PART A: Goods

Article 301: Right of Entry and Exit

1. This Article applies to any measure adopted or maintained by a Party relating to trade in goods, except for any technical regulation, conformity assessment procedure, standard, or sanitary or phytosanitary measure.

2. A Province shall not adopt or maintain any measure that restricts or prevents the movement of goods across provincial or territorial boundaries.

3. The Government of Canada shall not adopt or maintain any measure that unduly restricts or prevents the movement of goods across provincial or territorial boundaries.

Article 302: Technical Barriers to Trade

1. This Article applies to the preparation, adoption, and application of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures, that may affect trade in goods within Canada.

2. This Article does not apply to any sanitary or phytosanitary measure.

Technical Regulations

3. Each Party shall ensure that technical regulations are not prepared, adopted, or applied that would have the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to trade within Canada.

4. For the purposes of paragraph 3, technical regulations shall not be more trade restrictive than necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective, taking account of the risks non-fulfillment would create. For the purposes of this Article, such legitimate objectives are not limited only to those legitimate objectives set out in the definition of “legitimate objective” in Chapter Thirteen (Definitions). In assessing such risks, relevant elements of consideration include available scientific and technical information, related processing technology, or intended end-uses of the product.

5. Wherever appropriate, technical regulations shall be based on:

(a) product requirements in terms of performance rather than design or descriptive characteristics; and

(b) relevant national, de facto national, or international standards, if such standards exist or their completion is imminent, except if such national, de facto national, or international standards, or relevant parts, would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued, for instance because of fundamental climatic or geographical factors or fundamental technological problems.

6. Technical regulations shall not be maintained if the circumstances or objectives giving rise to their adoption no longer exist or if the changed circumstances or objectives can be addressed in a less trade-restrictive manner.

Standards

7. If national, de facto national, or international standards do not exist or are demonstrably ineffective or inappropriate, interested Parties shall cooperate to develop national standards and, wherever practicable, use Canada’s National Standardization Network for that purpose.

Conformity Assessment Procedures

8. On request, each Party shall accept the results of another Party’s conformity assessment procedures, even if those procedures differ from its own, provided it is satisfied that those procedures offer an assurance of conformity with applicable technical regulations or standards equivalent to its own procedures. If a Party does not accept the results of a conformity assessment procedure conducted in the territory of the other Party, it shall, on request of the other Party, explain the reasons for its decision.

9. Each Party shall use relevant national or international guides and recommendations, if they exist or their completion is imminent, as a basis for its conformity assessment procedures, except if such national or international guides and recommendations or relevant parts would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued, for instance because of fundamental climatic or geographical factors or fundamental technological problems.

Article 303: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

1. This Article applies to any sanitary or phytosanitary measure adopted or maintained by a Party that may, directly or indirectly, affect trade within Canada.

Basic Rights and Obligations

2. Each Party has the right to take any sanitary or phytosanitary measure necessary to protect human, animal, or plant life or health within its territory.

3. Each Party shall ensure that its sanitary and phytosanitary measures:

(a) except as provided for in paragraph 9, are applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal, or plant life or health, are based on scientific principles, and are not maintained without sufficient scientific evidence; and

(b) do not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between or among Parties where identical or similar conditions prevail.

4. Sanitary and phytosanitary measures shall not be applied in a manner that would constitute a disguised restriction on trade within Canada.

Assessment of Risk and Determination of the Appropriate Level of Sanitary or Phytosanitary Protection

5. Each Party shall ensure that its sanitary or phytosanitary measures are based on an assessment, as appropriate to the circumstances, of the risks to human, animal, or plant life or health, taking into account risk assessment techniques developed by relevant international organizations.

6. Each Party should, when determining the appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection, take into account the objective of minimizing negative trade effects.

7. When adopting or maintaining any sanitary or phytosanitary measure to achieve the appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection, each Party shall ensure that the measure is not more trade-restrictive than required to achieve its appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection, taking into account technical and economic feasibility.

8. For the purposes of paragraph 7, a measure is not more trade-restrictive than required unless there is another measure that is reasonably available to the Party, taking into account technical and economic feasibility, which achieves the appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection and is significantly less restrictive to trade.

9. If relevant scientific evidence is insufficient, a Party may provisionally adopt any sanitary or phytosanitary measure. In such circumstances, the Party shall seek to obtain the additional information necessary for a more objective assessment of risk and review the sanitary or phytosanitary measure accordingly within a reasonable period of time.

Article 304: Cost-of-Service Fees

Each Party shall ensure that any cost-of-service fees it applies to the goods of another Party are no less favourable than those applied to its own like, directly competitive or substitutable goods and to those of any other Party or non-Party, except to the extent that any difference can be justified by actual cost.