Sir (Minister of State for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs ): The Government wishes
to inform the House of its decision to opt in to the Council
Decision on Conclusion of the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership
Agreement (SPA), in respect of Article 18(2) of the Agreement,
which relates to judicial cooperation in the field of civil and
commercial matters. This article falls within Title V of Part III
of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.
The SPA, a framework political agreement, will update the
previous EU-Canada 1976 Framework Agreement for commercial and
economic cooperation between the European Communities and Canada.
It has two aims: i) to enhance EU-Canada political ties and
cooperation on foreign and security policy issues; and ii) to
upgrade cooperation on a wide range of other areas. The SPA,
though not technically linked to the EU-Canada Comprehensive
Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), is complementary and will
provide wider benefits to the EU-Canada relationship.
The SPA has been under negotiation, between the EU, its Member
States and Canada, since 2011. The draft Council Decision on
Conclusion issued on Thursday 24 November 2016. Notwithstanding
the result of the referendum on EU membership the Government
consider that it is in the UK’s interests to opt in to Article
18(2) of this Agreement at the Conclusion stage of the SPA
negotiations. Article 18(2) of the agreement provides for
judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters. While it is
not specific about the type of cooperation that might be
envisaged, the Government believes that it is beneficial for the
UK to be involved in any such work between the EU and one of our
closest Commonwealth partners whilst we remain a member of the
European Union.
We do not expect the Council Decision on Conclusion to be adopted
until all Member States have ratified the SPA.