On April 28, 2017, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the release of the 2017 “Special 301” Report, reviewing global developments on trade and intellectual property (IP) and identifying trading partners with harmful records on protection, enforcement, or market access for U.S. innovators and creators.
On April 20, 2016, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a document [Public Notice: 9527] setting forth the Secretary of State’s designation of “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom violations pursuant to Section 408(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-292), as amended (the Act). The Secretary has designated each of the following as a “country of particular concern” under the Act, for having engaged in or…
On April 20, 2016, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a document [Public Notice: 9527] setting forth the Secretary of State’s designation of “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom violations pursuant to Section 408(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-292), as amended (the Act). The Secretary has designated each of the following as a “country of particular concern” under the Act, for having engaged in…
On 3 June 2015, the WTO announced that Australia has formally launched its bid to join the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), underlining its commitment to work towards timely accession to the pact. The announcement was made at a 3 June meeting of the Committee on Government Procurement where progress was also reported on the accession bids of several pending applicants. Australia said it planned to submit an initial market access offer for GPA accession…