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FTA FOREIGN TRADE ASSOCIATION |
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FTA Bulletin The voice of the
Foreign Trade Association |
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December
2002 Volume 2, Number 3 |
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Avenue
de Janvier 5 - 1200 Brussels Belgium Tel : +32.2.762.05.51 - Fax :
+32.2.762.75.06 e-mail : info@fta-eu.org |
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Jan Eggert
Secretary-General
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA), the work programme for the running
world trade round of the WTO, is very ambitious. It has been clear from the beginning
that it would be difficult to meet all the deadlines and make progress in all
the complex and sometimes very political issues of the DDA. The end of this
round is foreseen for the end of 2004 already.
2003 will be standing under the sign of the WTO Ministerial-meeting in
Cancun. Until September, negotiating positions must be clear and convergence
between the WTO-members should at least be in sight. Regarding the huge Agenda
and the tight schedule, in our first FTA-Bulletin of 2002 we put a question mark
behind the perspectives for the process of negotiations in 2002. And regarding
the state of play at the end of this year, our expectations where unluckily
fulfilled: Deadlines related to special and differential treatment for
developing countries and access to essential medicines for poor countries have
not been met.
Considering the fact, that the DDA must be concluded on the basis of a
single undertaking, a delay in some issues can endanger the outcome of the
whole negotiation package. The next deadlines are approaching: Spring 2003 for
further liberalisation in the areas of market access, export subsidization and
domestic support as well as for agriculture and services, May 2003 for Dispute
Settlement. Hence, it is crucial to make substantial progress now.
The FTA welcomes the progress in negotiations of trade in services and
market access for non-agricultural products where several proposals – some of
them of quite ambitious nature – have been placed so far. The European Union
appears to play one of the most active roles in this round. But still, one main
target in 2003 will be for the FTA to promote the acceleration of the
Doha-process and to submit to the EU and important trading partners our member
companies views and interests.
Other big issues will be equally pursued.
Within the framework of the antidumping case against bedlinen from India
and Pakistan, the FTA has launched a European action to coordinate the
proceedings for the reimbursement of the duties paid from 1997 to 2001. The purpose is twofold, on the one hand, the
companies, which have actually paid antidumping duties, shall be entitled to
obtain their money back, on the other hand, a clear signal had to be conveyed
to the European Institutions: traders are not ready to accept the market to
be affected by illegal duties, without any kind of compensation. Several
companies have already introduced a request for reimbursement, and the case
will be brought before the European Court of Justice. The FTA obviously invite
all European companies which have paid AD duties to join this common action for
the defence of the rights of the importers.
One other relatively new issue has come up and calls for solutions: Corporate Social Responsibility or more precisely the monitoring of social standards in supplier countries of European retail. With a view to the Communication of the European Commission from the summer and the resolution to the European Council FTA has enforced its efforts to form a joint initiative for European retail companies and initiatives to monitor social standards in supplier countries. After the first workshops we are on a good way for such a European initiative.
To conclude the outlook for 2003, we will again work hard to inform our members as comprehensive and complete as possible and support them in their practical day-to-day business.
Back to contents
Contrary to earlier declarations that until the
beginning of 2004 or even 2005 there will be no withdrawal of tariff
preferences, the following opinion recently prevails in the EU Commission, i.e.
that the application of Article 12 of the Tariff Preferences Basic Regulation
(EC) No 2501/2001 governing the graduation or de-graduation of preferential
advantages is binding. This would mean that in the course of next year a great
number of products from certain countries would no longer benefit from tariff
preferences (graduation) whilst other products could be imported again
benefiting from tariff preferences (de-graduation). This, above all, would
affect products from the PR China: Since the preferences for clothing as well
as glass and ceramics were removed on 1 January 1996 and those for leather
products, footwear, sporting articles and toys on 1 January 1998, the
preferences for the following products would now also be removed: plastics and
rubber, paper and cardboard as well as electro-mechanics, consumer electronics,
optical instruments and clocks. Moreover, the tariffs on consumer electronics
from Thailand would be reintroduced at the full extent. As a consequence of a
possible de-graduation, only clothing originating in Malaysia could be imported
again benefiting from preferential tariffs.
