CETA To Bring A Better Business Environment In Canada
22 Sep 2017
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is set to increase Free trade between the European Union and Canada. It has the aim of providing more business opportunities and a better environment for important personnel, professionals, service-suppliers, and short-term business visitors to carry out their activities in Canada.
It is designed to eliminate 98 % tariffs between the EU and Canada. CETA comes into effect on September provisionally, and several member states have so far not ratified it. The Canadian government estimates that CETA will boost bilateral trade by 20 %.
CETA will allow the entry of a few businessmen who are citizens of Canada and EU states by removing the requirement for LMIA which was needed prior to doing any
work in Canada legally. The
Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) guarantees that Canadian companies can only hire at the international level when no Canadian citizens or PRs are ready and able to do that work. It includes advertising the requirements and more processing time. An exemption here makes the process easy.
CETA covers these categories of visitors for doing business:
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Important personnel like intra-corporate transferees, investors, and business visitors interested in investment;
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Service suppliers on Contract and independent professionals; and
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Business visitors arriving for a short duration.
LMIA exemption codes have been created to capture data about
EU business visitors. These exemptions are envisaged in the International Mobility Program using which the government goes for better cultural and economic relations and provides a competitive advantage for the country.
Business visitors
The duration of stay for short-term business visitors for investment activities is 90 days in a six-month period. The eligible activities, for business visitors, are dissimilar in CETA to the North American Free Trade Agreement. It includes categories like:
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Meetings and consultations,
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Training seminars
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After-sales services includes after-lease services
Intra-Company
In CETA persons may transfer to work in Canada if it is in the same company. Senior personnel and specialists possess the eligibility to enter Canada without a LMIA. The transferees must:
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have been employed by an EU enterprise for at least one year; and
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have been transferred temporarily to the subsidiary or branch, or the head company of an enterprise
Graduate trainee applicants are required to possess a university degree and must be transferred temporarily to a Canada based enterprise for career development/ training.
Investors
Eligible investors can stay for a year.
The investor must establish/ develop/ administer the investment and play a supervisory or executive role be the investor, and be employed by an enterprise committed to bringing substantial capital.
Contractual service suppliers and independent professionals can stay in Canada for 12 months or for the duration of the contract, whichever is low
Applicants must be professionals and citizens of EU member states:
They must perform service for 12 months and must be contracted to serve as per the Annex 10 E Concordance Table
They must have a university degree and possess professional qualifications to practice a legal activity in the provinces/territories
A few categories of Engineering and Scientific Technologists can enter Canada without having a university degree.
