More Trade News in Brief – Week 36 (27 August – 2 September 2012)

* Switzerland Adopts Several Maritime Conventions

 

Switzerland adopted four conventions developed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to enhance the protection of the marine environment.

 

Switzerland has adopted the next conventions:

 

–          Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention

–          the 2001 International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage

–          the 2004 International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments

–          and the 2011 International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships

 

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* India & Mauritius Negotiate New DTA

 

India and Mauritius have completed a further round of negotiations towards a new Double Tax Agreement (DTA).

 

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* Andorra Extends TIEA Network

 

Andorra approved the signature of new Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) with the Czech Republic and South Korea.

 

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* WTO Statistics Database Updated

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) updated its 2011 database on world merchandise trade.

 

Please check the Statistics Database here.

 

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* New WTO Members: Russia and Vanuatu

 

On 22 August 2012, Russia becomes the 156th WTO member and Vanuatu will join the WTO on 24 August as its 157th member.

 

More here.

 

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The World Trade Report 2012

16 July 2012

 

The World Trade Report 2012, published by World Trade Organization (WTO), exams the worldwide trade and public policies and the regulatory measures for trade in goods and services.

 

The main focus of the Report is on the non-tariff measures (NTMs) as technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

 

 

 

For more information please refer to next link and the Report can be download from here.

Easier Access to WTO for Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

6 July 2012

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) approved proposals to streamline and facilitate the accession process for Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

 

For more details, please refer to the next news.

UN’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

On 10 January 2012, the five-agency programme adopt a new medium-term strategy for 2012-16 in regard to help developing countries meet international standards on food safety and animal and plant health.

 

The Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) was set up 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.

 

Since it was set up in 2002, the STDF has supported 47 projects and 48 project-preparation grants benefiting 54 developing countries. The current voluntary donors countries are Canada, Denmark, EU, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, US.