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News Briefs:

New EU adds eight new substances to the REACH candidate list June 2010

New California updates Prop 65 chemical list April 2010

New JIG-101 edition 3.0 released March 2010

New IPC issues new 175X family of declaration standards February 2010

EU amends list of ELV exemptions February 2010

CPSIA issues new timeline for testing of children's products December 2009


EU expands scope of its Ecodesign Directives to energy-related products October 2009

China proposes 'the catalog' for RoHS Phase 2 October 2009

China plans expansion of PEANCS (new chemical substances) June 2009

EU recommends first list of substances requiring authorization under REACH April 2009

California approves the Green Chemistry Initiative September 2008

NGO ChemSec releases 'SIN' list (Substitute It Now) September 2008

US adopts CPSIA for lead & phthalates in children's products and for lead paint August 2008

EU Court of Justice ends decaBDE exemption for RoHS April 2008


EU releases draft of proposed RoHS changes (known as RoHS2) 2008

EU considers adding medical devices and monitoring & control instruments to RoHS

EU considers adding new prohibited substances to RoHS

RoHS2 would rely upon standards developed by European standards organizations

EU releases its study on the 'simplification' of RoHS


EU releases its study of the costs and benefits of RoHS


Eight EU Member States are cited for RoHS & WEEE transposition failures

California governor vetoes bill to expand RoHS October 2007

Northeastern US states propose Model Electronic Recycling Act 


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What is the WTO?

WTO is short for the World Trade Organization

The WTO is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Membership is voluntary and is composed of the governments of sovereign nations and autonomous trade/tariff districts. The WTO has nearly 150 member nations, who together represent over 97% of global trade. Over 30 additional countries are negotiating membership.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO is completely separate from the United Nations. Known initially as GATT, it grew up as an informal organization supporting the 1947 GATT treaty. The WTO was not formally established until January 1, 1995 as part of the GATT 1994 revision.

The WTO provides the framework for member governments to negotiate trade agreements and resolve trade disputes. Trade agreements have the status of international treaties. They are negotiated by consensus and signed by ministerial-level representatives of member governments, but they do not enter into force until ratified by two-thirds of the national legislatures (parliaments) of member nations.

The scope of trade agreements has expanded over the years. Initially focused on agricultural products and manufactured goods, WTO treaties now cover services and intellectual property:
  General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the initial treaty, was first adopted in 1947 and substantially revised in 1994.
  General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) entered into force January 1995 and covers banking, insurance, telecommunications, transport, travel and hotels.
  Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs) also entered into force January 1995 and covers copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, integrated circuit layout and trade secrets.
Barriers to trade are mechanisms devised by national governments to give their domestic producers an advantage in their home markets over imports from other nations. Three principal types of barriers to trade have been recognized by WTO agreements:
  Tariffs (customs duties) are a governmental tax levied on imported goods or services that is not assessed against similar goods or services produced within the country. Lowering tariff levels on imports remains a substantial area of concern, especially among developing nations.
  "Dumping" refers to the practice of selling exported goods below-cost with the aid of government subsidies. Because this tends to drive the importing nation's own producers out of business, "anti-dumping" agreements are a contentious issue.
  Technical barriers to trade are overly-restrictive government mandates posing as technical specifications for safety or the protection of human health and the environmental, but whose real intent is to restrict access to domestic markets.

The WTO serves as a sort of clearinghouse for proposed environmental and safety regulations because the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) requires national governments to notify the WTO Secretariat whenever their proposed technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures are not based upon international standards.

This summary is intended to give you an easy-to-understand overview and does not constitute legal advice. The actual standard in the original language should be reviewed and used for all business, legal, and product compliance purposes.

If you need assistance in managing your company's response to the myriad environmental regulations, including materials data reporting, we stand ready to help you. Please call 972-679-8996 or email Mike for a quick and personalized response.

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RSJ Technical Consulting
PO Box 867705, Plano, Texas 75086

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Tutorial:

    STANDARDS:    
What are Standards?
New What is JIG-101?
New What is IPC-1752?
What is the IEC?
What is TC 111?

What is the WTO?
What is TBT?

       USA:        What is CPSIA?
CPSIA timeline
CPSIA exemptions

What is California REACH?
What is California RoHS?
What is California WEEE?

What is Proposition 65?


      EUROPE:     

What is ELV?
      ELV exemptions

What is IMDS?

What is GADSL?

Compare IMDS vs RoHS

What is EuP?
What is ErP?
What is Ecodesign?
Implement. Measures

What is
REACH?
What are SVHCs?
      Proposed SVHCs
      New Candidate list
      Priority substances
About Pre-registration

About REACH fees
What is SIN list?

What is RoHS
?
     RoHS exemptions
What is 
WEEE?
What is Due Diligence?

What is RoHS2
?
What is New Approach?
New Legislative Framework?

What is the CE Mark?
What about Packaging
?
What about Batteries?
        
      JAPAN:      
Design for Environment
What is Japan RoHS?
What is J-Moss?

      CHINA:      
What is China REACH?
What is China RoHS?
      Phase 1
      Phase 2
What is Clean Production?

        
      KOREA:      
What is Korea RoHS?
What is EPR System?

    HYPERLINKS:   
red hyperlinks are links to official government documents (usually in .pdf)

              
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