TETE focuses on managing the interfaces among trade, environment and technology policies, encouraging regulatory convergence, and reducing frictions in these areas. It is funded under the European Commission’s Public Diplomacy, Policy Research and Outreach Program devoted to the European Union and Canada-EU Relations. The purpose of the project is to work together with the Canadian and EU governments at all levels in the context of the negotiations toward a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
A major goal of the negotiations toward a CETA is to improve relations between Canada and the EU in areas of mutual strategic importance. This project aims to assist the Canadian and EU governments promote convergence and harmonization among trade, environment and technology policy measures, including legislation, technical regulations, standards and approval processes. A prerequisite to greater cooperation and integration is enhanced mutual understanding of policies, practices and processes. To that end, TETE will promote, within Canada, the understanding of EU systems, and within the EU, the awareness of Canadian federal and provincial systems, that intersect trade, environment and technology policies.
TETE’s leading institutional partners are the Faculties of Law at the University of Ottawa and the University of Amsterdam. Research network collaborators include: Value Addition through Genomics and GE3LS (VALGEN), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Academy of Environmental Law, and Sustainable Prosperity.
The project commenced in January 2010 and continues for 18 months. It includes two workshops on constitutional law for the Canadian and EU CETA negotiating teams. The first, targeted at Canadian federal, provincial and territorial negotiators, involves leading EU law experts from the University of Amsterdam, Dr. P.J. Kuijper, Dr. A.A.M. Schrauwen, and Dr. R.H. van Ooik, and takes place at the University of Ottawa. The second features Dr. Peter W. Hogg, the leading Canadian constitutional law scholar, joined by Professors Steger, de Beer and Le Bouthillier from the University of Ottawa, presenting a workshop on the Canadian Constitution to EU and Member State negotiators in Brussels.
Several substantive, policy-oriented conferences and workshops will be held in provinces across Canada featuring case studies on bio-energy and bio-technology as well as rules-based analyses on standards, transparency and regulatory cooperation relevant to the CETA negotiations.
More news about people, publications and events relating to TETE is available online at www.can-eu-tete.ca.