Six Republican and four Democratic senators are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai if she is meeting the legal requirement to consult with Congress before the U.S. commits to an intellectual property waiver related to the pandemic, a topic of discussion at the World Trade Organization.

The World Trade Organization and the World Customs Organization held a joint workshop Oct. 17 to discuss the periodic update of the Harmonized System, the WTO said. Parties to the workshop mulled over how updates to the HS could affect legal instruments recording tariffs and other commitments by WTO members with respect to trade in goods, in particular on schedules of concessions, the WTO said.

Morocco told the World Trade Organization Oct. 17 that it started a safeguard investigation on inner tubes for bicycles, velocipedes, motorcycles and scooters, the WTO said. Morocco said it will send questionnaires to the domestic producers and importers of the subject goods. Other concerned parties seeking a questionnaire or to participate in the investigation must contact the country's Commerce Ministry via fax or email by Oct. 24.

The World Trade Organization Oct. 12 announced the three arbitrators who will preside over the Colombia and EU arbitration proceeding over Colombia's antidumping duties on frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands: Jose Alfredo Graca Lima, Alejandro Jara and Joost Pauwelyn. Graca Lima will serve as the chair. A dispute panel previously found that Colombia violated the AD agreement. It said Colombia's investigating authority failed to look at whether the use of third-country sales prices for calculating normal value was appropriate instead of domestic sales prices, among other things (see 2210110022).

The World Trade Organization will hold Trade and Environment Week Oct. 17-21 in Geneva in person and virtually, the WTO said Oct. 13. Seventeen sessions set up by WTO members, the WTO Secretariat and nongovernmental organizations will be bookended by meetings of the WTO's Committee on Trade and Environment. The events will feature discussions on finding sustainable solutions to environmental problems via multilateral trade, the WTO said. This year is the third time the event has been organized.

India told the World Trade Organization Oct. 11 that it initiated a safeguard investigation on poly vinyl chloride suspension resin with residual vinyl chloride monomer above two parts per million, the WTO announced. India started the investigation Sept. 16 and said all interested parties can make their views on the matter known within 30 days from Sept. 16 to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

Colombia and the EU initiated an arbitration proceeding at the World Trade Organization to look over a dispute panel's findings in a proceeding on Colombia's antidumping duties on frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, the WTO said. Colombia circulated the notice of appeal Oct. 10 and started the arbitration proceeding under Article 25 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding.

Brazil wants to join the WTO's plurilateral Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, the WTO said this week. Switzerland's Jean-Marie Meraldi, chair of the committee, said he knows Brazil is prepping further information for its application, which was submitted in June, and that he would set up an informal meeting for signatories to talk about the documents. Thirty-three WTO countries are signatories to the agreement, and the latest member to accede was North Macedonia in 2019.

World Trade Organization members held the first meeting on fossil fuel subsidy revisions following the launch of the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform initiative at the 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. The meeting saw members looking for ways to increase transparency and hit long-term sustainability objectives relating to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. The initiative has 47 co-sponsors and members plan to hold at least three meetings ahead of MC13.

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body granted South Korea and the U.S. more time to find a possible settlement in the dispute over the U.S.'s safeguard measures on large residential washers, the WTO said Oct. 5. The U.S. and South Korea asked the DSB to adopt the dispute settlement panel's findings no later than Dec. 20, unless the DSB decides not to do so or either party tells the DSB of its decision to appeal the ruling. The DSB agreed to the terms.