The U.S. delegation to the World Trade Organization during a Sept. 29 WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting continued to block the launch of a selection process to fill three expected vacancies on the Appellate Body (AB), according to a Geneva trade official. After raising issue with the fact that an AB judge whose term officially expired on June 30 was still working on three appeals as of Aug. 31 (see 1708310008), the U.S. during the meeting reiterated its argument that a selection process shouldn’t be launched until the matter of the judge's term is resolved, the trade official said. The AB currently has two vacancies on its seven-member panel, and could incur a third when Peter Van den Bossche’s term expires Dec. 11. The EU during the meeting said new judges should be found by the end of November, while Mexico -- speaking for itself and Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala and Peru -- “set a February 2018 deadline for completing the process,” the Geneva trade official said.
Mexico's Diario Oficial of Sept. 27 lists trade-related notices from the Secretary of Economy as follows:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 27 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement includes geographical indications (GI) requirements that "clearly violate Canadian intellectual property procedures and existing international trade commitments," said the International Dairy Foods Association in a Sept. 21 news release. Specifically, "of deep concern to the U.S. dairy industry is the automatic protection the EU gained for five generic cheese names: 'asiago,' 'feta,' 'fontina,' 'gorgonzola' and 'munster.'" The agreement took provisional effect on Sept. 21 (see 1709200024). "U.S. cheese manufacturers that began producing those types of cheeses after October 18, 2013, will be required to add qualifiers, such as 'kind,' 'type,' 'style' and 'imitation' for sales in Canada," the trade group said. The group is "diligently working to ensure strong provisions that protect generic terms are included in NAFTA 2.0, as well as to discourage Mexico from going down the Canadian path as it negotiates a GIs list with the EU," said Michael Dykes, CEO of IDFA. The IDFA also said CETA restricts access for U.S. cheese exporters in Canada due to the reallocation to the EU of 800 metric tons.
The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body during its Sept. 22 meeting agreed to establish a dispute panel to examine Chinese tariff-rate quotas for rice, wheat and corn, the WTO announced. The U.S. delegation during the meeting said China is failing to meet basic WTO commitments on import restrictions and TRQ administration, pursuant to its 2001 WTO Accession Protocol and the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO said. China expressed regret that the U.S. requested establishment of a panel, and said it was serious about administering its TRQ in line with WTO commitments, and that it stood ready to “defend its interests,” the WTO said. China on Aug. 31 blocked a U.S. request for a dispute panel, after February consultations failed to resolve U.S. concerns (see 1708310001).
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 22 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: