The Government of Canada presented its 2024 Federal Budget on April 16, which provides insight into the current administration’s trade-related domestic and foreign policy goals over the next five years. This includes a renewed commitment to eradicate forced and child labour from Canadian supply chains. Read more about it in this blog post issued by trade and supply chain experts in our Toronto office.
This article provides an overview of the global rise in human and labour rights legislation linked to trade measures. In particular, it examines: Canada’s efforts to enforce the existing import prohibitions on goods mined or manufactured with forced labour under the Customs Tariff; Compliance under the recently passed Bill S-211, Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and to amend the Customs Tariff which comes into force on January 1, 2024;…
Después de mucha expectativa desde la entrada en vigor del Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá (“T-MEC”), el 17 de febrero de 2023, la Secretaría de Economía publicó en el Diario Oficial de la Federación un Acuerdo que establece las mercancías cuya importación está sujeta a regulación a cargo de la Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (el “Acuerdo contra Trabajo Forzoso”), que prohíbe la importación de bienes producidos mediante trabajo forzoso. El Acuerdo…
After much anticipation since the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) entered into force, on February 17, 2023, the Ministry of Economy published in the Federal Official Gazette an Administrative regulation that sets forth the goods which importation is subject to regulation by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (the “Forced Labor Regulation”), which prohibits the importation of goods produced with forced labor. The Forced Labor Regulation, which will become effective on May 18, 2023, implements…
On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (“FY2023 NDAA”). Section 5949 of FY2023 NDAA (“Section 5949”) would prohibit executive agencies from procuring or contracting with entities to obtain any electronic parts, products, or services that include covered semiconductor products or services from certain Chinese companies. The semiconductor prohibitions will not take effect until five years after the date of enactment, and the Federal Acquisition…
On 14 September 2022, the EU Commission published its proposal for a Regulation introducing a ban on the placing and making available on the EU market or export from the EU market of products made using forced labour (see press release here). Following on from Commission President von der Leyen’s announcement of the proposed ban in her State of the Union Address last year, under the Proposed Regulation, products found to have been made using…
European Commission adopts proposal for Single Market Emergency Instrument In briefOn September 19, 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted a proposal that would give the EU sweeping new powers to address shortages and supply chain disruptions of crisis-relevant and strategic goods and services in times of crisis. The proposed Single Market Emergency Instrument (“SMEI”) is the latest in a series of EU measures that will impact supply chains, including new proposals for rules on foreign…
Baker McKenzie’s Import and Trade Remedies Blog published “Update to UKCA marking transition,” covering the UK’s proposed measures to ease the transition to the new UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) regime that will replace the EU’s CE marking regime for the Great Britain market (England, Scotland and Wales) in respect of most types of CE marked products from the start of 2023. The additional flexibility that these measures provide will no doubt be welcomed by many…
On May 11, 2022, the Diet of Japan approved the “Act on the promotion of national security through integrated economic measures” 1 (“Act”). Key features of the Act include the establishment of (i) a system to ensure stable supplies of critical materials, (ii) a system to ensure stable provision of services using critical infrastructure, (iii) a system that supports the development of critical technologies and (iv) a secret patent system. The Act will enter into…
We are pleased to invite you to our Virtual Global Trade Conference on July 20 and 21. In lieu of our annual conference in Bellevue, WA, we are excited to again provide a virtual offering available to all our clients and friends worldwide! Please join our international trade compliance lawyers from around the world as they discuss and examine the major developments impacting international trade. This conference will be comprised of 75 minutes sessions over…