GHY Tradelines

(World Trade Interactive)

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Nov. 15 that the text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been finalized after participants resolved the “few issues that remained outstanding after the final round of negotiations.” Following legal verification of the drafting the agreement “will be ready to be submitted to the participants’ respective authorities to undertake relevant domestic processes.” Those that have taken part in the ACTA negotiations include Australia, Canada, the European Union and its 27 member countries, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the U.S.

According to a USTR press release, ACTA aims to establish a comprehensive international framework that will assist signatories in their efforts to effectively combat the infringement of intellectual property rights, in particular the proliferation of counterfeiting and piracy, that undermines legitimate trade and the sustainable development of the world economy. The agreement includes state-of-the-art provisions on IPR enforcement, including civil, criminal, border and digital environment enforcement measures, mechanisms for enforcement cooperation and best practices. Officials have said previously that ACTA is targeted at large-scale infringement, organized crime and potential threats to public safety, and the preamble to the agreement emphasizes that IPR enforcement measures should not themselves become barriers to legitimate trade.

In August, responding to concerns that the deal had been negotiated in secrecy and could contain drastic new requirements, participants released a statement asserting that ACTA is not intended to include new intellectual property rights or to enlarge or diminish existing rights, will not hinder the cross-border transit of legitimate generic medicines, will not include patents in the section on border measures and will not oblige border authorities to search travelers’ baggage or personal electronic devices for infringing materials.

(World Trade Interactive)

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the World Trade Organization has been notified by the following countries of proposed regulatory changes that may affect U.S. exports of the products indicated. More detailed information on the nature of the proposed changes can be accessed on the NIST Web site.

• Canada – passenger cars and light trucks
• Canada – toxic substances
• Canada – motorcycle brake systems
• Chile – electrical products and fuel products
• Ecuador – cooking appliances
• Japan – fire extinguishers
• Mexico – tires for trucks
• Qatar – motor vehicles

(IE Canada)

Canada and the European Union (EU) have reached a pivotal point in the negotiation of a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). After a year and a half of negotiations, the parties are getting down to the critical issues.

Among the remaining sensitive negotiating topics is the issue of regulatory and voluntary standards. Most consumer products, such as automobiles, food products, and electrical appliances, are subject to technical requirements relating to their design, labelling, packaging, functionality and performance. Such requirements may be established by governments to meet legitimate policy objectives, such as protecting consumer health and safety. They may also be established by nongovernmental bodies in the form of voluntary standards to ensure the compatibility of products. However, when such standards and technical requirements differ among countries, they can create technical barriers to trade, frustrating the efforts of traders to access foreign markets notwithstanding lower duty rates. Canada has been pushing for the inclusion of a standalone chapter on regulatory cooperation in the CETA as one means of addressing conflicting standards and technical requirements.

I.E.Canada invites you to a luncheon – organized in partnership with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and Bennett Jones LLP – to hear about the latest developments in the CETA negotiations following the fifth round of talks held in Ottawa in October 2010. Come and join other industry experts in a roundtable discussion on technical standards and regulatory cooperation and the issues and implications for Canadian companies wishing to import or export products to the European market.

Speaker Panel includes:

• Steve Verheul, Chief Trade Negotiator (Canada – European Union), DFAIT;
• Mark Richardson, Deputy Director, Technical Barriers & Regulation, DFAIT;
• Bonnie Rose, President, Standards Division, Canadian Standards Association (Invited);
• Mark A. Nantais, President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association;
• Milos Jancik, Former President & CEO, Electro-Federation Canada (Invited);
• Diana Hénault, Vice-President, Procurement & Compliance, I-D Foods Corporation; and
• Milos Barutciski, Partner, and Co-Chair, International Trade and Investment Practice Group, Bennett Jones LLP.

When: Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Where: Bennett Jones LLP, Suite 3400, 1 First Canadian Place, Toronto, Ontario
Time: 12:00-12:20 p.m. – Registration and Lunch
12:20-2:10 p.m. – Program

For a detailed copy of the program, please click here.

This is a complimentary invitation for interested parties with limited seating. Please click  here to register.

If you are unable to attend in person but would like to participate via teleconference, please contact Amesika Baëta, Committee Director at abaeta@iecanada.com.

(World Trade Interactive)

The leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum member countries agreed Nov. 14 on a number of initiatives aimed at further increasing trade as a way to reinforce the recovery from the recent global economic slowdown.

Free Trade
Reiterating APEC’s longstanding goal of achieving free and open trade and investment among member economies by 2020, the leaders said they would take concrete steps toward the realization of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, which they said should be pursued by developing and building on ongoing regional undertakings such as ASEAN+3, ASEAN+6 and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. They asserted that APEC should contribute to the pursuit of an FTAAP by continuing and further developing its work on sectoral initiatives in such areas as investment, services, e-commerce, rules of origin, standards and conformance, trade facilitation, and environmental goods and services.

Trade Barriers
The leaders extended through the end of 2013 a commitment first made in 2008 to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions or implementing World Trade Organization-inconsistent measures in all areas, including those that stimulate exports. They also reaffirmed their intention to roll back those trade-distorting measures that have been introduced during the economic crisis, to exercise “maximum restraint” in implementing measures that could be considered protectionist even if they are consistent with WTO rules and to “promptly rectify” any such measures.

Supply Chains
The leaders committed to implement the APEC Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan with a view to achieving by 2015 a 10% improvement in the time, cost and uncertainty associated with moving goods and services through the Asia-Pacific region.  Read more here.

(WhiteHouse.gov)

President Obama speaks of the importance of the economic relationships between the U.S. and Asia in remarks to the APEC CEO Business Summit in Yokohama, Japan. November 12, 2010.