Contributing Lawyers

On January 15, 2010, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released its report which contains recommendations for reforming the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). The report begins by summarizing some recent...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has amended the CPSIA by exempting electronic products from the lead limitation provided by Section 101(b)(2) provided the component part is not accessible "if it is not physically exposed...

News Centre reports that India and the EU free trade agreement negotiators will meet next week after the Canadian delegation leaves Brussels. The India-Eu FTA negotiations started in 2007 and the negotiators are on the Seventh...

Given the expanding concern about the safety of the U.S. food supply, Congress is again taking action to change the rules. From what we have seen so far, those changes are likely to be dramatic and potentially quite costly,...

Originally printed in the Journal of Commerce -

As the new year begins, many trade professionals wonder what is 2010 likely to hold? One can never be sure how events will unfold, but from what we know right now, it will be...

Continuing to ramp-up product safety enforcement, DHS has announced the creation of the Import Safety Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC). Modeled after current Customs targeting centers, CTAC is supposed to...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has agreed to extend the deadline by which testing and certification of lead content in the substrate of some children’s products must commence, but that does not change the...

Although it has been the subject of some media coverage, we are pleased to provide the following reminder as to the commencement of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement ("AANZFTA") on 1 January 2010.

The AANZFTA...

We have previously reported on the Australian Productivity Commission's review of Australia's Anti-Dumping and Counterveiling systems.

On 10 September 2009, the Productivity Commission issue its draft Inquiry Report...

Given the rising importance placed on food safety, the Foreign Trade Association, iwhich is headquartered in the Greater Los Angeles area, is hosting a two-part series providing an international perspective on food safety. Laws...

Tariff Proposals - Taxation without legislation

Readers would be aware of the long-standing methods adopted by successive Australian Federal Governments to effect changes to rates of excise and customs duties before implementing...

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service ("Customs") has recently issued two new rulings whose impact is considered below.

Customs compliance monitoring program

The 2008/2009 Federal Budget contained reference to...

Our post of 17 June 2009 drew attention to the issue of Australian Customs' Notice No. 2009/25 ("ACN") by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service ("Customs") and the impending close attention by Customs to the use of...

As many would be aware, the Australian Productivity Commission ("Productivity Commission") has been undertaking a review of "parallel import" protection afforded to Australian authors and publishers.  The current provisions...

The Ontario Electrical Safety Authority (the ESA) is requiring ALL manufacturers (domestic and foreign) of electrical products DISTRIBUTED in ONTARIO to register.

At the start of this post, I will acknowledge that this looks...

On July 16, 2009, Canada's Privacy Commissioner issued a news release entitled " facebook needs to improve privacy practices, investigation finds". A copy of the news release may be found at the following link -...