It was signed on April 23, 2001 in Ottawa, Ontario, and came into effect on November 1, 2002.
[vague] 87% of all tariffs on agricultural products were eliminated, either immediately, or over a 7-14 year period.
Several sectors of agriculture were excluded from the treaty; eggs, dairy, poultry and beef being excluded, and Costa Rica decided to leave potatoes out of the FTA.
Both nations agreed to use the World Trade Organization rules for sanitary and phytosanitary issues (known as the SPS agreement).
[2] It has been proposed that the Free Trade Area of the Americas be modeled after the CCRFTA.