In order to anticipate possible legal steps by
developing countries which benefit from the de-graduation, the de-graduation
will in all probability be applied as from 1 January 2003. However, with a view
to the longer-term price and product planning of the importers and the
predictability which is necessary to this effect, many Member States pronounced
themselves against a graduation on 1 January 2003. However, it could be
possible that the preferential advantages will be removed on 1 March 2003; the
Member States will vote on this issue in writing. As from our point of view
this date is also not acceptable, we shall advocate to postpone the date of the
application of the graduations as far as possible from the legal point of view.
Of course, we shall keep you informed about this matter.
At
each end of a year, the European Commission publishes a Report on US Barriers
to Trade and Investment. At the end of November, Pascal Lamy, EU Commissioner,
presented this year’s 18th report which describes in full detail the
tariff and non-tariff trade barriers which exist now as before. This year,
trade barriers like the ‘Byrd Amendment’ or the ‘ETI (Extraterritorial Income
Exclusion Act)’ could be removed. The Commission is convinced that barriers
which continue to exist (e.g. Helms Burton Act or the Agreement on mutual
recognition which did not yet enter into force) might be removed by intensified
bilateral negotiations with the USA. However, Lamy emphasized that the EU is
also decided in future to use with consequence the available WTO dispute
settlement procedures in order to safeguard the rights of the European
enterprises vis-à-vis the USA.
It
is true that the relatively low consumer imports from the USA are not directly
affected by these measures but as is known any disturbance in the bilateral
trade relations will have a negative impact on the trade policy climate.
In the middle of November the EU and Chile
signed an agreement in Brussels which for the next seven years provides for
trade facilitations for industrial products. It comprises the liberalisation of
trade in services, market access, facilitation of investments and the
protection of intellectual property. The mutual recognition of registered
trademarks also forms part of the contents. The rules of the agreement
concerning trade in goods, public tenders, competition and dispute settlement
will enter into force as soon as they have been ratified by the Parliament of
Chile which will probably be the case in January 2003, whereas the rules
concerning services, freedom of establishment, movement of capital,
intellectual property and cooperation will only enter into force when the
agreement has been ratified by the Parliament of the EU Member States. This
will be a further step towards intensified mutual economic relations.
In this connection we would also like to point out
the eighth EU/Mercosur-Meeting which took place in Brazil in the middle of
November. The subject of the negotiations was the planned Cooperation and Free
Trade Agreement between the two regions. EU Commissioner Chris Patten in charge
of foreign relations was satisfied with the course of the discussions dealing
with subjects, such as rules of origin, customs procedures, standards,
competition, intellectual property and dispute settlement. On 28 February 2003
both sides will publish their liberalisation offers which will be discussed
within the framework of another meeting which will take place in March 2003.
Within the framework of the WTO negotiations in
Geneva the EU recently submitted proposals for a modification of the
SDT-principle. The main objective is a more effective integration of the
poorest countries into the multilateral trade system. In a press release the EU
emphasised that with this initiative a two class society shall be prevented
within the WTO. Among others, the EU proposes the following modifications:
- standardization
and simplification of the WTO accession procedure for the least developed
countries
- support
of the developing countries in the lifting of their sanitary and phytosanitary standards
- increased
technical assistance in the following sectors: customs, technical trade
barriers, trade in services
- participation
of at least one representative from a developing country in dispute settlement
procedures between developing countries and developed countries.
Pascal Lamy emphasized that the development policy is the keynote of the Doha Development Agenda as the entire world trade system will benefit from the further development of the poorest countries. FTA shares Lamy’s opinion and supports the EU in its integration endeavours.
