Category Archives: Legal spotlight

On February 22 2017, Rwanda, Oman, Cha and Jordan, four WTO members, submitted the approval documents of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. So far, there have been 112 members approving the Trade Facilitation Agreement, exceeding the legal threshold that the agreement can only take effect with the approval of two thirds of the WTO members. The agreement now officially comes into effect and has been implemented to members who have approved it. Continue reading →

Amendments to the Electricity Act and the Long-term Care Services Act passed their third and final reading in Taiwan’s legislature on the 11th of January, paving the way towards a nuclear-free Taiwan and securing future funding for long-term care programs. Continue reading →

On December 3-4, the Ministerial Conference of the WTO Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) Negotiation was held in Geneva Switzerland on December 3-4. The Ministers and Ministers’ Representatives from 17 participating countries attended the conference. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen led the Chinese delegation to attend the conference. In order to implement the consensuses reached by the leaders of all countries at the G20 Summit held in September in Hangzhou China, China conducted close negotiation with all parties, made great efforts, showed due flexibility and expected to reach agreements on the premise that the core concerns of all the participants can be practically solved. Continue reading →

Approved by the State Council, Chinese Ministry of Commerce published the Catalogue for Key Areas of Service Export (No.58 (2016) Announcement of the MOFCOM) on October 25 . Continue reading →

Recently, the Chinese State Council distributed Opinions on Promoting Steady and Sound Development of Foreign Trade(the State Council〔2016〕No. 27, hereinafter referred to as the Opinion). According to the Opinion, the Ministry of Commerce will work with National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation, State Administration for Industry & Commerce, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange to incorporate five markets (Changshu International Clothing Business Center,Guangzhou Huadu Leather Market, Shandong Linyi Engineering Materials Market, Hubei Wuhan Hankou North International Commodity Trade Center and Hebei Baigou Luggage Market) into the third batch of pilots for “the market purchasing” trade mode. Continue reading →