In the July 31, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:
The World Customs Organization's Inspector General Mikuriya met with Vietnam’s Director General of Customs and its Finance Minister on July 29-30 in Hanoi. The Minister of Finance expressed his strong support for Customs modernization and the partnership approach with business. The Minister also pledged his commitment to improving Vietnam’s investment climate by working with business and enhancing coordination with other border agencies, including the single window project. The Minister requested assistance from the WCO in basing the country’s Customs reform program on global standards and best practices. Vietnam Customs informed Secretary General Mikuriya that they were trying to establish a trade compliance program as a first step towards an AEO program. In this regard, they welcomed the engagement and advice of the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group in establishing the program.
On July 30, 2010, China's Ministry of Health said at a news conference that efforts will be made to strengthen the tracking assessment system, and, in line with the opinions from all sectors and international standards, constantly revise and improve the 66 national safety standards on dairy products published by the ministry on March 26 this year.
On July 28, 2010, China's Ministry of Commerce stated that China's work safety authorities will investigate and crack down on manufacturers operating illegally in the coming three months. The crackdown beginning from Aug. 1 will focus on sectors including mines, transportation, construction sites, manufacturers of dangerous chemicals, fireworks plants and smelting sector. Illegal operations mainly refer to manufacturers that run without permits or run with insufficient or overdue permits and against safety production laws and codes.
In a July 29,2010 press release, the World Customs Organization announced a recent seizure by Pakistani officials of 90 kilograms of heroin in a container shipment bound for Europe. This seizure is the largest to date in a number of significant seizures made by the Port Control Unit in Karachi since the team was created under the auspices of the joint UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme (CCP). Units of the CCP are trained by experts from WCO Member Customs administrations with the support of UNODC personnel to profile containers on the basis of WCO risk indicators. The initial sites for CCP implementation in Pakistan were the container terminals in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and busiest seaport and Port Qasim but now include an additional seven inland container terminals.
The World Customs Organization's Secretary General Mikuriya visited Jakarta on July 26 and 27, 2010 where he met with Minister of Finance Agus to discuss ways to consolidate the Customs reform that Indonesia had undertaken in recent years. The Minister supported the idea of Indonesian accession to the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention. He also explored ways for better coordinated border management. Since Indonesia's national single window is well underway, both leaders noted this could provide another tool for cooperation with other government agencies.
In the July 30, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:
The European Chemicals Agency has issued a new manual on making Confidentiality Claims and writing Confidentiality Claim justifications in EU REACH registration dossiers.
In a July 26, 2010 speech, Deputy Governor Hu Xiaolian of the People's Bank of China praised China's actions toward having a more flexible exchange regime, noting numerous benefits to China's domestic economy and monetary policy. However, she said that China cannot afford to lose monetary policy independence and subject itself to the economic policies of other countries.
In the July 29, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted: