On 29 November 2016, the WTO reported that most WTO members welcomed Ecuador’s efforts to lower its import surcharge rates and reduce the number of tariff lines affected by this measure at a meeting of the Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions on 29 November but they remain divided on whether the measure is in conformity with WTO rules. Consultations with Ecuador will resume in April 2017. Ecuador reaffirmed its intention to phase out the import surcharge…
Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to report to the WTO all proposed technical regulations that could affect trade with other Member countries. The WTO Secretariat distributes this information in the form of “notifications” to all Member countries. The chart below summarizes notifications from the WTO in English received and posted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) during the past month.
On 29 November the WTO announced that Dominica and Mongolia have ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement, putting the total number of ratifications from members at 100. With just 10 more ratifications from members needed to bring the TFA into force, the final countdown begins for realizing a global deal that could boost global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion per annum by slashing trade costs and cutting red tape at the border.
On 21 November 2016, the WTO announced that Chile and Swaziland have ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), making them the 97th and 98th WTO members to do so. Their submission of the instruments of acceptance to the WTO on 21 November means that nearly 90 per cent of the ratifications needed to bring the TFA into force have now been received. The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the Agreement.
On 20 October 2016, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection introduced the Customs Tariff Amendment (Expanded Information Technology Agreement Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2016 (the Bill) into the House of Representatives. Subject to the Bill becoming an act of Parliament it will amend the Customs Tariff Act 1995 (the Customs Tariff Act) to incrementally reduce customs duty rates to ‘Free’ on a range of information technology products.
On 27 October 2016, the WTO announced that the Philippines has ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), becoming the 95th member of the WTO to do so. The Philippines’ instrument of acceptance was submitted to the WTO on 27 October 2016. The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the Agreement. The Philippines’ acceptance means over 86 per cent of the ratifications needed for entry into force have…
On October 27, 2016, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice [Docket USTR-2016-0021; Dispute № WTO/DS508] seeking comments from the public concerning the issues raised in the WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding regarding “China—Export Duties on Certain Raw Materials” for which the United States has requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel under the WTO Agreement.
On October 24, 2016, USTR, on behalf of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC),published in the Federal Register a notice [USTR-2016-0022] inviting written comments from the public on the interim environmental review of the proposed WTO Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA). The interim environmental review will be available at the USTR website here. Written comments are due by 11:59 PM on November 21, 2016.
On October 18, 2016, United States Trade Representative Michael Froman announced that the United States has confirmed that China has ended discriminatory tax exemptions that had benefited certain types of aircraft produced in China. The United States challenged these tax exemptions at the WTO. China’s policy exempted certain aircraft produced in China – generally those under 25 metric tons by weight, including general aviation, business jets, and regional aircraft –from a 17 percent value-added tax. …
On October 14, 2016, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice requesting comments [Docket Number USTR–2016–0018; Dispute Number WTO/DS510] in the WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding concerning certain measures relating to the renewable energy sector in the United States, which was initiated on September 9. 2016 by India filing a request for consultations. You can find that request at www.wto.org in a document designated as WT/DS510/1. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.