The EU requested consultations with China at the World Trade Organization, alleging that China has empowered its courts to set worldwide royalty rates for EU standard essential patents, without the consent of the patent owner. The EU alleged that the measures violate Article 64.1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Article XXII:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
The European Commission on Jan. 24 extended its antidumping and countervailing duties on electric bicycles from China for another five years. They were put in place in 2019. The antidumping duties range from 10.3% to 70.1%, and the countervailing duties range from 3.9% to 17.2%. The commission made the decision after conducting an expiry review investigation that showed e-bikes from China "continue to benefit from unfair subsidies and that imports into the EU were made at dumped prices."
Israel formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies Jan. 22, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 89. The WTO needs 22 more to get two-thirds of the membership, the threshold needed for the agreement to take effect.
The U.S. and Vietnam agreed to resolve a long-running dispute on U.S. antidumping duty proceedings on fish fillets from Vietnam. The dispute was originally brought in 2018 to challenge the proceedings as being in violation of the WTO antidumping agreement. In particular, Vietnam challenged the U.S. government's imposition of AD cash deposit requirements in the fifth, sixth and seventh reviews of the AD order, covering entries in 2007-2010. Vietnam claimed that the U.S, should have revoked the order following the seventh review and that the U.S. unlawfully used a country-wide AD rate based on adverse facts available against respondents that were not individually investigated.
The heads of the World Trade Organization and the World Customs Organization penned a Memorandum of Understanding on Jan. 21 to boost cooperation on "customs-related matters," the WTO announced. The organizations agreed to identify opportunities to collaborate in "external fora" and on the "delivery of technical assistance and capacity building in areas of common interest, including the implementation of grants provided through the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility." The two organizations also agreed to share information in "areas of common interests," including on the development of the Harmonized System tracker and tariff classification. The groups pledged to harmonize work on the transposition of the HS, including through sharing information on projects and activities to combat illegal trade.
The EU has requested consultations at the World Trade Organization as the first step in contesting Chinese practices pertaining to intellectual property rights, the European Commission announced on Jan. 19. The commission alleged that China has "empowered its courts to set binding worldwide royalty rates for EU standard essential patents, without the consent of the patent owner."
The Pentagon defended its decision to designate Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology as a Chinese military company, filing a cross-motion for judgment in Hesai's case against its designation at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (see 2412110023). DOD said substantial evidence backs its finding that Hesai is a "military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base," arguing that Hesai failed to appreciate that the "combined weight" of all the evidence supports the designation (Hesai Technology Co. v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-01381).
A new U.K. general license issued Jan. 14 allows certain people and entities to "make funds available" to sanctioned parties to pay for food and beverages, medicines and medical products, and personal and household products. The license, issued by the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, authorizes those transactions for up to two months after the party was sanctioned, and the payments can't exceed about $426 per month. The license doesn't apply to certain sanctioned parties, including those designated under a counter-terrorism regime or by the U.N. It takes effect Jan. 15.
A World Trade Organization dispute panel on Jan. 10 delivered a mixed ruling in Indonesia's dispute against various measures imposed by the EU and its member states on palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels from Indonesia. The European Commission touted the ruling as a win, declaring in a press release that the panel "confirmed the overall WTO compatibility" of its "Renewable Energy Directive" legal framework.
DOJ entered into a deal to send around $52.88 million in forfeited assets to Nigeria "in recognition of Nigeria's assistance" in an investigation into corruption in the Nigerian oil industry, DOJ announced.