LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

That the Minister of International Trade encourage and again, at the Ministerial Meeting to be held in Toronto in November 1999, urge his colleagues of the Americas to actively engage civil society in their respective countries in a meaningful consultation process.

Recommendation No. 2

That the Government of Canada continue its practice of informing and consulting the provinces on issues relating to liberalization of trade within the Americas, and involve them in the negotiation procedure where it is desirable to do so, to protect their interests in their spheres of jurisdiction, while protecting the interests of the Canadian federation as a whole.

Recommendation No. 3

That the Government of Canada examine the mandate and mission of the Pan American Health Organization, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, including their abilities to carry out their assigned duties and responsibilities relating to the five objectives set out in the Summit of the Americas Plan of Action with respect to eradicating poverty and discrimination in the hemisphere.

Recommendation No. 4

That the Government of Canada, in preparing positions for negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, assess their impacts on human rights, seeking to ensure that there are no conflicts with Canada's international human rights obligations or with measures to protect and progressively realize rights which are affirmed under international law. The Government of Canada should also encourage its negotiating partners to do the same and take advantage of these negotiations as a way of advancing respect for human rights throughout the Americas.

Recommendation No. 5

That the Government of Canada increase its efforts in promoting Canada's voluntary business ethics codes and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Anti-Bribery Convention.

Recommendation No. 6

That the Government of Canada continue its proactive leadership role in moving the negotiations of a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement forward.

Recommendation No. 7

That the Government of Canada make it eminently clear to all negotiating parties that Canada attaches great importance to the resolution of business facilitation issues.

Recommendation No. 8

That the Government of Canada instruct its negotiating officials to work with the FTAA Consultative Group on Smaller Economies to first identify a clear and workable definition of a small economy. That the Government of Canada debate financial and other resource assistance to small economies, appropriately defined, for the negotiation and implementation, including matters relating to dispute settlement, of a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement.

Recommendation No. 9

That the Government of Canada maintain its current position that a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement is a single undertaking, whereby signatories must accept all and not just parts of its negotiated terms. That this agreement include negotiated concessions to small economies.

Recommendation No. 10

That the Government of Canada work to build up the presence of the International Labour Organization in the hemispheric initiative and continue to promote labour standards throughout the Americas.

Recommendation No. 11

That the Government of Canada seek to ensure that adequate national environmental standards and norms established in applicable international agreements are respected throughout the Americas. That the Government of Canada, in negotiating the terms of the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, work towards clarifying the rules to uphold obligations under multilateral environmental agreements and provide for better multilateral disciplines governing trade-related environmental and health measures.

Recommendation No. 12

That the Government of Canada seek to ensure that trade officials have access to the most up-to-date scientific environmental data.

Recommendation No. 13

That the Government of Canada ensure that the rules governing a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement do not in any way impair the Government's sovereign right to regulate in the public interest.

Recommendation No. 14

That the Government of Canada preserve Canada's cultural identity through the continuation of its present cultural exemption policies while working to establish a new international instrument on culture along the lines contained in the Cultural SAGIT Report, if feasible within the World Trade Organization framework, and to seek alliances amongst the nations of the Americas for achieving this instrument.

Recommendation No. 15

That the Government of Canada establish an appropriate base year upon which to commence reductions on all industrial product tariffs for each signatory of the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement and that this date maximize Canadian interests.

Recommendation No. 16

That the Government of Canada seek a maximum 10-year timeframe in which to phase out all tariffs imposed on all industrial products originating in Free Trade Area of the Americas signatory countries and that it show the flexibility necessary to obtain accelerated tariff reductions whenever possible.

Recommendation No. 17

That the Government of Canada aggressively pursue refinements in the procedures of anti-dumping measures at the multilateral level with the view to improving them.

Recommendation No. 18

That the Government of Canada seek to establish a subsidy and countervail measures framework at the multilateral level.

Recommendation No. 19

That the Government of Canada seek to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement that incorporates rules on technical barriers to trade that are consistent with our international obligations.

Recommendation No. 20

That the Government of Canada seek to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement that incorporates safeguards consistent with the standards established in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Recommendation No. 21

That the Government of Canada negotiate broader trade liberalization in agricultural products in the context of the World Trade Organization and seek to obtain more concessions, more quickly, in the context of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Recommendation No. 22

That the Government of Canada focus Canada's priority interests in the services export markets, bearing in mind the importance of the Americas.

Recommendation No. 23

That the Government of Canada focus negotiations on services of the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement on broadening and deepening the scope of commitments of most-favoured nation and national treatment beyond that obtained in the General Agreement on Trade in Services, perhaps taking a sectoral approach.

Recommendation No. 24

That the Government of Canada's position regarding government procurement and the Free Trade Area of the Americas be similar to that adopted in the Government Procurement Agreement. A Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement on government procurement should be plurilateral and cover the broadest possible range of goods and services (including construction). In addition, a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement on government procurement should provide for periodic review to have it broadened and strengthened.

Recommendation No. 25

In view of the concerns arising from the interpretation of `expropriation' in the investor-state provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Chapter 11), the Government of Canada should ensure the incorporation of a narrowly-defined concept of expropriation in any negotiations on investment in the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement.

Recommendation No. 26

That the Government of Canada seek a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement that includes investment provisions modelled on Canada's current Foreign Investment Protection Agreements with Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Recommendation No. 27

That the Government of Canada continue its consultations with the parties concerned so that its position on intellectual property represents the interests of all Canadians. That this policy be defended in the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations.

Recommendation No. 28

That the Government of Canada: (a) encourage the introduction of competition policy and law regimes with strong enforcement provisions of these laws by countries of the Americas that do not presently have them; (b) resist those parties to a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement who would have anti-dumping provisions merged with predatory pricing provisions of competition policy and law; (c) consider the desirability of a competition policy review process that would, at a minimum, provide routine oversight and report on a member country's competition policy and its competition authority's enforcement record in matters of procedural fairness and transparency; and (d) provide for periodic review to have competition policies broadened and strengthened.

Recommendation No. 29

That the Government of Canada adopt the position that the dispute settlement mechanism of the Free Trade Area of the Americas be based on World Trade Organization principles, including emphasis on the implementation of a panel finding, compensation and retaliation.