Summary
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement. Entered into force on 1 January 1994. Its members are Canada, United States and Mexico. This agreement, though long and complex, has exerted a strong influence on the architecture of later free-trade agreements negotiated by countries other than the United States. Only a basic introduction to its structure can be given here. NAFTA's objectives, as set out in Chapter 1, are to eliminate barriers to trade in goods and services, promote fair competition, adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, effective procedures for settlement of disputes and to provide a framework for further trilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation. Chapter 2 contains definitions. Chapter 3 provides for national treatment of goods. Most tariffs were eliminated over ten years. All will have gone by 2008. Anti-dumping rules are also part of this chapter. Chapter 4 sets out the rules of origin. These use the change-in-tariff classification method. Common customs procedures are listed in Chapter 5. Energy and trade in basic petrochemicals, dealt with in Chapter 6, are to be liberalized. Chapter 7 contains the rules for agriculture and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Chapters 8, 9 and 10, respectively, set out the safeguards, technical barriers to trade and government procurement provisions. NAFTA Chapter 11 is the investment chapter. National treatment and most-favoured-nation treatment apply to investment. This chapter also outlines the concept of a minimum standard of treatment.
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- Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms , pp. 293 - 315Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007