As it currently stands, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is expected to be a “mixed” agreement, covering areas of both EU and Member State competence. In this case, it will be subject to agreement by each of 28 EU Member States, the EU Council and the European Parliament. EU trade deals which contain a mixture of EU and Member State competence are in practice agreed by consensus, this means that each Member State’s parliament will indeed get a chance to scrutinize and give their verdict on the deal. Such processes much reach completion before the treaty can fully come into force.
Following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, the UK will need to begin the process of leaving the EU. Once the UK ceases to be an EU Member State, we will no longer be a CETA party. CETA does not offer any mechanism for the UK to join as a non-EU Member State and contains no provisions for accession by new parties, other than new EU Member States.