Bilateral Trade Negotiations

The Electronic Commerce Branch shares the views that as a new way of doing business across various sectors of the economy, electronic commerce has become a practical means for businesses, particularly small and medium sized companies, to expand their reach to geographically distant markets. The aim for the Electronic Commerce Branch in participating in bilateral free trade negotiations is to promote the use of electronic commerce with our trading partners and a fair, transparent regulatory and policy framework for cross-border trade.

Current trade negotiations are being held with Panama, Caribbean countries, Korea and Singapore. These discussions cover a wide range of topics, going from the inclusion in the FTA of a custom moratorium on products delivered electronically, the promotion of a non-discriminatory trade treatment for digital products (i.e. same treatment as the physical equivalent), and the promotion of an enabling policy and regulatory environment for e-commerce, addressing new digital economy issues such as privacy protection, consumer protection and paperless trade, and promotes international cooperation on these issues.

Legislation has been introduced in the House of Commons for the free trade agreements Canada recently signed with Colombia and Peru.

• Canada-Peru and Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreements
  Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT)
  March 26, 2009