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MOP-3: LABELLING FOR BIOTECH EXPORTS UP FOR DISCUSSION AGAIN
MOP-3: LABELLING FOR BIOTECH EXPORTS UP FOR DISCUSSION AGAIN After Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety failed to reach agreement at their last meeting, documentation requirements for shipments of living modified organisms (LMOs) are again likely to dominate the agenda of the third Meeting of the Parties (MOP-3), to be held from 13-17 March in…
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EC, OTHERS TABLE REQUEST FOR LIBERALISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
EC, OTHERS TABLE REQUEST FOR LIBERALISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES On 28 February, Australia, Canada, the European Communities, Japan, Korea, Norway, Switzerland, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the United States circulated a collective request for a number of large developing countries to open their environmental services markets to foreign services providers.…
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"STEP-BY-STEP" APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS LIBERALISATION CONSIDERED
“STEP-BY-STEP” APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS LIBERALISATION CONSIDERED During an formal 21-22 February meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment Special Session (CTE-SS), Members decided on a work plan to consider the products that have been notified as potential environmental goods, but differed on what criteria should be used to evaluate them and whether single-use…
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UNFF LOOKS FOR RELEVANCE IN INTERNATIONAL FOREST GOVERNANCE
UNFF LOOKS FOR RELEVANCE IN INTERNATIONAL FOREST GOVERNANCE Delegates meeting in New York from 13-24 February for the sixth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-6) adopted a set of measures that officials hoped would strengthen the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) that the UNFF administers and make the IAF more relevant and influential…
- In Brief
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Biotech Liability Talks Progress on Scope, Damage, Causation
The Open-ended Ad Hoc Working Group on Liability and Redress of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, meeting on 20-24 February in Montreal, Canada, for their second meeting, were able to make some progress to bridge the broad chasms that separate positions on how the Protocol should treat the contentious issue. The talks were mandated by…
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US-Columbia FTA Signed, Says Environmental Laws to be Upheld
A trade promotion agreement signed by the US and Colombia on 27 February incorporates environmental provisions in a dedicated chapter of the text as well, in a side Environmental Cooperation Agreement and in a side understanding on the importance of traditional knowledge (TK) and biodiversity. The environmental chapter of the bilateral free trade agreement says…
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Norway to Take EU to WTO Over Salmon Antidumping Measures
The Norwegian foreign ministry on 21 February said it would on 22 March formally challenge the antidumping measures imposed by the EU on its farmed salmon through the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM). This move comes after the Council of the European Union on 21 January decided to continue to impose a minimum import price…
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Legal Status of Marine Genetic Resources in Question
A 13-17 February informal meeting of a UN General Assembly Working Group on marine biological diversity struggled with the legal status of and access and benefit sharing arrangements for marine genetic resources on the high seas. Delegates, meeting in New York with a mandate to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of…
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EU: No License for Medicine in GM Goat Milk
An application to licence the world’s first medicine to be produced from a genetically modified (GM) animal was turned down by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) on 24 February. GTC Biotherapeutics, a company based in the US, engineered goats to contain a human gene that codes for anti-thrombin, an anticoagulant. The result was goats that…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. ICTSD 9 March, Geneva, Switzerland: UNDERSTANDING THE WTO…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy or review by the BRIDGES staff to smohan@ictsd.ch. STAKEHOLDER ATTITUDES TOWARD GMOS IN THE PHILIPPINES, MEXICO, AND SOUTH AFRICA: THE ISSUE OF PUBLIC TRUST. By Philipp Aerini and Thomas Bernauer of the Swiss…