Recall that para. 3 of the new NAFTA's sunset clause says: "each Party shall confirm, in writing, through its head of government, if it wishes to extend the term of this Agreement for another 16-year period." Over on Twitter, Joel points to another Congressional/Executive balance of power issue related to the Sunset Clause: Because "34.7(3) requires head of state concurrence for extension," he notes, "Unless notice is sent, no renewal. If President does not send, no renewal."
With this and all my other sunset clause posts in mind, let me offer a couple suggestions for amending/implementing Article 34.7.
The best solution would be keep para. 2 only, which says:
2. On the sixth anniversary of the entry into force of this Agreement, the Commission shall meet to conduct a “joint review” of the operation of this Agreement, review any recommendations for action submitted by a Party, and decide on any appropriate actions. Each Party may provide recommendations for the Commission to take action at least one month before the Commission’s joint review meeting takes place.
This is all fine, although the reviews should probably take place more frequently than every six years.
In the alternative, if the "sunset" parts of Article 34.7 stay, it would be good to shift the burden, so that the agreement's term gets extended unless all three parties affirmatively decide to terminate.
But if the "sunset" part of the provision has to keep the current automatic termination unless all three parties decide to extend, one important change would be to amend paras. 3 and 4 so they don't refer to the "head of government." Thus, para. 3 quoted above could simply say "each Party shall confirm, in writing, if it wishes to extend the term of this Agreement for another 16-year period." Then it would be up to each government how it wanted to provide notification.
The rest of the Congressional/Executive power balance fixes would have to come through domestic law, for example as described here. If the "head of government" provision stays in, it would take additional statutory language to ensure that the President doesn't refuse to send the written confirmation.