WTO DEMARCHE ON U.S./EC TAFT PROPOSAL - CANADA'S

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000309 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN AND EEB/MTA (AARON SCHEIBE) STATE PASS USTR (BNORTON, JWEISS) COMMERCE FOR EBRZYTWA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD WTRO ECON CA EUN SUBJECT: WTO DEMARCHE ON U.S./EC TAFT PROPOSAL - CANADA'S REACTION REF: STATE 12905 ¶1. On February 29, EMIN presented reftel demarche to Balsharan Rakhra, Trade Policy Officer, Technical Barriers and Regulations Division, DFAIT. He had arranged to make the presentation jointly with his EU Mission counterpart, but she was absent due to illness. At the end of his oral presentation, EMIN asked the Canadian government to co-sponsor the U.S.-EC proposal on non-tariff barriers to textiles, apparel, footwear, and travel goods (TAFT). He left a copy of the talking points and the text of the joint TAFT proposal. ¶2. Rakhra said that the Canadian government finds the U.S.-EC proposal "very positive" and supports its intent and content strongly "in principle." Canada wants to collaborate with the U.S. and the EU to move this initiative forward. ¶3. However, Rakhra could not say at this time when Canada would agree to be a co-sponsor. The Canadian government's inability to co-sponsor at the present time awaits clarification of a technical legal issue, she explained. Government lawyers expect to finalize in the near future their legal analysis of whether the TAFT proposal references in para. 5 and later paragraphs to the existing Technical Barriers of Trade (TBT) Agreement can be supported legally. The key question is "whether the new proposal can legally modify the TBT Agreement?" Rakhra promised that there would be further consultations in Genera on this matter between Canadian officials and their U.S. and EU counterparts. Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada WILKINS