Legal issues and regulatory developments

Abstract

This chapter provides information on some important legal issues and recent regulatory developments in the fields of transport and trade facilitation, together with information on the status of ratification of some of the main maritime conventions. During 2009 and the first half of 2010, discussions continued at the International Maritime Organization regarding the scope and content of an international regime to control greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. Moreover, a Protocol to the 1996 HNS Convention was adopted, in April 2010, with a view to facilitating the entry into force of the Convention. Standard-setting activities and other measures are continuing in the field of maritime and supply-chain security, in particular under the auspices of various international organizations such as the World Customs Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Organization for Standardization, but also at the national and regional level. The WTO negotiation on trade facilitation are now in their sixth year and are widely described as an area of the Doha Round in which tangible progress has been made; at the centre of the negotiations are the level of obligation and the level of precision that the new rules will have.