Within the framework of the
present WTO round of negotiations (Doha Development Agenda) first substantial
talks will be held this week in Geneva concerning a worldwide improved market
access for non-agricultural products. These talks will focus on the kind and
extent of future tariff reductions.
In this connection the EU Commission has recently
submitted a proposal for a compression mechanism providing for a worldwide
reduction of the tariff rates in all sectors ranging between 0 and 25 percent.
Moreover, this mechanism provides for:
- unilateral tariff elimination for all products from least
developed countries;
- a so-called ‘De-Minimis-Clause’ according
to which duties beneath a specific floor will no longer be levied;
- bigger tariff reductions for those
products which are of particular interest to the developing countries; as well
as
- a reduction of the tariff escalation according to which finished products are
subject to higher duties than raw materials.
The elements of this
mechanism are on principle in accordance with the ideas of trade, above all,
since this mechanism also pays due regard to aspects related to development
policy. In a letter which the FTA addressed together with EuroCommerce to
Commissioner Lamy, we expressed this and assured the Commission of our support.
Whilst the EU mechanism so
far does not provide for a fixed time schedule, the USA will advocate the
elimination of all tariffs on non-agricultural products until the year 2015.
According to the ideas of the US Government, the WTO Members shall eliminate
all tariffs below 5 % in a first phase from 2005 until 2010; higher tariffs
shall first of all be harmonised and then they shall be reduced to 8 % at the
most. In a second phase until the year 2015, the WTO Members shall reduce the
remaining tariffs in annual steps to zero. However, if the USA will be
successful with this far reaching proposal as regards the other WTO partners
and, above all, the developing countries seems to be more than doubtful,
especially since the much more realistic EU mechanism was already criticised by
the developing countries.
Within the framework of the EU Summit on 24/25
October 2002, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Chairman of the Convention concerning
the future development of the European Union, submitted a preliminary draft
Constitutional Treaty to the Heads of States and Governments in Brussels. The
first part of the draft of a constitution contains objectives, fundamental
rights, citizenship of the Union, a list of Union competences, a list of Union
institutions, a description of the procedures and legal instruments as well as
the basic principles of democracy. In the second part a great number of the
existing treaties and regulations is continued.
With
a view to the EU enlargement and the growing number of Member States resulting
thereof Giscard d’Estaing advocates the appointment of a permanent independent
Council president. In this connection we would like to remind you that
according to the present law the Council Presidency is being held every six
months by another Member State.
The FTA welcomes this approach of a reform. Undoubtedly, the rotation principle practiced so far cannot be continued with 25 Member States, as continuity and transparency would inevitably suffer. However, other proposals are also being discussed. Thus, among others, it is being considered to transfer the Council Presidency to the Commission which from our point of view would lead to a premature centralisation.
At the European Council meeting in Copenhagen
on 12 and 13 December 2002 the course was set for the accession of eight
countries from Central and Eastern Europe (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Hungary) as well as Malta and Cyprus.
Provided that a successful ratification of the accession agreement takes place
these ten countries shall become a Member on 1 May 2004. With this the heads of
states and governments confirm the schedule recommended by the EU Commission in
the Progress Report 2002.
Depending
on the individual speed of the accession process, Bulgaria and Romania shall
become EU Members in the year 2007. For Turkey, the European Council decided a
concretisation of the accession perspective. At the end of 2004 a further
examination of the political and economical accession criteria shall take
place. In case of a positive evaluation, accession negotiations could already
be started in the year 2005.
For
further action and with a view to the necessary adjustments of the
institutional structure, the following was agreed:
Following
the statement by the EU Commission and consent by the European Parliament, the
Accession Treaty shall be signed by the Council under the Greek EU Presidency
on 16 April 2003.
Until
the date of the accession, the Commission monitors the compliance with the
obligations entered into by the accession countries during the negotiations.
This shall serve as orientation assistance for the countries in their
endeavours to adopt and apply the legal provisions of the EU. In addition, in
safeguard clauses measures are determined to handle unforeseen developments
during the first three years after the accession.
