More Trade News in Brief Week 13 (24 – 30 March 2014)

 

* Household Air Pollution for 2012

 

According to a new report from the UN World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution – both indoor and outdoor – killed some 7 million people across the globe in 2012, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk.

 

Check here for more and find the report following the link.

 

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* UN – Global Land Cover SHARE Database (GLC-SHARE)

 

The United Nations FAO Agency launched a new database which gathers under one roof previously scattered information about land cover – how much land is covered by croplands, trees, forests, or bare soils.

 

Read more about Global Land Cover SHARE Database (GLC-SHARE) initiative.

 

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* BIS – Global Liquidity Indicators

 

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published updates on indicators for global liquidity conditions.

 

Follow the link.

 

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* The Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2014

 

The new OECD report shows the evolution of the borrowing operations of its members’ governments.

 

Read more here.

 

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* US – Official 2014 HTS

 

The official 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) is now available on the USITC website.

 

Click here for more.

 

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More Trade News in Brief Week 11 (10 – 16 March 2014)

 

* International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2014

 

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) published the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2014.

 

The statistical publication presents detailed, country-specific, business structure statistics, which provide empirical evidence for formulating industrial policy and carrying out comparative analysis of structural change and productivity.

 

Follow the link for more.

 

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* US and China Drive International Patent Filing Growth

 

The United States of America and China drove record-level patent-filing activity via WIPO.

 

Please read more here.

 

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* The Revised WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)

 

The revised WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) will come into force on 6 April 2014. The revised WTO Agreement on Government Procurement will open markets and promote good governance in the participating Member economies.

 

Follow the link for more.

 

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* Canada & South Korea successful conclusion of the FTA

 

Canada and South Korea inked a free trade agreement (FTA) after more than six year of negotiations.

 

Check here for more.

 

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* Finland, Chile Sign US FATCA

 

The United States signed intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) with Finland and Chile to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), bringing the total of such agreements that have been signed to 24.

 

Check here.

Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information

The OECD has unveiled a new single global standard for the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities worldwide to reinforce action against tax avoidance and evasion and inject greater trust and fairness into the international tax system.

 

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information can be found here.

 

More Trade News in Brief – Week 18 (29 April – 5 May 2013)

 

* SESAR – Single European Sky

 

European Commission adopted a regulation establishing governance and incentive mechanisms to facilitate the effective and timely deployment of SESAR.

 

SESAR is the EU’s project that aims at modernising the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system.

 

Please read more here and here.

 

You can find more about SESAR here.

 

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* International Code of Direct Selling

 

ICC released the revised International Code of Direct Selling which was developed in close co-operation with the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA).

 

Follow the link for more.

 

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* WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)

 

Liechtenstein became the first WTO member to ratify the amended version of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).

 

Read more here.

 

More Trade News in Brief – Week 17 (22 – 28 April 2013)

 

* EU & Morocco to Start DCFTA Talks

 

22 April 2013, Brussels

 

The EU and Morocco started the first round of negotiations for an EU-Morocco Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).

 

Check here for more.

 

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* IOSCO – Report on Technological Challenges to Market Surveillance

 

 22 April 2013, Madrid (Spain)

 

 The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published today a final report on Technological Challenges to Effective Market Surveillance: Issues and Regulatory Tools.

 

Read the report here.

 

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* ISO’s 2012 Annual Report

 

The ISO’s 2012 Annual Report examines the organization’s activities in the field of business and economy standards.

 

Discover ISO’s Annual Report 2012 here.

 

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* New ISO for Financial Services

 

ISO/ IEC published a new standard: ISO/IEC TR 27015:2012, Information technology – Security techniques – Information security management guidelines for financial services – guidance for organizations providing financial services.

 

Read more here.

 

ISO Survey of Management System Standard Certifications – 2011

12 December 2012

 

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released for free The ISO Survey of Management System Standard Certifications – 2011.

ISO Survey of Management System Standard Certifications – 2011

 

 

 

 

 

7 ISO Standards regarding management systems

were included in the survey:

 

ISO 9001 data (excel)
ISO 14001 data (excel)
ISO 22000 data (excel)
ISO/IEC 27001 data (excel)
ISO 50001 data (excel)
ISO 13485 data (excel)
ISO/TS 16949 data (excel)

 

 

 

The publication is available here.

 

ICC Published New Volume on DOCDEX

13 December 2012, Paris

 

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has issued a new volume containing decisions on Documentary Credit Dispute Resolution Expertise (DOCDEX – Decisions 2009-2012).

 

DOCDEX include cases based on other ICC rules kike:

– Uniform Rules for Collections (URC)

– Uniform Rules for Bank-to-Bank Reimbursements (URR)

– Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG)

 

The new volume is an important point of reference for bankers, lawyers, importers/exporters and other practitioners who make use of ICC rules.

 

For more information visit the ICC DOCDEX Rules.

 

OECD Launched The ‘Global Recalls Portal’

19 October 2012

 

OECD launched a international portal to exchange information about unsafe products that have been taken off the market in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States.

 

The portal, http://globalrecalls.oecd.org, will contribute to boosting consumer safety across the world.

 

For more information kindly check here.

New ISO/IEC Standards for Audition and Certification

3 October 2012

 

The ISO published the new versions of the below International Standards which provide harmonized and effective best practice for certification bodies and auditors around the world:

 

– ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services

 

– ISO/IEC TS 17021-2:2012, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems – Part 2: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of environmental management systems

 

For further information please check here.

 

 

Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide by UNECE

September 2012

 

The United Nations Commission for Europe (UNECE), with the support of its UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), develop the Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide (TFIG) which is very utile for who are working in advocacy in the trade facilitation domain.

 

The guide gives an overview of governmental organisations that work in the field of trade facilitation, either through setting rules and standards, providing technical assistance, or by doing research.

 

More information is available here.