OAS
 
Canada-Mexico-United States (NAFTA)
Text of the Agreement
  Background and Negotiations
  The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States on 17 December 1992. This agreement partly built upon the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, which had been signed on 02 January 1988 and came into effect on 01 January 1989.

The NAFTA entered into force on 01 January 1994. The agreement contains an Agreement on Environmental Cooperation and an Agreement on Labor Cooperation.

Background documents
02 January 1988 Text of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement PDF
Source: International Trade Canada

  Implementation of the Agreement
       Understandings on aspects of the Agreement

 
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Understanding on Chapter Eight - Emergency Action
 
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Notes of Interpretation of Certain Chapter 11 Provisions July 31, 2001
 
     Free Trade Commission Meetings
 

NAFTA Article 2001 establishes a Free Trade Commission, made up of cabinet-level representatives, that meet yearly to supervise the implementation of the Agreement, oversee its further elaboration, resolve disputes over the interpretation of the Agreement, supervise the work of the committees and working groups and consider any other matters that may affect the operation of the Agreement. The Commission may establish committees, working groups or expert groups and delegate responsibilities to them; and may seek the advice of non-governmental persons or groups.

The Free Trade Commission has met regularly. In 2001, the Commission adopted additional interpretations of Chapter 11. In 2004, negotiating drafts of Chapter 11 were released to the public.

Documents relating to the Free Trade Commission
03 April 2012 Washington, D.C., USA. Joint Statement of the 2012 NAFTA Free Trade Commission Meeting PDF  new
10 January 2011 Mexico City, Mexico. Joint Statement of the 2011 NAFTA Free Trade Commission Meeting PDF
19 October 2009 Dallas, Texas. Joint Statement of the 2009 NAFTA Free Trade Commission Meeting PDF
14 August 2007 Vancouver, Canada. Joint Statement of 2007 NAFTA Commission meeting PDF
24 March 2006 Acapulco, Mexico. Joint Statement of 2005 NAFTA Commission meeting PDF
07 March 2005 Report from the Trilateral Working Group on Textiles and Apparel to the NAFTA Free Trade Commission PDF
16 July 2004 San Antonio, Texas. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 2004: "A Decade of Achievement"
  NAFTA Chapter 11 - Trilateral Negotiating Draft Texts
07 October 2003 Montréal, Canada. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 2003: Celebrating NAFTA at Ten
 

Free Trade Commission Statements on New Transparency Measures:

Joint Statement on the Establishment, Operation and Initial Agenda of a North American Steel Committee

28 May 2002 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 2002: "A Foundation for Future Growth"
31 July 2001 Washington, D.C., USA. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 2001: Building on a North American Partnership
23 April 1999 Ottawa, Canada. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 1999: Five years of Achievement
29 April 1998 Paris, France. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 1998
20 March 1997 Washington, D.C., USA. NAFTA Free Trade Commission Joint Statement 1997
  Reports to the NAFTA Free Trade Commission
 
 
Sources: International Trade Canada; Office of the United States Trade Representative; Secretaría de Economía de México

       Tariff Acceleration
 

NAFTA Article 302:3: states that:

"On the request of any Party, the Parties shall consult to consider accelerating the elimination of customs duties set out in their Schedules. An agreement between two or more Parties to accelerate the elimination of a customs duty on a good shall supersede any duty rate or staging category determined pursuant to their Schedules for such good when approved by each such Party in accordance with its applicable legal procedures."

There have been three rounds of tariff acceleration between Canada. The second and third rounds were implemented in 2001 and 2002.; There have been four rounds of tariff acceleration between the United States and Mexico: these were implemented in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002.

