21/09/2010
Alessandra Fratini speaks at Number Portability Conference in Vienna

On 21 September, Alessandra speaks at IIR’s Number Portability 2010 in Vienna, Austria, presenting the drivers and challenges for the implementation of Number Portability in the EU and the WTO. She reviews the applicable requirements under the acquis communautaire and the WTO rules and identifies the associated drivers in the context of a country’s political and international strategy. See conference brochure.

09/2010  Eugenia Laurenza meets the authorities of CARICOM Members States
In September 2010, Eugenia Laurenza will travel to the Caribbean to meet with the authorities of individual CARICOM Members States. FratiniVergano will conduct this mission in the context of the assistance that it is delivering to the CARICOM Secretariat on notification procedures and implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. Authorities in 12 CARICOM Member States will be met in order to assess the regulatory and institutional state-of-play ahead of the formulation of a set of recommendations and conclusions.

08-12/2010  FratiniVergano is assisting the Government of Vanuatu in its WTO Accession bid
As of August 2010, FratiniVergano is assisting the Government of Vanuatu in its WTO Accession negotiations. The project is aimed at raising awareness among Government officials and national stakeholders on the implications of Vanuatu’s WTO Accession and to strengthen dialogue on trade issues between key officials, national opinion leaders and stakeholders. The project foresees, inter alia, the organization of a final National Validation Workshop with the participation of international experts and around 50 stakeholders.

30/07/2010 FratiniVergano’s Latest Issue of TradePerspectives© is Published

The latest issue contains an article on the latest round of negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU, where issues relating to intellectual property rights, inter alia, geographical indications for foodstuffs are on the agenda. The second article deals with Ukraine’s request of WTO consultations in relation to Armenia’s measures affecting the importation and internal sale of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, which may violate provisions of the GATT, the Protocol on the Accession of the Republic of Armenia to the WTO, and the Working Party Report. Finally, in the third article we look at the apple dispute between Australia and New Zealand, where it appears that the WTO panel report rejects the Australian ban as incompatible with the country’s obligations under the SPS Agreement.

TradePerspectives© is available for full reading at: http://www.fratinivergano.eu/TradePerspectives.html.  With this fortnightly publication, we intend to regularly provide readers with a set of recent international trade developments of particular commercial and regulatory interest.  Our focus is on those matters that are set to become contentious trade issues or which should be followed closely by traders, government officials, lawyers, consultants and all other concerned parties. Trade Perspectives does not constitute legal advice and is not, therefore, intended to be relied on or create any client/lawyer relationship. For new recipients to be added to our circulation list, please contact us at: TradePerspectives@FratiniVergano.eu

1-2/07/2010  Paolo Vergano and Eugenia Laurenza hold dispute settlement training to the benefit of ASEAN officials
On 1 and 2 July 2010, Paolo Vergano and Eugenia Laurenza hold a two-day training course sponsored by InWEnt to the benefit of ASEAN Secretariat officials on the laws and procedures under the ASEAN Enhanced Dispute Settlement Protocol. The training course will involve about 20 officers from the Legal Services and Agreements Division of ASEC and a number of officers from other line divisions within ASEC that may have substantive competences in future ASEAN dispute settlement procedures.  FratiniVergano has been advising the ASEAN Secretariat on dispute settlement since 2007.

20-25/06/2010  Paolo Vergano and Eugenia Laurenza advise the CARICOM Secretariat on notification procedures
During this period, Paolo Vergano and Eugenia Laurenza travel to Barbados to meet with the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Unit (CSME) of the CARICOM Secretariat. Paolo and Eugenia are assisting the CARICOM Secretariat in developing a set of harmonised notification tools that will support implementation and compliance with the obligations arising from CARICOM Members’ participation to the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

4/6/2010
Alessandra Fratini presents a paper at CRRI’s 18th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics

On 4 June, Alessandra presents a paper on the regulatory opportunities for postal operators under the Europe 2020 Strategy at the 18th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics in Porvoo (Finland). The international conference is held by the CRRI (Center for Research in Regulated Industries) of the Rutgers Business School, Newark and New Brunswick (US). The conference programme is available on http://crri.rutgers.edu/references/post/index.html

6/2010 
Paolo Vergano and Eugenia Laurenza publish a paper on subsidies to renewable energy sources and international trade

