An Analysis of the Final Text of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
More than five years after the May 2009 launch of negotiations between Canada and the European Union toward a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), it was announced on August 5, 2014 that “officials have reached a complete text, allowing translation and final legal review to commence.”1 Less than two weeks later, on August 13, German broadcaster ARD leaked more than 500 pages of the CETA consolidated text, followed the next day by an additional 1,000 pages of annexes.2 The Berlin-based digital rights group netzpolitik.org subsequently released some additional CETA texts, including tariff offers and side letters.3 Neither the Canadian government nor the European Commission has publicly discussed the leaked text, despite its availability on multiple websites.
