The European Commission has issued the sixth edition of a report on potentially trade restrictive measures among its trading partners. The report, which assesses developments between November 2009 and April 2010, covers measures from the U.S. and 28 other countries. A press release is available here.
The World Customs Organization has announced two conferences that will take place in June in Brussels, Belgium: the WCO’s Risk Management Forum and the British Chamber of Commerce’s Integrated Border Management Conference.
China's Ministry of Commerce reports that the Ministry of Finance will soon launch the accreditation of the national independent innovation production of 2010; all enterprises within China including foreign-funded enterprises, wholly foreign-invested enterprises and joint ventures are welcome to file positive applications. MOFCOM adds that the main concerns of chambers and foreign-funded enterprises have largely been addressed.
The World Customs Organization's Director General attended the Heads of Customs Americas and Caribbean Regional Meeting held in Guatemala May 24-25, 2010. At the meeting, the Heads of Customs discussed the following topical issues: Globally Networked Customs; Risk Management; and the Customs-Business Partnership. They also focused on accessions to the WCO revised Kyoto Convention, and reviewed progress in capacity building.
The U.S.-Japan Dialogue to Promote Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation convened its first meeting at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on May 27, 2010. The proceedings featured a morning session where private-sector experts provided their perspective on a broad range of issues relating to the environment for new businesses and the possibilities to improve that environment through bilateral cooperation.
The European Commission has extended the comment period of its review regarding European Union legislation on customs enforcement of intellectual property rights. The comment period will now end June 6, 2010 (from March 25, 2010).
In the May 27, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related Commission notices were posted:
Gov.cn reports that China will invite 100,000 U.S. nationals (e.g. students, teachers) to study Chinese over the coming four years, according to Zhang Xiuqin, director of Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Ministry of Education. The exchange program agreement was reached at the second round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED).
The European Commission has adopted a draft mandate to negotiate a personal data protection agreement between the European Union and the U.S. when cooperating to fight terrorism or crime. The agreement would enhance the right of citizens to access, rectify or delete data, where appropriate.
The European Chemical Agency's current REACH-IT system will be shut down as of 17.00 (EET) on May 26, 2010 to allow data to be backed up, migrated to the new system and tested. The new version of REACH-IT will go live on Monday May 31, 2010.