The European Commission’s EU Trade Newsletter of 2 October 2014, reported that on 22-26 September, the EU and 13 other members of the World Trade Organization participated in the second round of the green goods negotiations (liberalising trade in environmental goods and services) in Geneva. The objective of this initiative was to make it easier to trade green goods internationally.The following countries are taking part: Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Chinese Taipei, the European Union,…
On 27 September 2014, the Official Journal published Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1015/2014 of 22 July 2014 amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences, and repealing Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 154/2013 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1016/2014 of 22 July 2014 amending Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of…
On 23 July 2014, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that following its ratification by all parties, the free trade agreement (FTA) between the EFTA States – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – and the Central American States of Costa Rica and Panama will become operational in the coming weeks. The announcement stated: The FTA was signed in June 2013. Its entry into force will occur in three stages: on 19 August 2014 between…
On March 19, 2014, the US Department of State (State) published in the Federal Register a notification of the Eighth Meeting of the Environmental Affairs Council of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and request for comments [Public Notice: 8661]. State and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) are providing notice that the parties to the CAFTA-DR intend to hold the eighth meeting of the Environmental Affairs Council (Council)…
On 27 February 2014, Costa Rica notified the WTO’s Committee on Safeguards that it initiated on 11 February 2014 a safeguard investigation on pounded rice. In the notification, Costa Rica indicated as follows (original text in Spanish): • “… the [interested] parties will have a period of 15 calendar days from the notification of the initiation of the investigation to present arguments.”• “… the [interested] parties will be given a period of 45 calendar days – counting…
According to a Commission press release, on 1 October 2013 trade barriers between the EU, Costa Rica and El Salvador were lifted as a result of the trade pillar of the EU-Central America Association Agreement being applied. The agreement opens up trade and simplifies rules in fields such as services, public procurement, intellectual property, sustainable development and technical barriers to trade. It also gives civil society a voice in an open dialogue on specific trade…