The
ten accession countries shall participate as Members in the elections of the
European Parliament in the year 2004.
The
Committee of the EU Commission will be completed by Members from the new EU
Member States at the date of the accessions. A newly composed EU Commission
will assume office on 1 November 2004. At the same time, the clauses from the
Treaty of Nice with a view to the composition of the EU Commission and the
decision-making within the Council shall enter into force.
Following
controversial negotiations the financing of the EU enlargement was also finally
clarified. According to this, the expenditure side for the years 2004 to 2006
provides for financial means amounting to a total of about 40,85 billion Euro.
As is to be expected, the biggest cost items are the regional and agricultural
policy. As concerns the side of receipts, all countries will be fully included
into the mechanism of receipts of the EU as from the date of their accession.
With
a view to the EU neighbours, the European Council confirmed the European
perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans in the stabilisation and
association process. In the interest of sustainable development and further
trade relations, the relations with Russia and other CIS States shall be
improved.
Prior
to the European Council the European heads of states and governments met the
president of the EU Convention, Mr. Giscard d’Estaing, and agreed to tighten
the tasks with the aim to discuss the future institutional order already at the
next summit in Brussels in spring 2003. The results of the Convention so far,
especially the first draft agreement presented on 28 October 2000 was largely
met with approval. As concerns the future time frame after termination of the
tasks of the Convention and for the transition to the Inter-Governmental
Conference a concrete agreement could not be reached. The accession countries shall
in any case be fully integrated into the Inter-Governmental Conference.
The
conclusions of the European Council in Copenhagen can be found under:
http://ue.eu.int/newsroom/councilHomePage.asp?LANG=1
With
these decisions the course has been decisively set for the future development
of the EU which will influence the economic development as well as the trade
policy positions of the EU. In future, the FTA will increasingly analyse the
consequences for the European trade.
Back to contents
Within
the EU Commission a new 10-year scheme of generalised tariff preferences which
shall replace the present scheme after December 31, 2004 is already being
considered now. However, as far as we know concrete working papers do not yet
exist.
Against
this background we have drafted a position paper for a scheme of generalised
tariff preferences as from 1 January 2005 which we enclosed with this circular.
With a view to a tendency of decreasing tariff rates we advocated again in this
paper a radical simplification of the system in order to avoid the numerous
differentiations as far as possible which are embodied in the present scheme.
Thus, we are of the opinion that for sensitive products the preferential
tariffs shall uniformly amount to 50 % of the most-favoured nation tariff rate.
Imports
from the least developed countries shall remain duty-free as has been the case
so far – however, on the basis of simplified rules of origin. Special
arrangements as well as product/sector-specific exclusions shall be abolished;
duty rates under 2 % shall not be levied. The paper is available upon request.
During
its last meeting in 2002, the Council of Ministers approved the amendment of
the textile import rules acc. to Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 which provides for
the introduction of a special safeguard clause valid until 31 December 2008 for
textile products originating in China. The application of these safeguard
provisions shall be admissible if imports of textile products originating in China
and covered by the ATC threaten to impede the orderly development of trade in
these products owing to market disruption. In these cases the respective draft
regulation provided that the Commission – acting at the request of a Member
State or on its own initiative – shall open consultations with China in order
to ease or prevent the market disruption.
Together
with the liberal Member States we had urged to render the initiation of
consultations more difficult which would automatically entail restrictions.
This petition was complied with in as far as the 133 Committee has to decide on
the initiation of consultations with a qualified majority. This aggravated
utilization is of importance since China holds its shipments of textile and
clothing products of those categories which are the subject of consultations –
during the period of the consultations - at a level no greater than 7.5 per
cent above the amount entered during the first 12 months of the most recent 14
months preceding the month in which the request for consultations was made.
