Africa: Tripartite Free Trade Area Comes Into Effect
On July 25, 2024, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) came into effect, allowing 14 countries —Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe— to trade freely in a single commerce bloc.
China: Draft Standards for Nuts and Kernels of Almonds
According to a recent USDA GAIN report, the Standardization Administration of China (SAC) recently published the draft “Standards on Nuts and Kernels of Almonds” for public comment. These standards specify the quality grading, inspection methods, inspection rules, packaging, labeling, storage and transportation of nuts and almond kernels, and will replace the existing national standard on almond kernels (GB/T 30761-2014).
EU: Amendments to List of Control Authorities and Bodies for Organic Imports
Commission Implementing Regulation 2024/2140 recognizes certain control authorities and control bodies to organize controls and issue organic certificates in third countries for the purpose of imports of organic products into the Union. This Regulation, which came into force on August 10, 2024, also corrects Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1748 regarding the recognition of control bodies.