In celebrating World Environment Day 2010, the World Customs Organization reaffirmed the commitment of Customs administrations across the globe to protecting the environment, adding that it is now now joining the CITES Secretariat, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, and the World Bank to hammer out an international consortium to fight crime against wildlife.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Office of Intellectual Property Protection has decided to investigate Turkey’s revised trademark law, as requested by the Special Committee on Intellectual Property Rights Protection of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association.
The following are details of the June 7, 2010 European Court of Auditors report which concludes that European Union Member Country controls over simplified customs procedures for imports are deficient.
In the June 9, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices regarding the WTO banana dispute were posted:
The Port of Long Beach has announced a $40 million project deepening the Port of Long Beach Main Channel to allow safer transit for the largest ships including oil tankers was officially kicked off on June 8, 2010, by the Port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The European Court of Auditors has published a report on European Union simplified customs procedures which concludes that these procedures are not yet effectively controlled in the majority of the audited Member States. As such, there is no reasonable assurance that traders comply with the obligations deriving from the common trade policy. (See future issue of ITT for details.)
On June 8, 2010, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee met to discuss a variety of export-related issues, including:
On May 26, 2010, the Forest Legality Alliance was launched to support private sector efforts and policies to reduce trade in illegally harvested wood. The Alliance will (i) ensure that importers and supply chains know and understand the emerging new trade policies, (ii) develop new online resources that help companies assess the risk of encountering illegal wood, conduct due care, and complete import declarations, and (iii) work with suppliers to document best practices and unforeseen challenges associated with purchasing legal wood and complying with import regulations.
The European Commission has posted the most recent edition of its Market Access newsletter. Among other things, the newsletter discusses the EU-Latin America summit in May 2010, an update on recent meetings with the U.S., China and Russia, and the EU's expected fall announcement of a new trade policy.