Meanwhile this safeguard clause provision has been published in OJ L 23 of 28.01.2003 – in form of a Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 on common rules for imports of certain textile products from third countries. Since this regulation enters into force on the day after its publication in the OJ, this safeguard clause can be applied with immediate effect. This means that following the entering into respective consultations with China, quantitative import restrictions can be introduced for a period of maximum one year if the Textile Management Committee agreed to the entering into consultations with a qualified majority. This implicitly results from paragraph 3 of the new Article 10a which refers to Article 17 of the basic regulation which concerns the functioning of the Textile Committee.
As concerns the relationship between the textile safeguard clause the product-specific safeguard mechanism, the EU Commission made a protocol declaration according to which it will exclusively restrict imports of textile and clothing products until the end of the year 2008 according to the textile safeguard clause. Thus, there will be no additional safeguard measures according to the product-specific safeguard mechanism.
Back to contents
The
Council of the European Union, following a
Commission proposal, has recently amended the Basic Antidumping Regulation
(Reg. 384/96).
Set
apart the formal recognition of the market economy status for the Russian
Federation, which had already been formalized in a previous statement (see our
Bulletin N°2, Volume2), the modifications are globally aimed to permit a
clearer application of the provisions of the Regulation.
The
amendments, in fact, clarify that the definition of “related parties” shall be
found in Article 143 of the Community Customs Code Implementing Regulation;
provide a definition of “particular market situation for the product concerned”;
give some guidance as to what has to be done if the exporter’s records do not
reasonably reflect the costs of production of the product concerned and lay
down clear criteria for the granting of an individual treatment.
Moreover,
the amendments specify that the term “commissions” shall be understood to
include the mark-up received by a trader of the product or the like product if
the functions of such a trader are similar to those of an agent working on a
commission basis.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
recently declared that the United States would seek to comply with the World
Trade Organization (WTO) decision against a provision of its antidumping duties
law called the Byrd Amendment. (See our Bulletin N°1, Volume 1)
As
you may recall, the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000
("CDSOA") was enacted in October 2000 as part of a fiscal year 2001
agriculture appropriations bill. An adjustment to the basic act, the so-called
“Byrd's amendment” - from the name of the Senator who proposed the provision -
directs payment of any antidumping duties to the companies that filed the
antidumping case rather than to the U.S. Treasury as before. In a nutshell, the measure allows companies that have persuaded the federal government
to impose anti-dumping duties on "unfairly" priced foreign goods to
also receive the money raised by those duties. According to official US sources, the program has already paid more than $500 million to U.S. steel makers and
other firms.
On September 10, 2001, a WTO dispute settlement panel
was established at the request of several WTO members (Australia, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico and
Thailand) to examine the consistency of the CDSOA with U.S. obligations under
the WTO Anti-dumping and Subsidies Agreements. The panel found against the
United States on three of the five principal claims asserted by the complaining
parties.
The United States appealed the panel's findings to
the WTO Appellate Body on October 18, 2002. Meanwhile, the US are said to be
seeking agreement with the complaining parties on a reasonable period of time
to comply with the DSB recommendations and rulings.
Back to contents
While world trade expanded on
average by 13.3% a year between 1995 and 2000, the corresponding figure for
China was a 19% increase. This was driven mainly by trade in industrial
products which rose by an annual rate of around 20%. This rapid growth in
China's external trade between 1995 and 2000 highlights the trend throughout
the 1990s when the country became the world's third largest economy in terms of
GDP and its 10th
largest exporter.
The EU is now the third-largest
source of Chinese imports and the fourth-largest destination for its exports.
At the same time, China is now the EU's third-largest source of imports, but
slips to seventh position when it comes to exports.
The bulk of EU-China
trade is in industrial products: European exports to China rose, in the last
years by 11.8% per year, whilst European imports of industrial products rose at
an average annual rate of 22%.
Back to contents
On 21/22 November 2002 the Danish Presidency supported by the EU
Commission invited to a conference with the subject ‘Mainstreaming Corporate
Social Responsibility across Europe’ which took place in Helsingoer/Denmark and
in which the undersigned participated on behalf of the FTA.
