On December 4, 2014, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a notice [Public Notice 8963] informing the public that the Secretary of State determined on November 20, 2014, pursuant to Section 1245(d)(4)(D) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA) (Pub. L. 112– 81), as amended, that as of November 20, 2014, each of the following purchasers of oil from Iran has qualified for the 180-day exception outlined in…
On 2 October 2014, the Australian Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb, announced that he will host a three-day meeting of his counterparts from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) in Sydney from 25 October 2014. Ministers will work to progress negotiations with an eye to concluding the basic elements of the agreement before the end of the year. The Ministers will address key outstanding issues in the negotiations, including…
On or about June 2, 2014, the US Trade Representative (USTR) posted on its website a document entitled, Trans-Pacific Partnership: Summary of U.S. Objectives which describes the Administration’s goals and objectives for TPP, and presents the main elements of each chapter from the United States’ perspective. The document states in part: The Obama Administration is pursuing TPP to unlock opportunities for American manufacturers, workers, service providers, farmers, and ranchers – to support job creation and…
On June 3, 2014, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a notice [Public Notice 8753] to inform the public that the Secretary of State determined on May 27, 2014, pursuant to Section 1245(d)(4)(D) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA) (Pub. L. 112–81), as amended by the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (Pub. L. 112–158), that as of May 27, 2014, each of the following…
Following the Budget 2014 announcement by the Malaysian Prime Minister on 25 October 2013, it was announced that a Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented on 1 April 2015 at the proposed rate of 6%. At the time of writing, the GST Bill 2009 (GST Bill) remains in a draft form and is still subject to further amendments and debate in Parliament. Pending the enactment of the GST Bill into legislation, the Royal…
On 2 September 2013, the Government published in the Federal Government Gazette the Safeguards (Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation Between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations And China (Safeguard Measure)) Regulations 2013 (P.U. (A) 279/2013), the objective of which is to implement the provisions of the safeguard measure under the Agreement.