Skip to content

EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CETA)

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada entered into force provisionally on September 21st. In short, CETA makes it easier to export goods and services, benefitting people and businesses in both the EU and Canada.

CETA and its benefit for Danish companies

Canada is Denmark’s 13th biggest trade partner outside of the EU and with the trade agreement, it is now easier and cheaper for Danish businesses to export goods and services to Canada. Denmark will benefit from tariffs being removed on virtually all of its exports, in particular on pharmaceuticals and medical instruments, machinery and electrical equipment, furniture, agri-food products and a wide range of services. Especially small and medium sized Danish businesses will benefit from the agreement as CETA reduces trade barriers, tariff elimination, simplified customs procedures and more compatible technical requirements all make it easier and cheaper to export. In particular, CETA will bring saving on customs duties by eliminating duties on 98% of all tariff lines.

Enabling Danish firms to bid for more public contracts in Canada

CETA gives Danish companies access to Canada’s large public procurement market. Danish companies now have the opportunity to bid to supply goods and services for tenders at all levels of government in Canada (federal, provincial and municipal). Canada has also agreed to make the tendering process more transparent by publishing its federal and provincial public tenders on a single procurement website.

Protecting Denmark’s research and creativity

CETA gives Danish innovations, copyrights and trademarks a similar level of protection in Canada to that they enjoy in Europe. In particular, Canada will bring its copyright protection in line with international standards. CETA will also cover intellectual property rights for pharmaceuticals. This is good news for Denmark, given the importance of pharmaceuticals in Denmark’s exports to Canada.

Encouraging investment between Denmark and Canada

CETA will make it easier for Danish firms to invest in Canada, as Canada has agreed to substantially increase the threshold for reviewing the acquisition of Canadian companies by non-Canadians from CAN $354 million (€247.26 million) to CAN $1.5 billion (€1.4 billion).
Once CETA enters into force definitively, these provisions will provide Danish and Canadian investors with greater predictability, transparency, and protection for their investments in Canada and in Denmark respectively.

For further information, please see the following links: 

Access to Markets
European Union Chamber of Commerce in Canada