On the occasion of this
conference in which high-ranking personalities participated, among others
several Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs and the European Commissioner
for Labour and Social Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, representatives of
governments and economy as well as of trade unions and NGOs discussed the
increasing importance of the subject Corporate Social Responsibility and the
possibilities and starting points to realize this subject in practice. Happily
most official speakers and the European Commission emphasized the principle of
the voluntary nature. Opposed to this was the representative of the European Parliament,
Richard Howitt, as well as several NGO’s which demanded comprehensive
obligations to report for the European enterprises.
Although the subject CSR is
on principle a comprehensive subject which also includes the social relations
in Europe the discussion concentrates more and more on the behaviour of
European enterprises in developing countries with a view to environmental and
social aspects.
At present, the FTA makes
endeavours to achieve a voluntary European initiative of the European retail
trade into which as many national initiatives; associations and enterprises
shall be integrated.
The focus of the second
European Business Workshop on Social Standards on 17 December 2002 in Brussels
concentrated on this subject (See below).
On
17 December 2002 the second European Business Workshop on Social Standards
organised by the FTA took place in Brussels. In July 2002 the FTA organised the
first workshop of this kind in which various systems, which exist in France,
Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, were presented. It is the objective of
these conferences to elaborate a common European solution for a monitoring of
social standards in retail trade.
Following the opening of the workshop by FTA
President Jacqueline Peltier, important core issues were presented and
discussed which in the framework of a monitoring will have to be clarified.
Mrs. Filippa Bergin
(Textilimportörerna) presented the Swedish project ‘Global Consultation’
which similar to the British model of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)
provides for a multi-stakeholder approach together with NGO’s and trade unions.
Moreover, Mr. Bernhard Jansen, Director in DG ‘Employment and Social Affairs’
explained the point of view of the European Commission concerning the subject
‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ and emphasized that, first of all, until the
middle of 2004 the Commission does not plan European legislation on this
sector. Besides, such rules would not stand in the way of voluntary initiatives
of enterprises. In addition, the Commission supports the active Social
Standards dialogue – also financially – and requests enterprises to submit
proposals on how common approaches and synergies can be used.
The participants among which also a representative
of a big Canadian retail enterprise agreed that there is a good basis to
establish a common monitoring if possible also across the European borders and
discussed different methods to tackle the matter and find solutions. Proposals
for a concrete model will be discussed within the scope of the third workshop
on 25 February 2003 in Brussels.
Back to contents
On 11 December 2002, the European Commission
adopted a package of measures that would make important substantive and
procedural changes in the EC merger control regime.
The package has three parts:
Ø a proposal for a Council regulation replacing the
present EC Merger Regulation 4064/89 (“ECMR”);
Ø a draft Notice on the assessment of horizontal
mergers; and
Ø a draft “Best Practice guidelines" aimed at
improving the parties’ rights of defence and the Commission’s decision-making
process.
The
reform package follows the debate launched with the Commission’s December 2001
Green Paper on the Review of the ECMR, and the recent series of European Court
of First Instance judgments overturning Commission prohibition decisions (Airtours,
Schneider, and Tetra Laval).
The proposed guidelines and the proposed
process reforms are supposed to bring the EC’s substantive merger analysis more
in line with that in the US.
Important procedural changes
include:
Ø More flexibility for companies in deciding when to
file merger notifications and a pre-notification process for allocation of
jurisdiction between Member States and the Commission:
1.
the parties would have
the right to request a referral at the pre-notification stage;
2.
the Commission would
have exclusive jurisdiction in cases where at least three Member States make a
referral to the Commission;
3.
the Commission would
have a “right of initiative” to invite Member States to make or to require a
referral.
The net impact of these proposals may be to
make the Brussels “one stop shop” available in more cases – although the
changes also make it easier for the Commission to refer cases to the Member
States.
