When the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020 was signed into law in December 2019, the broader public attention largely fell on its topline budget allocations and headline procurement programs. Yet beneath these more conspicuous elements, the legislation embedded provisions that arguably carried equal—if not greater—long-term significance for federal contractors. Among […]
The International Trade Council (ITC) welcomes the news that the European Union has agreed to eliminate tariffs on US lobster, a key priority of President Donald Trump, in exchange for the US halving import taxes on some $160m worth of European goods, including cigarette lighters and certain crystal glassware. The agreement is the first tariff […]
The Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), in force since 2015, has by now become a familiar fixture in the compliance landscape of Canada’s mining, oil, and gas industries. But if the legislation’s first years were marked by firms simply finding their feet with its basic requirements, 2020 brought a noticeable shift in both tone […]
The International Trade Council announces that the European Union has formally adjusted its trade relationship with Cambodia, moving away from its preferential trade programme, the Everything but Arms (EBA) agreement. The decision, resulting from Cambodia’s persisting systemic human rights violations, reinstates custom duties on a significant proportion of Cambodia’s exports to the EU. Under the […]
The U.K. Environment Bill’s interruption in 2019 left many manufacturers and policymakers in a curious state of limbo. When the Bill was prorogued in September of that year, expectations had already been set. Draft texts, consultations, and government statements had outlined what was to come. The broad strokes of the anticipated waste and resource-efficiency provisions […]
The International Trade Council (ITC) is concerned by the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to strike down the EU-US Privacy Shield, which governed the transfer of EU citizens’ data to the United States. The ITC recognizes the potential negative consequences of this decision on transatlantic trade worth $7.1 trillion ( £5.6tn), and […]
When Canada’s federal government launched its consultation on the proposed Modern Slavery Act in January 2020, few expected the volume—or the complexity—of feedback that would pour in from corporate actors, industry groups, and civil society. The submissions portal, opened with the goal of soliciting practical views on due-diligence thresholds and reporting requirements, quickly became a […]
The June 2020 adoption of the EU Taxonomy Delegated Acts marked a subtle but decisive shift in how biodiversity considerations are expected to integrate into supply-chain management across sectors. For many agribusinesses in particular, this new regulatory architecture introduces complexities that go beyond carbon footprints or energy efficiency metrics. The biodiversity objective now requires firms […]
The imposition of Section 301 Phase 3 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, which took effect in September 2019, triggered what can only be described as one of the most dramatic—and, in some cases, hasty—supply chain reconfigurations in recent history. Electronics manufacturers and apparel brands, already grappling with thin margins and competitive pressures, […]
The International Trade Council (ITC) welcomes the start of post-Brexit trade talks between the United Kingdom and Japan, which are set to begin on Tuesday. The negotiations aim to reach agreement on a new trade deal to replace the current agreement Britain has with Japan through the European Union. Without a new deal by […]
When the U.S. Task Force on Supply Chain Resilience released its initial report in June 2020, just a few months after its hurried formation in February of that year, the urgency of its mandate was clear. The pandemic had exposed painful gaps in the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators, and while the […]
With the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation set to take effect on January 1, 2021, the preparatory period leading up to that date became a critical phase for electronics original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their supply-chain compliance teams. This was not the first time manufacturers had faced such regulatory obligations, of course, but the EU’s approach—with […]
The launch of the U.K. Slavery and Human Trafficking (SHT) Transparency Register in April 2020 marked a new phase in the country’s efforts to promote corporate accountability in addressing modern slavery risks. For many retailers and manufacturers, this development was long anticipated, but the reality of interacting with a live, public-facing portal brought with it […]
The passage of the CARES Act on March 27, 2020, introduced a host of new requirements and expectations for businesses benefiting from federal relief during one of the most disruptive economic periods in modern history. Among these was a stipulation that recipients of certain grants and loans report on supply chain disruptions—an element that, at […]
The 2020 reporting cycle for Canada’s Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA) brought with it a unique and, in some respects, unexpected development. As mining companies and other extractive firms submitted their annual disclosures, a new category of payments began to feature in their reports—community support contributions made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This […]
With the May 2021 enforcement date for the European Union’s Medical Device Regulation (MDR) drawing closer, manufacturers across the medical device sector have been taking stock of what the transition truly entails. The MDR, adopted back in 2017 but only now nearing full application, introduces a range of enhanced requirements. Among them, none perhaps is […]