Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic
and Trade Agreement (CETA) and Municipal Governments
FCM's Principles on CETA endorsed by AMO:
- Reasonable procurement thresholds: Inappropriately high or broad
procurement thresholds may force municipalities to tender projects when
tendering is neither practical nor financially justified.
- Streamlined administration: Ensuring that municipal procurement
policies are free-trade compliant will likely create new costs and may
require specialized expertise. The administrative design of these rules
must be as streamlined as possible and developed in close cooperation
with municipal procurement practitioners.
- Progressive enforcement: Enforcing provisions of any deal should be
progressive, starting with verbal or public warnings before moving to
financial penalties, and should recognize and not penalize inadvertent
non-compliance, particularly in cases where municipalities do not have
the expertise to appropriately apply the rules.
- Canadian content for strategic industries or sensitive projects: A
trade deal must recognize strategic and public interest considerations
before barring all preferential treatment based on country of origin.
There may be industries of strategic significance to a particular
region, such as transit, or projects where considerations of quality,
public benefit, environmental protection or business ethics means that a
local government may wish to implement minimum Canadian-content levels.
This should be allowed, within reason.
- Dispute resolution: A dispute-resolution process, like the one in
NAFTA, may require a careful review of the municipal role in that
process so they can appropriately defend their policies and by-laws as
an order of government.
- Consultation and communications: Consultation and communications
during negotiations are required to ensure any resulting agreement
responds to municipal concerns.
- Reciprocity: Canada´s negotiating position must support
reciprocity in Canadian and foreign municipal procurement practices.
Other CETA information:
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