Within this new system, companies may find it
more difficult to predict in advance which jurisdictions will ultimately review
their merger, and may encounter additional delays in the pre-notification phase
as Member States and the Commission are likely to engage every time in the
ad-hoc determination of jurisdiction.
Ø Provisions for limited extensions of time for complex
cases and for evaluating proposed remedies:
Under the proposal, an automatic extension of
the Commission deadline to adopt a final decision would apply in cases where
the parties submit remedies (by 10 additional working days in Phase I cases and
by 15 additional working days in Phase II cases). Moreover, the parties would
have the right to request an extension by 20 additional working days in complex
Phase II cases.
Ø
Increased powers of
investigation:
The
proposal strengthens the Commission's fact-finding powers and grants the
Commission the power to take oral statements to be recorded and used as
evidence in proceedings where the interviewee consents. However, the new
Regulation does not empower the Commission to search companies’
representatives’ private homes, as the “Modernization Regulation” does in non-merger
investigations.
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22.01.03 |
Brussels (Belgium) |
133 Committee
on Textile |
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22.01.03 |
Brussels (Belgium) |
European Council Committee, IPR |
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23.01.03 |
Geneva (Switzerland) |
WTO
Council for Trade in Goods (Trade Facilitation) |
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24/25.02.03 |
Brussels (Belgium) |
European Council
Committee, General Affairs And External
Relations |
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24.01.03 |
Brussels (Belgium) |
European Council Committee, Customs |
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27/28.01.03 |
Brussels (Belgium) |
UE-ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting |
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27/28.01.03 |
Brussels (Belgium) |
European Council Committee, General Affairs And External Relations |
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27/28/29.01.03 |
Geneva
(Switzerland) |
WTO
Textiles Monitoring Body |
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29.01.03 |
Geneva (Switzerland) |
WTO Committee on Trade and Environment Session |
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03.02.03 |
El Salvador |
WTO Trade
Policy Review Body - |
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03/04.02.03 |
Geneva (Switzerland) |
WTO Trade Negotiations Committee |
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20/21.02.03 |
Geneva
(Switzerland) |
WTO Working Group on the Interaction between Trade
and Competition Policy |
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TRADE SAFEGUARD MEASURES |
Bedlinen from India and Pakistan, new cases confirmed (FTA Circ. N°30) |
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Expiry of AD duties on 3,5’ microdisks (FTA Circ. N°28) |
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AD footwear with textile uppers from China & Indonesia, termination (FTA Circ. N°27) |
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AD Reinvestigation on compact fluorescent lamps from China (FTA Circ. N°26) |
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Expiry of duties on leather handbags from China (FTA Circ. N°15) |
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FOREIGN TRADE LAW AND CUSTOMS POLICY |
Simplified WTO Accession procedure (FTA Circ. N°31) |
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India – Transfers between quantitative limits (FTA Circ. N°31) |
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Armenia – new WTO Member (FTA Circ. N°31) |
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GSP – EU Commission wants graduation (FTA Circ. N°30) |
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Partnership agreement with Chile (FTA Circ. N°30) |
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Non-textile quotas & quota utilization China (FTA Circ. N°29) |
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Tariff rates 2003 (FTA Circ. N°27) |
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Macedonia’s WTO Membership (FTA Circ. N°26) |
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Amendment to common rules for textile imports (FTA Circ. N°25) |
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GSP Pakistan – No lifting of zero tariff rates (FTA Circ. N°24) |
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List of sanctions in the FSC dispute (FTA Circ. N°22) |
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COMPETITION AND TRADE MARK LAW |
Leroy Merlin's acquires Brico (FTA Circ. N°31) |
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Concentration between Kingfisher and Castorama (FTA Circ. N°18) |
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ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL STANDARDS |
European Centres for Sustainable Trade and Innovation (FTA Circ. N°30) |
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Communication of the EU Commission concerning CSR (FTA Circ.
N°16) |
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