Paolo and Eugenia published an article on subsidies to renewable energy sources and international trade in Volume 5 of Kluwer’s Global Trade and Customs Journal. The article intends to describe some of the issues arising from the relationship between renewable energy subsidies and their impact onto trade, including trade in products instrumental to the pursuit of environmental objectives, which may be directly targeted or indirectly affected by such policies. It does so by first providing an overview of some of the renewable energy subsidies currently applied by a number of WTO Members and by then reviewing the relevant WTO rules and their application to renewable energy support programmes. The article also highlights some key elements of the relationship between trade and climate change. Finally, the authors suggest a possible solution in order to achieve both environmental objectives and the pursuit of free and fair trade.  They do so by arguing for the application of a “peace clause” against multilateral trade challenges of these types of subsidies, leaving at the same time intact the possibility for WTO Members to apply domestic trade defence measures to address possible trade distortions resulting from the use of environmental subsidies.

18-21/5/2010
Alessandra Fratini and Gaia Pandolfi teach at Tor Vergata University in Rome

On 18 and 21 May, Alessandra and Gaia lecture on postal services regulation and competition at Tor Vergata University in Rome. The lectures, which are part of the “Master in economia della concorrenza e della regolazione delle public utilities”, cover the EU-driven liberalisation process and competition-related issues on public service compensation in the postal sector.

19-20/03/2010 
Paolo Vergano addresses a number of WTO-related issues at the EU Ayurvedic Association’s Conference

On 19 and 20 March 2010, Paolo spoke at the EU Ayurvedic Association’s Conference in Budapest, Hungary.  He was invited by the organizers in order to address a number of trade-related issues affecting trade in Ayurvedic products and market access opportunities to the EU as a consequence of a number of EU Directives that are disciplining the sectors of food supplements, traditional herbal medicines and medicinal products.

1-12/02/2010 
Paolo Vergano trains the new Legal Services and Agreements Division of the ASEAN Secretariat in relation to dispute settlement

In February 2010, Paolo spent two weeks at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia working with the newly-established Legal Services and Agreements Division (LSAD) and providing advice on a number of legal issues.  Particular focus was given to the functioning of ASEAN’s Economic Dispute Settlement Mechanism.  Paolo provided training and assistance to equip LSAD with the necessary internal procedures and instruments to be able to manage future dispute settlement proceedings.

2/2010
Alessandra Fratini publishes a paper on access to infrastructure and service elements in the postal sector

Alessandra published a paper entitled “Access to infrastructure and service elements in the postal sector” in the book “Heightening Competition in the Postal and Delivery Sector” (Ed. Edward Elgar, US). The paper, co-written with Bernard Roy and Joost Vantomme, moves from the provisions in the Third Postal Directive that have broadened the scope of access from traditional essential facilities to particular information or services historically controlled by the incumbent. Against the background of ex ante regulatory models applied in other network industries, the paper discusses the scope of regulatory intervention in the area of infrastructure and service elements in the postal sector. While there should be a combination of general competition rules and sector-specific regulations according to the specific market situation in any given case, regulatory practices in the postal sector appear to point to “ex ante soft” regulation as the emerging model.

21/01/2010
Alessandra Fratini speaks at Advanced Mobile Network Optimisation Conference in Berlin

On 21 January, Alessandra speaks at MarcusEvans’ 3Advanced Mobile Network Optimisation, 3G, 3G+ and LTE in Berlin, Germany, presenting the Legal and Regulatory Perspective. She covers issues such as spectrum regulation and investment sharing under the Telecoms Package, the new GSM Directive, the regulatory challenges of fixed-mobile convergence and the Post- i2010 strategy, focusing on the implications for mobile operators.
See Conference brochure.

15/01/2010
Eugenia Laurenza lectures on EU food labelling and traceability law at the Universitat de Lleida in Catalonia, Spain

On 15 January 2010, Eugenia held her course on EU food labelling and traceability law at the Universitat de Lleida in Catalonia, Spain. The course is part of the third edition of the Master in Agrifood Law organised by the Universitat de Lleida and focuses on the EU food labelling legislation, EU traceability rules and the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

11-12/01/2010
Paolo R. Vergano teaches at the World Trade Institute in Bern

On 11-12 January 2010, Paolo held his yearly course on “Tariffs, Quantitative Restrictions and Voluntary Export Restraints” at the World Trade Institute (WTI) in Bern, Switzerland. The course is part of the Master’s on International Law and Economics (MILE) offered by the WTI and focuses on the regulation, negotiation and administration of tariffs and non tariff-barriers in the WTO system. Paolo has been teaching this course at the WTI since 2003.

