In the wake of OFWAT’s 2018 water resilience rules, utilities across the United Kingdom faced mounting pressure to strengthen supply chain visibility and ensure uninterrupted water services during drought conditions. The regulatory framework, designed to protect consumers and safeguard natural resources, required water companies to demonstrate that their operations and supply chains could withstand prolonged […]
In June 2019, the United States government implemented adjustments to anti-dumping tariff rate quotas (TRQs) that notably affected the importation of solar cells and steel products. These adjustments introduced stricter requirements for importers to report upstream supply sources as part of enhanced trade compliance measures. The changes aimed to tighten controls on imports linked to […]
The coming into force of Canada’s Bill C-69 in August 2019 marked, as many would cautiously agree, a significant turning point in how mining projects must approach environmental assessments and related supply chain transparency. It’s not merely about satisfying regulatory requirements on paper; there is now, arguably, a heightened expectation for firms to demonstrate how […]
The adoption of the EU Climate Law by the European Parliament in June 2019 signaled, in no uncertain terms, a new era of regulatory expectations for greenhouse gas reporting. For large manufacturing firms, the change was both anticipated and, to some extent, quietly dreaded. After all, while many companies had long acknowledged the importance of […]
The passage of the Trying to Combat Illegal Fishing Act (TIFFA) in December 2018 marked a significant shift in U.S. policy toward tightening seafood supply chain controls. By mid-2019, seafood importers and processors found themselves grappling with a new and demanding compliance landscape. The Act’s core requirement—that all seafood imports be traceable to the port […]
As the U.K. Home Office initiated its second formal review of the Modern Slavery Act in late 2019, many companies across sectors found themselves reflecting, perhaps with some unease, on the adequacy of their current compliance strategies. There has been, for some time, an undercurrent of frustration in certain corners of industry regarding the difficulty […]
The May 2019 revision of the EU’s tariff-free textile quotas was a development that, while not entirely unexpected, prompted a flurry of recalibration across the apparel import sector. Many importers, already navigating a complex patchwork of preferential arrangements, found themselves needing to revisit sourcing strategies with little time to spare. The revision itself—intended, according to […]
The cybersecurity landscape for federal contractors shifted markedly after the issuance of Executive Order 13800 on May 11, 2018. Though the order itself was broad in its directive—aiming to enhance the resilience of federal networks and critical infrastructure—it quickly became clear that its real teeth would be felt in the supply chains supporting those networks. […]
When Bill C-208 received Royal Assent in June 2019, it marked a notable shift in Canada’s stance on tax avoidance and profit shifting, particularly where cross-border supply chains are concerned. The changes it introduced, especially to transfer pricing rules, were not revolutionary in isolation. But taken together, they represented a tightening of the net—an unmistakable […]
Small furniture exporters operating within or supplying to the European Union found themselves increasingly under scrutiny by mid-2019, as regulators stepped up enforcement of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). The regulation, originally adopted in 2013, has long aimed to prevent illegally harvested timber and timber products from entering the EU market. Yet for many smaller […]
The 2019 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report, released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative in March, once again drew attention to a range of non-tariff barriers affecting American exporters, particularly in the electronics and automotive sectors. For seasoned trade analysts, much of the content felt familiar—concerns about divergent technical standards, opaque licensing […]
In January 2019, Natural Resources Canada released a discussion paper that, while perhaps under the radar for many outside policy circles, signaled a potentially significant shift in how large firms—particularly those in energy-intensive sectors—will be expected to account for supply-chain emissions. The paper focused on Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, those indirect emissions that arise […]
The Social Value Act, first enacted in 2013, has long been praised—and sometimes quietly criticized—for its ambition to embed social benefit considerations into public procurement processes. For years, the legislation encouraged contracting authorities to look beyond price and technical merit, to consider how procurement decisions might contribute to broader community wellbeing. Yet, for all the […]
The European Union’s Medical Devices Regulation, published back in May 2017, introduced a host of transformative requirements aimed at reshaping medical device oversight, not least in the realm of supply chain traceability. The deadline for compliance may have felt distant at first. But by early 2019, manufacturers, suppliers, and regulators alike found themselves grappling with […]
When the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill was signed into law that December, it marked a turning point for hemp cultivation and its downstream industries, particularly for the burgeoning CBD sector. The removal of hemp from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act created both opportunity and uncertainty, especially as stakeholders sought clarity on supply chain […]
The passage of Canada’s Bill C-69 in June 2019 marked a profound change in how resource projects, notably pipelines and mines, would be evaluated and monitored from both environmental and social perspectives. The introduction of the Impact Assessment Act under this bill signaled a shift—not merely in procedural requirements, but in the expectations placed on […]