The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 16 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The European Union and China agreed on an updated "action plan" to work together against intellectual property rights violations, the European Commission said in a July 16 news release about the EU-China summit. The action plan is meant to strengthen "customs enforcement to combat counterfeiting and piracy in the trade between the two" and "promote cooperation between customs and other law enforcement agencies and authorities in order to stop production and wind up distribution networks," the EC said. The European Anti-Fraud Office and the General Administration of China Customs also agreed on a cooperation arrangement and action plan focused on "combatting customs fraud in particular in the field of tran[s]shipment fraud, illicit traffic of waste and undervaluation fraud," the EC said. Additionally, "both parties committed to taking specific actions to promote trade safety, security and facilitation, while preventing illicit trade and fighting fraud, and to strengthening cooperation in areas such as IPR protection, Smart and Secure Trade Lanes, mutual recognition of Authorised Economic Operators, anti-fraud, solid waste inspection and trade statistics," according to a joint statement from the summit.
Over a two-day review at the World Trade Organization on China's trade policies, China insisted that intellectual property violations are no longer a major issue; that its support of state-owned enterprises is no different from Fannie Mae; and that its overcapacity in steel is not a problem for global steel prices, because China only exports 9 percent of its steel. Moreover, China's Commerce Vice Minister Wang Shouwen said, addressing overcapacity needs collective actions and China stands ready to join hands with other countries to tackle this problem together.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 13 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 11 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The World Customs Organization posted its "Cross-Border E-Commerce Framework of Standards," which was recently adopted by the WCO Council (see 1807020037), the WCO announced on July 10 in a news release. "The core essence of the Framework is the exchange of advance electronic data for effective risk management and enhanced facilitation of growing volumes of cross-border small and low-value business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) shipments, and the adoption of simplified procedures with respect to clearance, revenue collection and return, among other things, in close partnership with e-commerce stakeholders," the WCO said. "It also encourages the use of non-intrusive inspection (NII) equipment, data analytics and other cutting-edge technologies to support safe, secure and sustainable cross-border e-commerce." The WCO also plans to enhance the framework with "Technical Specifications and Guidelines for its expeditious and effective implementation in a harmonized manner," it said.
Canada's foreign ministry said July 10 that it welcomes the Department of Commerce's decision to revoke countervailing duties on Canadian supercalendered paper, as announced by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on July 6. The World Trade Organization circulated a panel report a day earlier that said the U.S. was not following international trade law in the way it had calculated the duties.
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 9 (some may also be given separate headlines):