October 2015

U.S.A.

Shipping Container Above Stacked OthersTrade lawyers may have new tools in their tool belt as a result of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). So often when one reads about a free trade agreement, a Chapter will jump out as interesting.  Canada has not included a Chapter on trade remedies since NAFTA and the Canada-Chile free trade agreement.  As

Canada

iStock_000019169483XSmallOn October 5, 2015, the trade ministers of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).  TPP is a historic trade agreement.  TPP is a comprehensive trade agreement.

For Canada, TPP represents a trade agreement with new parties (Australia, Brunei,

Canadian parliamentCanada has a federal government procurement bid challenge mechanism that has been made somewhat user-friendly to small-to-medium sized businesses.  Chapter 10 of the North American Free Trade Agreement and equivalent chapters in other free trade agreements and the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement require that Canada establish a bid challenge mechanism.  Canada has done so.