Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 July 2025
137. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide detailed clarification of the potential access and the protections to market access, arising from the so-called "negative list" in the CETA trade agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43990/25]
View answerIn trade agreements, parties can lay out their commitments and their exceptions to trading according to two different techniques; Positive listing and Negative listing.
Negative listing, as used in the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA), has seen both parties detail all the exceptions and conditions to the commitments contained in the trade agreement. The negative list states areas where we wish to apply limitations. This means that within CETA all service sectors, save for those listed, are open to foreign investment and trade.
Ireland's specific reservations are listed in an Annex to the agreement, along with all Member states. In this sectors such as agriculture, mining and quarrying, business and legal services, health and veterinary services and fishing and maritime transport are all listed with reservations. Some reservations cover general principles of non-discrimination between domestic and foreign entities, some cover access to markets and allow us to protect specific sectors from being fully liberalised under CETA. In some cases these reservations outline the national requirements that must first be fulfilled before the activity can be undertaken under the terms of CETA.
Our reservations can serve to support our domestic business ecosystem while at the same time encouraging market access and economic growth though new trading opportunities with Canada.
CETA remains provisionally applied pending all EU Member State ratification, doing so is a commitment within the Programme for Government.
