Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Implementation Act

This bill puts into Canadian law the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that Canada and Indonesia signed in September 2025, a trade deal aimed at lowering barriers to trade and investment between the two countries. The Act formally approves the agreement, sets up how Canada will participate in the joint committees and dispute-resolution panels created under it, and commits Canada to paying its share of the administrative costs of running those bodies. It also directs the Minister for International Trade to make sure Canadian companies operating in Indonesia follow certain responsible-business-conduct principles referenced in the agreement, including setting up a complaints process and reporting to Parliament annually on this. A parliamentary committee must review how the Act and the agreement are working every three years.

The bill limits private lawsuits: people generally cannot sue in court to enforce rights or obligations that come only from the agreement itself or from certain administrative provisions of this Act, unless the federal Attorney General consents (some exceptions for specific investment and financial-services disputes are preserved as set out in the agreement).

Most of the detailed changes amend existing trade-related laws — the Customs Act, Customs Tariff, Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act, Investment Canada Act, Commercial Arbitration Act, and Financial Administration Act — to recognize Indonesia and the new agreement, create a new preferential "Indonesia Tariff" tariff schedule, phase out customs duties on most goods traded between the two countries over set timeframes (immediately, or gradually over roughly 3, 9, or 14 years depending on the product), and create special safeguard procedures allowing Canada to temporarily reinstate tariffs or take other emergency action if a sudden surge of Indonesian imports seriously harms domestic producers. Long schedules attached to the bill list the thousands of specific tariff categories affected and their applicable rates and phase-out timelines. The Act only comes into force on a date set later by the federal cabinet, once both countries are ready to implement the agreement.

This bill implements the Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, approving it in Canadian law and phasing out Canadian tariffs on Indonesian goods according to fixed schedules while creating new powers to administer, enforce, and respond to trade disputes under the Agreement.

• Legal recourse restriction — no person may sue or bring proceedings to enforce rights arising solely from the Agreement's institutional provisions (sections 11-14), from any order made under section 15, or from the Agreement itself, without the consent of the Attorney General of Canada.
• Order-making power — the Governor in Council (Cabinet) may, by order, suspend Canadian trade benefits owed to Indonesia, modify or suspend the application of federal laws to Indonesia or Indonesian goods/investors, or "take any other measure that the Governor in Council considers necessary" — this last category has no stated limit on its scope, though it operates within the treaty's benefit-suspension framework.
• Ministerial appointments and delegation — the Minister for International Trade (and, for specific bodies, the Ministers of Environment and Labour) may appoint Canadian representatives to committees, panels and working groups under the Agreement, and the Minister may delegate these appointment powers to any departmental officer.
• Corporate compliance duty and complaints process — the Minister must ensure Canadian companies operating in Indonesia comply with principles and guidelines in Article 22.15 of the Agreement, must establish a complaints process for non-compliance, and must report annually to Parliament; the bill does not specify penalties for non-compliant companies.
• Emergency tariff powers — the Governor in Council may impose a temporary "bilateral emergency" duty on Indonesian goods causing serious injury to domestic producers, capped at the pre-existing Most-Favoured-Nation rate, for periods up to two years (extendable to a three-year total), based on findings from the Canadian International Trade Tribunal; this power may be used only once per class of goods.
• Oversight — a House of Commons committee must conduct a comprehensive review of the Act and Agreement every three years, reporting findings and recommendations within six months; the Act itself contains no sunset clause and comes into force on a date set by Cabinet order rather than a fixed date.