Third Round of Negotiations for RCEP

According to the MOFA news release on Jan 24, the third round of negotiations for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ("RCEP") was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from January 20 to 24. 

In this round of negotiations, the meetings of the Trade Negotiating Committee, in which senior officials participated, and of working groups concerning issues such as Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Investment were held. Also, the scope and method of negotiations, amongst others, were discussed, and it was decided to establish the new working groups on Competition, Intellectual Property, Economic and Technical Cooperation and Dispute Settlement.

The next round of negotiations will be held in China in April, 2014.

Overhaul of the BIS Unverified List

Effective January 21, 2014, a new rule issued by BIS have significant impact to traders.  It is overhaul of BIS Unverified List ("UVL") screening requirement.  The bullet points of changes are as follows.

• UVL is reshuffled.  All parties listed on the current UVL will be removed, and subsequently be added to a new UVL.  (as of today, I don't find new UVL on the BIS web site, though.)
• Exporters will need to file an AES records (customs declaration in US) for all exports to the entities on UVL.  This is nearly no exception.
• No license exceptions will apply for exports, re-exports, and transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR to the transaction with UVL entities.
• For no license required transaction under the EAR, exporters must obtain a signed and dated written statement from UVL entities before the transactions.

See news letter from Bryan Cave LLP in;
http://www.bryancave.com/files/Publication/a061fbc1-d778-4c73-bd82-553bfab0316c/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/45281c4e-2dc0-471d-bf0c-57c8a8145d69/IRB516.pdf

Japan, Turkey agree on EPA negotiation to start

Japan and Turkey agreed on Jan. 7, 2014 to begin talks on an economic partnership agreement ("EPA").  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed during talks in Tokyo to launch negotiations on the partnership pact.

(Source:  MOFA web site  http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kaidan/page3_000616.html )