Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 July 2021
33. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of the investment court system component of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement; when it is due to come into effect; and if he is satisfied that participation in the system is a prudent decision for the Irish people. [38639/21]
View answerThe EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, commonly known as CETA, has provisionally applied since 21st September 2017, meaning a great many of the benefits of this Agreement are already in place. Provisional application is a standard mechanism provided for in the EU’s Free Trade Agreements. This means that those areas where the EU has full competence may be applied immediately once the Agreement has been voted for by Council and the European Parliament. It is an important mechanism that allows consumers and companies to benefit from a trade agreement at an early stage, as the completion of national ratification procedures across all 27 Member States can take several years.
The positive impact of the provisional application of the Agreement has been plain to see with goods exports to Canada increased from EUR 953 million in 2016 to more than EUR 1.7 billion in 2020, an increase of 78 per cent, while services exports grew from EUR 1.6 billion in 2016 to more than EUR 2.3 billion in 2019, an increase of 44 per cent.
Looking further at the tangible benefits of this Agreement, my Department has recently released the results of an independent study of the potential economic opportunities and impacts for Ireland from the European Union’s Free Trade Agreements with Canada as well as South Korea, Mexico and Japan. The study, released on 28th of April, encompasses state of the art quantitative modelling and qualitative analysis, including a comprehensive programme of stakeholder engagement with business and agriculture representatives and found that these four EU FTAs are forecast to have a positive effect on trade, GDP and national income in Ireland.
The full coming into force of the Agreement once ratified across all Member States, will see the implementation of the Investment Chapter of the Agreement including the resolution of disputes between investors and states, should they arise. All international trade agreements have dispute resolution arrangements. Where such agreements cover (i) trade in both goods and services and (ii) investment rules and protections, then there must be a dispute resolution mechanism that covers investments. The EU’s new approach to investment protection is the Investment Court System (ICS) which is contained in CETA and replaces the old Investor-State Dispute Settlement or ISDS mechanism. I have set out for the House, on many occasions previously, the improvements ICS represents over the older ISDS.
It is also important to point out that CETA reaffirms the EU and Canada’s right to regulate to achieve legitimate policy objectives, such as the protection of public health, the environment or consumer protection. And while CETA does not prevent a party pursuing a claim through domestic courts, the ICS element of CETA is specifically designed to provide an arbitration alternative to either EU investors in Canada or Canadian investors in the EU.
As I outlined during my appearance before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on EU Affairs on 26 May 2021, ratifying CETA is Government policy and an objective of mine as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. As a small, open economy, Ireland has benefited immensely from our export-orientated enterprises trading across the globe and, therefore, we support international trade and the EU free trade agreements that seek to underpin this. Equally, Ireland has been an attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) for many decades and participating in EU third country agreements that cover investment and provide investment protection continue to assist us in marketing Ireland as a competitive, FDI-friendly, jurisdiction for multinational enterprise to invest in with the attendant jobs and prosperity that entails.
Taking the foregoing into consideration and given that there can be no doubt that CETA is a progressive, high-standard agreement, I believe that ratifying the agreement would send a positive message to our trading partners around the world that Ireland continues to be committed to the values of open and fair global trade.
Finally, for CETA to enter into force fully and definitively all EU Member States need to ratify the Agreement in line with their national procedures and this process is still ongoing so I cannot say when CETA will take full effect.
