreement.

The consultations will be an opportunity to hear from all concerned stakeholders about where we should focus our attention, and where more evidence and research is needed. A detailed consultation strategy will be prepared very early on in the evaluation exercise.

The main consultation activities are:

·Civil society dialogues in 2024 and 2025.

·A 12-week online public consultation open to stakeholders in the EU and in Canada. This is planned for Q2 and Q3-2024, and will be available on the Commission's central public consultations page. The questionnaire will be in English and French, but replies can be submitted in any of the 24 official EU languages.

·A targeted online survey intended for business users/interests, including those of SMEs in the EU and Canada. This survey is also planned for Q2-2024.

·Interviews with selected stakeholders, in particular SMEs (possibly in some specific business sectors) in Canada and the EU, to capture their particular experiences.

A synopsis report summarising the results of the consultation activities will be published on the consultation website once all consultation activities have been completed.

Why are we consulting? 

This consultation gives an opportunity to gather the views of a broad range of stakeholders to ensure in a transparent and participatory way that the Commission draws on a comprehensive stakeholder perspective.

Target audience

The main stakeholders are:

·on the EU side: EU Chamber of Commerce in Canada, businesses and business associations, labour unions, non-governmental organisations, academia and the general public; 


·on the Canadian side: public authorities at national and regional level, national investment promotion agencies; businesses and business associations, labour unions, non-governmental organisations, academia and the general public. 


Data collection and methodology

The data and methodology used in the evaluation will build on: (i) the trade sustainability impact assessment on the negotiation of a comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada - final report: Circabc (europa.eu), June 2011; (ii) the European Commission' position paper on the trade sustainability impact assessment of a CETA: relations-negotiations-and-agreements – Library (europa.eu), 4 April 2017; and (iii) relevant research and reports published by third parties.

An external study will be commissioned to gather information and evidence for the evaluation. The selected contractor will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. An appropriate quantitative model will be applied to assess the economic impact of the Agreement, using macro- and micro-economic data.

Most data needed for the evaluation is available from Eurostat and COMTRADE, as well as other databases. Qualitative data 1 will be gathered through consultations, workshops, surveys and interviews.

The evaluation will examine whether and to what extent the potential impacts foreseen in the Sustainability Impact Assessment have materialised.

Case studies will help to make sense of the results of the quantitative analysis and may be used to respond to gaps in economic data. Case studies for selected sectors, products, cross-sectoral or thematic issues will provide an in-depth look at economic, social, and environmental impacts and will serve to identify factors enabling or holding back progress on achieving CETA’s objectives.