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 28 (8 – 14 July 2013)

 

 

* Taiwan & New Zealand Sign FTA

 

Taiwan signed its first FTA with a developed economy, New Zealand.

 

Check here for more.

 

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* Connecting Europe Facility

 

* EU – Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM)

 

The European Commission proposed a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) for the Banking Union, which would complement the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).

 

Please follow the link for more.

 

 

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.

 

News from European Union

* Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)

 

The Parliamentary Assembly – Union for the Mediterranean relaunched its cooperation objectives in the fields of infrastructure, education and training.

 

Read more here.

 

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* Trade Defense Instruments

 

The European Commission is studying to improve the trade defense operations through anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties and expect that its proposals to become law next year.

 

Cheek here for more.

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* EU – Multinational Tax Info Exchange

 

The EU’s six biggest members, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland have agreed to develop and pilot a major new multilateral tax information exchange program.

 

Kindly follow the link.

 

News from European Union

 

* EU & Japan to Start FTA Talks

 

25 March 2013, Brussels

 

European Union and Japan launched the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

 

Check here for more.

 

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* Long-term Financing of the European Economy

 

25 March 2013, Brussels

 

European Commission launches Green Paper on the long-term financing of the European economy.

 

Find more information following the link.

 

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* The EU’s Free Trade Agreements

 

25 March 2013, Brussels

 

European Commission published an update review of its trade free trade talks.

 

Check here.

 

More Trade News in Brief – Week 11 (11 – 17 March 2013)

 

* EU-US Trade Talks to Start

 

12 March 2013, Brussels

 

The European Commission agreed the draft mandate for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement with the United States, the draft mandate will be sent to the Council for the Member States to approve.

 

Read more here.

 

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* Brazil Joins the UN CISG

 

5 March 2013, Vienna

 

Brazil becomes the 79th State Party to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

 

Further information on the CISG is available on the UNCITRAL website at www.uncitral.org.

 

Check here too.

 

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* The Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts

 

1 March 2013, Vienna

 

The United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts entered into force on 1 March 2013.

 

Further information on the Convention is available on the UNCITRAL website at www.uncitral.org.

 

Kindly follow the link for more.

 

News from European Union

 

* European Innovation Partnership (EIP)

 

The European Commission launched the European Innovation Partnership to help make Europe a world leader in raw materials exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution by 2020.

 

More information on the EIP on Raw Materials.

 

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* Bioeconomy Observatory

 

The European Commission will establish an observatory to map progress and measure the impact of the development of the European Union’s bioeconomy.

 

Check here.

 

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* The EU’s Free Trade Agreements

 

The European Commission released a memo regarding the EU’s Free Trade Agreements:

– On-going negotiations

– Free Trade Agreements finished but not yet entered into force

– Free Trade Agreements already in force

 

Please find more here.

 

Also check, fur further information the EU’s bilateral free trade agreements.

 

News from European Union

* Strengthening the Security of the Supply Chain

 

8 January 2013, Brussels

 

The European Commission adopted new strategies on Customs Risk Management and the Security of the Supply Chain.

 

Read more here.

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* European Cybercrime Centre (EC3)

 

9 January 2013, Brussels

 

Created with the aim of helping and protecting European citizens and businesses from cyber-crime, European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) opened on 11 January.

 

Check the Press Release and Memo.

 

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* Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan 

 

9 January 2013, Brussels

 

The Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan’s aim is to promote the entrepreneurial potential, to remove existing obstacles and to revolutionise the culture of entrepreneurship in Europe.

 

Find more following the link.

 

EU – Employment and Social Developments 2012

8 January 2013, Brussels

 

European Commission released the 2012 edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe Review.

The review analyzes the impact of the crisis on the social situation all over the Member States.

 

Please find more:
– Press release
– Memo
– Speech

 

The publication is available here.

 

New Portal on Trans-European Network (TEN-T)

28 November 2012, Brussels

 

The European Commission launched a new portal on Trans-European Network (TEN-T or TEN in the EU jargon).

 

The new portal includes satellite-based dynamic maps, facts, figures and various audio-visual and interactive elements.

 

Kindly check here.