All news & events

On 15 September, the UN Conference on Trade and Development published the 2021 Trade and Development Report, which finds that in 2021, the global economy will bounce back with growth of 5.3%, the fastest in nearly 50 years. The rebound is, however, highly uneven along regional, sectoral and income lines.

The new version of the Harmonized System Nomenclature (HS), which will enter into force on 1 January 2022, is now available for free on the World Customs Organization’s Trade Tools platform.

Earlier this week, MEPs approved the €5 billion Brexit Adjustment Reserve to help EU Member States deal with the economic, social and territorial impact of the UK’s departure from the EU.

The Slovenian government issued this week an ordinance on the method of meeting the condition of recovery, vaccination and testing to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections. The new ordinance, valid from 15 September introduces the RVT rule (Recovered - Vaccinated - Tested) in a large part of public life in Slovenia.

Registration is open for the 10th edition of the Market Place Seminar organized by the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA) and the International Union of Railways (UIC), taking place on Thursday 14 October 2021 from 11:00 to 14:00 CET. As the event coincides with the European Year of Rail, the event is supported by CLECAT.

EUROCONTROL has published a study on climate change risks for European aviation, concluding that climate change poses significant and increasing risks to aviation in the years ahead.

On 13 September, Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) announced that the U.S Congress would not begin work on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 (OSRA 2021) until after November, and once the House has addressed other major legislative files such as the infrastructure package, voting rights reform, and legislation to bolster Roe v. Wade. Introduced in August by two members of Congress, John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD), the bipartisan bill would impose minimum requirements on ocean carrier service contracts and shifts the burden of proof in regulatory proceedings from shippers to the container lines.

On 15 September, the U.S Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) announced in a statement that it has voted to launch two demurrage-and-detention related initiatives in order to clarify conflicts related to delayed goods at US ports. These actions follow the signing of an executive order by US President Joe Biden ordering the FMC to take action against unreasonable fees charged by shipping companies for delays and bottlenecks at ports.

On 13 September, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager answered to the parliamentary question from MEPs Tom Berendsen (NL, PPE), Annie Schreijer-Pierik (NL, PPE), and Henna Virkkunen (FI, PPE) on unfair practices in the container shipping industry that disrupt entire supply chains. In its response, the Commission recognises that the COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented effects on both the demand and supply sides and caused wide fluctuations in demand.