News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Initiatives and discussions involving large groups of countries on issues such as electronic commerce and investment facilitation signal that global trade rules are set for a revamp, says Alan Wolff, deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization. “The WTO rulebook very likely will be updated to address current and …
The WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement has come into force more than three years after its signature in Bali. After Rwanda, Oman, Chad and Jordan ratified the pact this week, the threshold of 110 member ratifications required for the text to come into force was reached on Wednesday (22 February 2017). The …
Russia is perhaps the most restrictive market for European small and medium-sized companies. Thirteen percent of EU SMEs find the EU’s ‘dual-use’ regulation aiming at curbing exports that could lead to the production of weapons of mass destruction a bureaucratic hell. This is the kind of hands-on finding …
To help Jordan cope with a massive influx of refugees from Syria by integrating them in the local labour market and hiring them in dedicated special industrial zones, the EU will ease the conditions under which Jordan may export goods duty-free to the EU. The move was made official during …
One of the most complex issues to resolve in the TTIP negotiations is what type of rules to apply for products to qualify for duty-free treatment – the so-called rules or origin (ROOs) – under the deal. EU and US free trade agreements use quite different ROO systems in their …
[sh_light_text ]World Trade Organization (WTO) members adopted a much-awaited trade agreement centred on trade facilitation concluded in Bali in December last year. This first multilateral agreement since the WTO was created in 1994 is a step forward on the way to completing the “Doha Development Round” of multilateral trade negotiations launched in 2001. …
[sh_light_text ]Though the G20 Brisbane summit’s key pledges this week-end have focused on taxation and finance, trade policy has received its fair share of attention, with both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bilateral trade agreements having witnessed progress on key dossiers in recent days.[/sh_light_text]
[sh_light_text ]Are countries offering a good environment for their companies to import and export on the global marketplace? This is the issue the World Economic Forum’s (WEF)’s Enabling Trade Report explores. Iana Dreyer talked to three authors of the report in Geneva. Below, some of the takeaways from the meeting …
