More Trade News in Brief – Week 2 (7 – 13 January 2013)

* IMO – Amended MARPOL

 

The new amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) entered into force on 1 January 2013.

 

The new chapter make mandatory the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships.

 

Find more on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) page.

 

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* Laos – The WTO’s 158th Member

 

Laos will officially become the WTO’s 158th member state on 2 February.

 

Read more here.

 

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* Comoros – The 146th Contracting Party to the Harmonized System Convention

 

The Union of the Comoros started the process of joining to the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System).

 

Check the Press release.

 

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More Trade News in Brief – Week 29 (9 July – 15 July 2012)

* Free Online Tool for Trade and Market

 

The International Trade Centre (ITC) has redeveloped its free online analysis tool Market Access Map.

 

Market Access Map is an interactive analytical web tool informing about tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTMs) and other market access conditions.

 

The tool is available at www.macmap.org.

 

More here.

 

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* Mozambique Sign IMO Anti-piracy Code

 

6 July 2012

 

Mozambique is the 20th state to The Code of Conduct concerning the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden (Djibouti Code of Conduct) developed by International Maritime Organization (IMO).

 

More here.

 

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* CARICOM-Canada Revised FTA

 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Canada express their desire to agree a revised free trade agreement to replace the actual CARIBCAN preferential trade programme until the end of the year.

 

More here.

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* Japan & Liechtenstein Sign TIEA

 

Japan & Liechtenstein sign bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) in accordance with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) model convention.

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* Ghana Signs Tax Cooperation Agreement

 

10 July 2012

 

Ghana is the second African country, after South Africa, to sign the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, a multilateral agreement developed by the Council of Europe and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee Releases

25 May 2012, London

 

At the Organization’s London Headquarters for its 90th session from 16 to 25 May 2012, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee agreed on the bellow interim guiance and recommended interim measures:

–          Guidance for private maritime security companies, more information here

–          Passenger ship safety recommendations, more information here

UN Agencies, EU and IMO Sign Strategic Counter-piracy Partnerships

17 May 2012, London

 

A number of United Nations (UN) Agencies, the European Union (EU) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sign a number of five strategic counter-piracy capacity building partnerships.

 

The capacity building is view like a mechanism to tackle the piracy issue, with focus on  building maritime infrastructure and law enforcement capacity and on implementation of the Djibouti Code of Conduct.

 

For more information please refer to the IMO’s webpage.

US-Japan Joint Statement on Global Supply Chain Security

2 May 2012, Brussels

 

In the Joint Statement, the Governments of Japan and the US acknowledge that efforts to strengthen the global supply chain are top important for a safety and smooth trading.

 

Japan and the US are committed to supporting and working with the World Customs Organization (WCO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization to strength  the worldwide security across all modes of transport.

 

More information here.