More Trade News in Brief Week 12 (16 – 22 March 2015)

* Switzerland, EU Ink New Savings Tax Pact

Switzerland and the European Union (EU) have initialled an agreement on the automatic exchange of tax information (AEOI). Account data will be collected from 2017, with the first exchange scheduled for 2018.

See more clicking here.

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* EU: Combatting Corporate Tax Avoidance

The European Commission presented a package of tax transparency measures as part of its ambitious agenda to tackle corporate tax avoidance and harmful tax competition in the EU. A key element of this Tax Transparency Package is a proposal to introduce the automatic exchange of information between Member States on their tax rulings

Read more here.

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* China and US Telecoms Giants Lead Global Patent Activity in 2014

According to the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) annual review of international patent filings, a leading Chinese telecoms giant overtook a Japanese firm as the largest applicant last year, and China and the US together accounted for 87 per cent of the total growth in filings under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Under that system, some 215,000 applications were filed in 2014, a 4.5 per cent increase over the previous year, WIPO said in a news release.

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* WTO: Assistance in Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health

Five agencies and their partners operating a programme to help developing countries meet international standards on food safety and animal and plant health have approved plans for 2015–2019 designed to further strengthen safe trade.

The decision will allow the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to continue to provide assistance to developing countries,

The STDF was set up in 2004 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO), and is run by the five partners together with donor countries and representatives of developing countries.

Check here and here for more.

 

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More Trade News in Brief Week 19 (5 – 11 May 2014)

 

* ICC – Guide to International Franchising

 

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has published a practical guide to help business people understand why, how and when to use franchising to expand into new foreign markets.

 

Check the “Using Franchising to Take Your Business International: ICC Strategies and guidance for master franchising, area development and other arrangements”.

 

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* US & Singapore – FATCA Agreement

 

United States and Singapore have initialled the text of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

 

Check here for more.

 

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* EU & Japan – FTA by 2015

 

The European Union (EU) and Japan agreed to a one-year review that should lead to the “early conclusion of a highly comprehensive and ambitious” free trade agreement (FTA).

 

Read more here.

 

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* US & Israel – Reach FATCA Agreement

 

United States and Israel have concluded the text of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

 

See more following the link.

 

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* USTR Releases Annual Report on Intellectual Property Rights

 

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual “Special 301” Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of U.S. trading partners’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR). 

 

Find the Press Release here.

 

More Trade News in Brief Week 2 (6 – 12 January 2014)

 

* ILO’s  Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM)

 

ILO released the latest edition of KILM – an online reference tool offering data and analysis on the world’s labour market – includes information about the dynamics of job losses and job creation in 70 developed and emerging economies.

 

Check the Press Release.

 

Download the Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) – 8th edition.

 

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* World Intellectual Property Indicators – 2013 Edition

 

WIPO published the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2013 which provides a wide range of indicators covering different areas of intellectual property.

 

Download the full report here.

 

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* Uzbekistan Joins CIS Free Trade Zone

 

Uzbekistan has ratified a treaty which makes Uzbekistan the ninth member of the free trade area of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

 

Aside from Uzbekistan, the free trade agreement (FTA) includes Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have signed but not yet ratified the agreement.

 

Please find more here.

 

A Unitary Patent System for Europe

 

The European Union (EU) member countries signed an agreement for establishing a Unified Patent Court (UPC).

 

The Unitary Patent system will make obtaining a European Patent less complex and cheaper while ensuring legal certainty throughout the entire single jurisdiction.

 

Read about UPC here and here.

 

More Trade News in Brief – Week 8 (18 – 24 February 2013)

 

* Japan & South Africa Sign Investment MOU

 

Japan and South Africa formally signed a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

 

Follow the link.

 

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* Vietnam & San Marino Sign DTA

 

Vietnam and San Marino signed a double taxation agreement (DTA).

 

Check here.

 

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 * WIPO – Global Brand Database

 

After adding six national collections of trademark records, including the entire United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) collection, The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) now has world’s largest collection of trademark records.

 

The Global Brand Database now is the world’s largest free, public trademark search facility. 

 

Check the Press Release.

 

More Trade News in Brief – Week 6 (4 – 10 February 2013)

 

* WHO, WIPO, WTO – Medical Technologies and Innovation

 

5 February 2013

 

The World Health Organization (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) released the “Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between Public Health, Intellectual Property and Trade”.

 

Find more about this study here.

 

                                       

  

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* Turkey – Mauritius Signed FTA

 

7 February 2013

 

Turkey and Mauritius signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Check here.

 

Read more about the Turkey’s FTA’s here.

 

World Intellectual Property Indicators – 2012 Edition

11 December 2012, Geneva

 

World Intellectual Property Indicators 2012 is a report developed with data from national and regional IP offices, WIPO, the World Bank and UNESCO.

 

The 2012 edition provides a wide range of indicators covering various areas of intellectual property: patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms and plant varieties protection.

 

Check for more here.

 

The New EU Unitary Patent

6 December 2012

 

The EU agreed to create an EU-wide patent regime to protect inventions and patents throughout the European Economic Community.

 

Please read more here.

 

Global Innovation Index 2012 (GII)

3 July 2012, Abu Dhabi, Fontainebleau, Geneva and Singapore

 

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and The Business School for the World (INSEAD) published the fifth edition of ”Global Innovation Index 2012 (GII): Stronger Innovation Linkages for Global Growth”.

 

Top 10 Leaders in overall innovation performance as per the Global Innovation Index are:

 

1. Switzerland

2. Sweden

3. Singapore

4. Finland

5. United Kingdom

6. Netherlands

7. Denmark

8. Hong Kong (China)

9. Ireland

10. United States of America

 

Global Innovation Index 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   More here.

New gTLD Applied-For Strings

13 June 2012

 

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) developed the New generic Top-Level Domain Program which introduce new gTLDs into the Internet’s addressing system.

 

The gTLD represent an Internet domain name extension such as the familiar .com, .net, or .org.

 

The full list of submissions for new internet address endings can be consulted here.