GHY Tradelines

An updated list of recently published government memorandums, notices, regulations and decisions for the week ending October 21, 2011 is now available on our website here.

(CTV)

Ottawa has dropped the ball on trade opportunities in Asia, developing a reputation as a player that shows up but isn’t serious about the game, according to a new report.

Dr. Wendy Dobson, of the Institute for International Business at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, authored the report on behalf of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Canada China Business Council.

“Canada has a reputation in Asia of showing up there but not being serious about establishing long-term relationships,” states the report. “This was not always the case.”  In the past, Dobson writes, Ottawa built strong, lasting trade relationships with Japan and China, and contributed to aid programs in developing economies such as India, Malaysia and Thailand.

That strategy has been replaced by a piecemeal approach, she wrote, noting that Canada has also distanced itself from the discussion around political security, which is damaging to traditional trading partners such as Japan. Read more here.

(Washington Post – Dina ElBoghdady)

A new consumer complaints database faced its first legal challenge this week when a company tried to block the federal agency that runs it from posting what the firm described as “baseless allegations” against its product.

The database, launched in March by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is a Web site where consumers can report and review incidents involving any of the thousands of products that the agency regulates – from candles to refrigerators.

The lawsuit against the CPSC marks the most recent jab at the database by product manufacturers and their allies in Congress since the site was created three years ago as part of a broader product-safety reform measure.

Critics say that any inaccurate information on the site unfairly threatens a company’s profits and misleads consumers. But consumer advocates say the reporting system allows regulators and consumers to more quickly spot and address emerging hazards. Read more here.

(World Trade Interactive)

The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has decided to implement a risk-based sampling approach for the inspection of imported plants for planting, formerly known as nursery stock. APHIS is also establishing a Propagative Monitoring and Release Program under which consignments of plants for planting that pose an extremely low risk will be periodically monitored but not every consignment will be inspected.

Plants for planting are those intended to remain planted, to be planted or to be replanted. This includes any plant (including any plant part) for or capable of propagation, including a tree, a tissue culture, a plantlet culture, pollen, a shrub, a vine, a cutting, a graft, a scion, a bud, a bulb, a root or a seed. All imported plants for planting must be presented for inspection to determine whether they show any visual evidence of being infested with quarantine pests or infected with quarantine pathogens. Plants may be allowed entry (with treatment, if necessary), destroyed or reexported depending on the results of the inspection. Read more here.
 

(Ross Marowits — The Canadian Press)

Thousands of Canadian jobs are threatened if New York state sticks with plans for tougher new ballast water standards that could choke off trade through the St. Lawrence Seaway, says a study released Tuesday. The industry-sponsored study suggests that the new rules could cause Canada to suffer three-quarters of 72,000 jobs lost along the 3,700-kilometre Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway network.

More than $2.5 billion in employee income, $8.6 billion of business revenues and $1 billion of taxes would also be at risk in Canada if all traffic through the state is halted by new regulations set to take effect in 2013.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. and its U.S. counterpart argue that the New York regulation is “technologically unachievable.”  It said a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency evaluation in July concurred. But Judith Enck – the top EPA official in New York who helped draft the New York rules when she worked for the state – recently told U.S. media that the regulations are designed to spur development of new technologies.  Implementation of the regulations was delayed 20 months because the technology doesn’t yet exist.

The rule will require all ships transiting the waters to install treatment equipment to sterilize ballast water that is 100 to 1,000 times international standards. Read more here.
 

(Export Development Canada – Peter G. Hall)

It takes teamwork to build an economy. Economic development plans at the local, regional and national level play a key role. Over the years, much has been written and myriad plans have been implemented by economic developers. Does all the economic transformation we have seen in the past 20 years in any way change the shape of modern economic development?

Historically, development programs have focused on encouraging domestic investment, attracting foreign investment, creating hubs of activity, building export-oriented business capacity, targeting cool new niche industries, trying to increase value-add in traditional industries, diversifying on a number of fronts – the list goes on. The initiatives are noble, although generally mercantilist in nature, and have yielded good results where intelligently implemented. Is this the appropriate model for the future? Read more or watch the video here.