10/2009
Alessandra Fratini publishes an article on the Telecoms Package

Alessandra publishes an article on the EU telecommunications reform package in the Journal of Telecommunications Management, Henry Stewart Publications. The article provides an overview of the regulatory developments in the e-communications sector following the EU Telecoms Reform Package, focusing in particular on the radio spectrum reform, the Commission’s power in the context of market analyses, the regulation of NGNs and the establishment of the new EU Authority.

9-12/2009
Ignacio Carreño advises the CARICOM Secretariat in relation to food safety legislation

Since September 2009, Ignacio Carreño is advising the CARICOM Secretariat on its model food safety legislation. In particular he analyses its compliance with international food safety rules like Codex Alimentarius.

29-30/09/2009
Fabio Filpo participates to a workshop in the Philippines on Competition Policy and Law in the ASEAN region

On 29 and 30 September, Fabio participated, as expert, to a workshop in Manila, Indonesia, in the framework of a project sponsored by InWent – Capacity Building International, in which FratiniVergano is assisting the ASEAN Secretariat on developing Regional Guidelines for Competition Policy in ASEAN.

8-17/09/2009
Alessandra Fratini and Fabio Filpo visit ASEAN Member States in the framework of a project on Competition Law

From 8 to 17 September, Alessandra and Fabio held a series of meetings with public authorities and business representatives in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The field missions were in the framework of a project for the development of a Handbook on Competition Policy and Law in ASEAN for Business.

18-19/08/2009
Alessandra Fratini and Fabio Filpo hold a workshop in Indonesia on Competition Policy and Law in the ASEAN region

On 18 and 19 August, Alessandra and Fabio held a workshop in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in the framework of a project for the development of a Handbook on Competition Policy and Law in ASEAN for Business. The project, sponsored by InWent – Capacity Building International, aims at informing the business community and investors of the current approaches and practices relating to Competition Policy and Law in ASEAN countries. Alessandra and Fabio are assisting the ASEAN Secretariat in developing a competition culture and rising awareness amongst regional and transnational businesses engaged in the ASEAN region.

3/8/2009
Paolo Vergano speaks on ASEAN dispute settlement mechanisms at AIELN Tokyo 2009

On 3 August 2009, at the invitation of the Asian International Economic Law Network (AIELN), Paolo spoke in Tokyo, Japan, on “The ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism and its Role in a Rules-Based Community: Overview and Critical Comparison”.  The focus of Paolo’s presentation was ASEAN’s dispute settlement mechanisms at regional level and in light of the relevant rules, procedures and experiences of the WTO dispute settlement system at multilateral level.

30-31/07/2009
Fabio Filpo participates to a workshop in Indonesia on Competition Policy and Law in the ASEAN region

On 30 and 31 July, Fabio participated, as expert, to a workshop in Bali, Indonesia, in the framework of a project sponsored by InWent – Capacity Building International, in which FratiniVergano is assisting the ASEAN Secretariat on developing Regional Guidelines for Competition Policy in ASEAN. The objective of the project is to develop a reference tool to provide guidance on future action of ASEAN in order to harmonise or coordinate Competition Policy and Law approaches.

6/2009 - 2/2010
Paolo Vergano and Eugenia Laurenza advise the Government of Vietnam in relation to a number of WTO matters

Between June 2009 and February 2010, Paolo and Eugenia have been advising and will advise the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam in relation to a number of trade matters.  In particular, advice is being provided in relation to the ongoing Doha Round WTO negotiations on Rules (i.e., anti-dumping, subsidies and fisheries subsidies), on the opening of Vietnam’s distribution services sector following its WTO Accession commitments, and on the qualitative impact assessment on Vietnam’s economy of the AFTA, ASEAN-China and upcoming EC-Vietnam FTAs.

7-8/7/2009
Alessandra Fratini speaks on EC State Aid Law at TREATI Workshop on Competition Policy in Singapore

On 7 and 8 July, Alessandra speaks at the TREATI Workshop on Competition Policy in Singapore. The Workshop, part of Phase II of the ASEAN-EU Programme for Regional Integration Support (APRIS II), aims to foster the mutual exchange of policy experiences between competition law officials and practitioners in the EU and ASEAN regions. Alessandra will focus her contribution on EU policies and experiences in controlling State aid and applying competition rules to State monopolies and to companies performing services of general economic interest.