Multilateral aspects of advanced regulatory cooperation: considerations for a Canada-EU Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA)

This article considers equivalency recognition for goods and for services in the context of the applicable WTO agreements and provisions. The discussion of equivalency arises from certain elements presented by the Canada-EU Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA), in which economically developed territories with well-established regulatory systems might choose to use equivalency instruments to further regulatory cooperation. The conditionally open character of equivalency recognition in the WTO may be an opportunity for these members to design a system that, while recognizing each other's domestic regulations, might offer additional possibilities for the inclusion of other WTO members.