 
Documents relating to Tariff Acceleration
Canada-Mexico 2002
  Canada: Letter to Mexico       
  Annex: Acceleration of tariff elimination on Mexican goods
  Mexico: Letter to Canada
  Annex: Acceleration of tariff elimination on Canadian goods
Mexico-United States
09 January 2002 NAFTA Partners Speed up Elimination of Tariffs on $25 Billion in Trade PDF
  USA: Fourth round of NAFTA Tariff Acceleration PDF
  Lista de fracciones arancelarios sujetos a eliminacion acelerada PDF
Canada-Mexico 2001
  Canada letter to Mexico
  Annex: Acceleration of tariff elimination on Mexican goods
  Mexico letter to Canada
  Annex: Acceleration of tariff elimination on Canadian goods English espanol Excel
Mexico - United States 2000
  Third Round of NAFTA Tariff Acceleration - Mexico: Items marked for acceleration PDF
  Third Round of NAFTA Tariff Acceleration -United States: Items marked for Acceleration PDF
Mexico - United States 1998
 

Mexico: Items marked for acceleration

 

United States: Items marked for acceleration

Mexico - United States 1997
  US Federal Register: Implementation of the First Round of Accelerated Tariff Eliminations Under Provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Sources: International Trade Canada; Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; US Federal Register

        Rules of Origin Modifications
    Article 513 of NAFTA establishes a Working Group on Rules of Origin, charged with the task of implementing and administering the implementation of Articles 303 (Restriction on Drawback and Duty Deferral Programs), 308 (Most-Favored-Nation Rates of Duty on Certain Goods) and 311, Chapter Four and Chapter Five, the Marking Rules and the Uniform Regulations.  This group has met regularly, reviewing the NAFTA rules of origin, proposing technical rectifications to the rules and making modifications to the specific rules of origin contained in Annex 401.  The NAFTA Free Trade Commission reports provide a summary of the work done to date on rules of origin in NAFTA.

On 01 July 2009, Canada and the United States implemented measures to liberalize the NAFTA rules of origin applicable to certain textile goods (Appendix 6, Annex 300-B).

Two months later, Canada implemented measures to amend some of the product specific NAFTA rules of origin (Annex 401). Mexico and the United States implemented these same amendments on 01October 2009 and 02 October 2009, respectively.
 

   
Documents relating to Rules of Origin Modifications
01 October 2009 Mexico: Presidential Proclamation to modify the rules of origin under the North American Free Trade Agreement  MSWord
01 September 2009 International Trade Canada: Amendments to Annex 401
01 July 2009 Canada and the United States implemented measures to liberalize the NAFTA rules of origin applicable to certain textile goods (Amendments to Appendix 6, Annex 300-B) PDF  
11 October 2006 United States: Presidential Proclamation to modify the rules of origin under the North American Free Trade Agreement PDF  
01 July 2006 International Trade Canada: Annex 401 as of July 2006 offsite link  
01 July 2006 International Trade Canada: List of Amendments to Annex 401 offsite link
23 June 2006 Mexico: Presidential Proclamation to modify the rules of origin under the North American Free Trade Agreement  MSWord
01 July 2005 International Trade Canada: Amendments to Appendix 6, Annex 300-B offsite link
15 June 2005 Mexico: Presidential Proclamation to modify the rules of origin under the North American Free Trade Agreement  MSWord
10 Febraury 2005 United States: Presidential proclamation 7870 to modify the rules of origin under the NAFTA PDF
01 January 2005 International Trade Canada: List of Amendments to Annex 401 offsite link
  International Trade Canada: Annex 401 as of 2005 offsite link
15 July 2004 Mexico: Presidential Proclamation to modify the rules of origin under the North American Free Trade Agreement  MSWord
17 January 2003 United States: Presidential proclamation 7641 to modify the rules of origin under the NAFTA PDF
01 January 2003 International Trade Canada: Annex 401 as of 2003 offsite link
01 January 2003 International Trade Canada: List of Amendments to Annex 401 offsite link
  International Trade Canada: technical rectifications 2002 offsite link
01 January 2002 International Trade Canada: Tariff items for NAFTA offsite link
  International Trade Canada: Technical rectifications 2000 offsite link
28 February 2000 United States: Rectifications to the NAFTA Rules of Origin in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States PDF
14 abril 1997 Mexico: Tecnical rectifications to Annex 401PDF
27 marzo 1996 Mexico: Amendments to Annex 401 PDF
Sources: International Trade Canada; Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; US Federal Register

  Sources
 
 
Spanish version  
Recent Developments
  03 April 2012. Joint Statement of the 2012 NAFTA Free Trade Commission Meeting  new

Contents
 
Related Pages
  United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)