CANADA - EU Free Trade Agreement

At the Canada-EU Summit on October 17, 2008 in Quebec City, Leaders agreed to work towards a stronger economic partnership. The first step in that process was completed on March 5, 2009, with the release of the Joint Report on the EU-Canada Scoping Exercise, which provided the basis for an ambitious and comprehensive negotiation. Now, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) is canvassing industry, including RAC members, for their views and comments on the opportunities and issues associated with freer trade with the EU.

RAC will be meeting with DFAIT representatives over the summer in preparation for the start of their negotiations which are expected to begin this October. RAC will be consulting with members to assess the market opportunities and risks associated with this FTA. In the meantime, members should notify RAC to discuss in detail key export interests and/or import sensitivities you may have with respect to the EU FTA.

Find out if the new EU chemicals legislation applies to you

Do you know what REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals) means for your products and your company?

You should find out your requirements under REACH if one of the following applies to you:

- you manufacture or import chemical substances or mixtures of chemical substances (preparations) into Europe.

- you produce or import articles (such as construction materials, electronic components, toys or vehicles) which contain substances included in a list of substances of very high concern or which are released during their use.

-you process chemicals or you formulate preparations for end use (for example cleaning products, paints or motor oils)

-you use these formulated products professionally. (In this case you are a 'downstream user'.)

REACH gives greater responsibility to the industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. Manufacturers and importers will be required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances which will allow their safe handling and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki.

The European Chemical Agency has IT tools and guidance documents to help. Visit their website at http://echa.europa.eu.

Sources:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/pdf/reach_me_flyer_en.pdf
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