The European Union issued the following trade-related releases Feb. 20-21 (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) asked the USTR to maintain the priority foreign country (PFC) designations for Argentina, Chile, China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia and Russia. The group also asked USTR to keep 25 nations on its so-called watch list and to restore PFC status to the Ukraine. The USTR-led Special 301 Committee met Feb. 20 whether to designate Ukraine as a PFC, the worst classification for IP protection under the Special 301 statute. The hearing focused on countries believed to deny adequate protection of IP or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. citizens who rely on intellectual property protection under the so-called "Special 301" provisions of the Trade Act.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative scheduled a March 28 hearing on Generalized System of Preferences country practice reviews of labor practices and intellectual property rights in six countries, including Bangladesh, Georgia, Niger, the Philippines, Russia, and Uzbekistan. USTR also said it decided to close its country practice review on intellectual property rights in Lebanon based on the country’s progress on the issue, and deferred a deferred a decision on accepting a GSP country practice petition on Russia on expropriation.
Russia’s import ban on American beef, poultry and turkey is unfounded, harmful to the U.S. economy and should be addressed by the USTR, leaders of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry said Feb. 19. In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Ranking Member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and 33 other senators said the ban -- a zero-tolerance policy on the livestock feed additive ractopamine -- has “no scientific merit” and violates WTO rules. Ractopamine has been approved by both the FDA and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international organization that sets science-based food safety standards, according to a committee press release.
On Feb. 15 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The euro area had an international trade in goods surplus of 11.7 billion euros ($15.6 billion) in December, compared with an 8 billion-euro surplus last December, Eurostat said Tuesday. The euro area encompasses Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The first estimate for the December 2012 extra-EU27 trade in goods balance, however, was a 0.7-billion euro deficit, compared with a 0.2 billion-euro deficit in December 2011, Eurostat said. The EU27 includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the U.K.
ZIP International Group of New York is recalling dry salted fish because the product was found to be uneviscerated and may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. The recalled product, dry salted fish (bream) imported from Russia, was distributed by East Coast Foods, also of New York, to retail stores and wholesalers in September 2012. It is packaged in sealed packaging labeled "Astrakhansky Lesh" (Dry Salted Fish Eviscerated) weight 14.2oz. Bar Code 835856001228 is located on the top right corner of the package.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service revised export requirements and plant lists for the following countries for Feb. 8-14:
The board of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. agreed to guarantee a loan of more than $500 million provided by Apple Bank for Savings to OJSC VEB Leasing of Moscow for the export of a fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft to Russia to be operated by Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Aeroflot). Boeing delivered the first of the aircraft earlier this month, Ex-Im said.
The U.S. is “very disappointed” with Russia's decision to suspend, as of Feb. 11, all imports of U.S. meat, which is produced to the highest safety standards in the world, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday. They accused Russia of disregarding the “extensive and expert scientific studies” conducted by the international food safety standards body Codex Alimentarius Commission, which they said has consistently shown that animal feed containing the additive ractopamine is completely safe for livestock and the humans that consume their meat. Despite repeated U.S. requests to discuss the safety of ractopamine, Russia has “refused to engage in any constructive dialogue” and instead has simply barred the meats from import, they said. They urged Russia to reopen market access immediately and to abide by its WTO obligations.