Ireland–Canada co-production treaty

The Ireland-Canada co-production treaty is the most operationally established of Ireland's treaty network — Canada has a long history of treaty co-production with Ireland and the Screen Ireland (Fís Éireann) / Ireland–Canada co-production treaty / CAVCO axis is well-trodden by indigenous Irish producers.

Signed at Ottawa on 4 February 2016 and in force from 1 July 2016. Covers film, television, drama, animation, and documentary.

Article 13(2) replaces the Agreement on Film and Video Relations done at Dublin on 4 April 1989. The 1989 instrument was a separate, earlier agreement — the operative treaty is the 2016 one, and it changed both the minimum contributions and the creative-contribution levels. A producer who qualified under the 1989 agreement could elect to keep those benefits, but only by notifying both administrative authorities in writing within six months of 1 July 2016.

On the Canadian side, the co-producer claims Canada's domestic federal credit — CPTC (25%) for Canadian-controlled content or PSTC (16%) for service work, both refundable and labour-based, stackable with provincial credits. See Canadian film/TV tax credits — CPTC + PSTC.

Key thresholds

The treaty states no maximum. The effective ceiling is simply the complement of the other parties' minima, which is why Screen Ireland publishes the Canada band as "minimum 15% with a maximum of 85%".

The eight key positions are listed separately per work type in Annex §1(a):

• Fiction — director · screenwriter · music composer · lead actor · second lead actor · director of photography · art director or production designer · picture editor
• Animation — director · screenwriter · music composer or sound designer · lead or second lead voice · animation director · storyboard supervisor or picture editor · special effects or stereoscopy director · layout director
• Documentary — director · screenwriter or researcher · music composer · lead actor or narrator · second lead actor or narrator · director of photography · art director or production designer · picture editor

Multipartite structures

Article 3.2 permits third-State producers to participate alongside the Irish and Canadian co-producers. Article 1 defines a third-State as one holding a co-production treaty or memorandum of understanding with at least one of the Parties — not both. A State with no such instrument with either Party is a "non-party", and Article 5.2 lets the administrative authorities admit non-party nationals by mutual written consent for storyline, creative or production reasons.

In a multipartite work with a third-State producer, no producer's contribution falls below 10%.

Competent authorities

Each side issues its own provisional approval before principal photography, and final certification after delivery.

What's covered

Film, television, drama, animation, documentary. The treaty does not exclude any specific format within those categories.

Rights and revenue

Article 7 — the Parties ensure that the sharing of copyright and revenues is, in principle, proportional to each producer's financial contribution, and no lower than the Annex minimum. The co-production contract must reflect this; CAVCO and DCCS verify it during certification.

Pitfalls

How Togra supports this

The Co-Production Structurer runs the ie_ca_2014 scheme scorer per the rules above — financial-band check (15% floor, derived ceiling), party-eligibility check, key-position scoring against the 7-of-8 threshold, third-State validation, and sums-to-100% / proportionality checks. The structurer reports pass / partial / fail per clause, citing the treaty article. Multipartite structures route through the n-lateral engine that combines the IE-CA bilateral with the third party's pairwise treaties.

The scheme key remains ie_ca_2014 for backwards compatibility with saved scenarios, though the treaty it scores is the 2016 one.