Farmers are up in arms again; this time against increasing duty-free imports of agricultural commodities from India. Pakistan had opened the Wagha border for the import of 137 items way back in March 2012.

This has now become a problem for domestic farmers.

Last year, vegetables and other small items worth Rs26bn were imported. This year, the first six months’ bill is Rs16bn.

Pakistani farmers think, with a measure of justification, that Indian farmers are being facilitated at their cost, and have got together to resist the process.

As part of the recent IFCBA Managing Directors meeting, a working session was held with representatives of the WCO’s Regional Office for Capacity Building, Asia Pacific (ROCB A/P).  Attending this session were:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are working hand-in-hand with dozens of other U.S. departments and independent agencies to build and deliver a much awaited national “Single Window” called the International Trade Data System (ITDS) by December 2016.

ITDS is intended to overcome the inefficiencies often generated by distinct (and at times overlapping or inconsistent) standards for exports and imports of as many as 47 agencies that impact the U.S. supply chain network.

Most international bribes are paid by large companies, usually with the knowledge of senior management, according to new OECD analysis of the cost of foreign bribery and corruption.

Bribes in the analysed cases equalled 10.9% of the total transaction value on average, and 34.5% of the profits – equal to USD 13.8 million per bribe. But given the complexity and concealed nature of corrupt transactions, this is without doubt the mere tip of the iceberg, says the OECD.

The World Customs Organization (WCO) welcomes the 27 November 2014 decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council to adopt the Protocol of Amendment to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).  This decision inserts the TFA into Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement.

The WTO’s decision is a critical step to implement the TFA, which focuses on Customs-related topics and foresees cooperation between all relevant agencies and stakeholders.

China and Australia sealed a landmark free trade agreement on Monday that could significantly expand trade between the two economies.

Australia, which signed trade deals with Japan and Korea earlier this year, says China is its largest trading partner, with two-way trade of $130 billion Australian ($128 billion Cdn) in 2013.

It’s taken more than a decade to negotiate the deal which will open up the huge Chinese market to Chinese farm exports and the services sector.