The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 25 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency “is advising distributors, importers, restaurants, retailers, and institutions not to distribute, import, sell, serve, or use romaine lettuce, and products containing romaine lettuce, harvested in the Salinas growing region of California,” it said in a Nov. 22 notice. The advice follows U.S. government alerts concerning an E. coli outbreak that was traced to romaine lettuce from California, it said. “At this time, romaine lettuce that was harvested outside of the Salinas region has not been implicated in this outbreak investigation,” CFIA said. “Additionally, hydroponically and greenhouse-grown romaine does not appear to be related to the current outbreak and is safe to eat.”

The 2020 version of the Canadian Automated Export Declaration (CAED) program software will be ready for download on Dec. 9, the Canada Border Services Agency said in a Nov. 25 customs notice. Starting Jan. 31, only the 2020 CAED version will be valid, it said. The CAED program will be retired altogether on June 30, 2020, and replaced by the CBSA Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS), it said. “CERS is a free, web-based, self-service portal that will enable exporters and [customs service providers] to continue to submit export declarations electronically to the CBSA for the purpose of reporting the export of commercial goods,” the CBSA said. “It includes many of the same data requirements as CAED and is designed to accept Summary Reporting Program (SRP) reports of eligible goods, as well as have the functionality allowing businesses to submit a large set of declaration data via its 'bulk upload' feature.” Also beginning on June 30, 2020, “the CBSA will be mandating electronic export reporting and will no longer accept Paper Export Declaration Forms (B13A). Exporters, or their customs service providers, will be required to report their exports electronically.”

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China on Nov. 22 released its Nanjing Position Paper for 2019-2020, laying out concerns and recommendations of Chamber members doing business in the region, which it says has a particularly high exposure to the U.S.-China trade war. The paper aims to improve conditions for traders and small and medium-sized businesses operating with Nanjing. The paper said that companies operating in and with Nanjing “suffered some of the greatest exposure to the negative effects of the US-China trade war.”

Singapore Customs is urging traders to update their primary contact, secondary contact and “Trade Notification Contact” details in their “Customs Account,” the agency said in a Nov. 25 notice. In addition, Singapore will “terminate” certain inactive accounts after March 1, 2020, for “security reasons,” the agency said. If a company registered with Singapore Customs “does not have any import, export or tran[s]shipment activities” within the last five years and “does not have any existing registration(s) with Customs,” such as a “Declaring Agent (DA), Claimant, Cargo Agent Import Authorisation (CAIA), manifest submission, licensed premises” or manufacturer registration, the company’s account will be terminated, Singapore said.

The former president of a Maryland transportation company was found guilty of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after bribing an official at Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, the Justice Department said Nov. 22. Mark Lambert, former president of Transportation Logistics Inc. (TLI), was found guilty of four counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and other fraud-related charges.

Samsung Heavy Industries Company will pay more than $75 million to settle charges that it bribed Brazilian government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Justice Department said Nov. 22. The South Korea-based engineering company agreed to split its settlement in two payments of $37,740,800 to the U.S. and to Brazilian authorities, the Justice Department said.

Those who advise NAFTA stakeholders say that it looks like a factory-level inspection regime will be part of what Democrats get in their edits to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but how disruptive that will be for businesses is completely cloudy. Kellie Meiman Hock, a managing partner at McLarty Associates, said she thinks there are ways the inspections could be done that would not make Mexico feel like American government officials are deciding whether Mexican labor laws are being followed. Hock said the two governments could select inspectors who travel together, or it could be a coalition of non-governmental organizations, as was mobilized after more than 1,000 textile workers died in a factory collapse in Bangladesh.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a final rule clarifying requirements for reporting exports of beef and pork under the Export Sales Reporting Program, USDA said Nov. 25. The rule clarifies that certain “muscle cuts” of beef and pork include “whole carcasses, whether divided in half or further subdivided into individual primals, sub-primals, or fabricated cuts, with or without bone.” The total weight reported may include “minor nonreportable items,” USDA said. Meats removed during the “conversion of an animal to a carcass” are not muscle cuts, “nor are items sold as bones practically free of meat,” the agency said.

The Department of State published its 2019 fall agenda, including a new mention of an amendment to Category XVI of the U.S. Munitions List for Nuclear Weapons Related Articles. The change will “better harmonize” the State Department’s rules with the Department of Energy’s part 810 regulations. The rule will also ensure that items that provide the U.S. with “critical military or intelligence advantages” are listed on the USML and “remain subject to … export controls at all times.” The State Department plans to issue the rule in December.