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Recently, Trkiye and the EU have both agreed that their Customs Union (CU), which has played a concrete role in enhancing their relations, requires a comprehensive modernisation. To this end, a Delegation of European Chambers of Commerce Presidents met with European Union legislators and influential stakeholders to discuss business cooperation between the European Union and Trkiye, in Brussels on 6 September.

In the wake of global events, there are enormous challenges for the European business sector. The immediate economic ramifications of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the recovery from the shutdowns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and the continued geopolitical and competitive threats from China.

It is the right moment, I believe, to discuss and find ways to channel the opportunities in Trkiye, especially with regard to the modernisation of the EU Trkiye Customs Union Agreement.

European companies and their representations, now more than ever, need to keep a close eye on European legislation and market trends. This is particularly relevant in the fields of big data, the boom in e-commerce, remote workers and the move to greener, more sustainable manufacturing and supply chain processes.

There is a new momentum in the European business sector that is constantly reshaping, with innovative practises, increased digitalisation as well as innovative and best practises. Consequently, the European Union, national governments, international organisations and decision-makers are looking for ways to facilitate and enhance trade flows between countries to create supply chain resilience and adhere to the ambitious sustainability goals.

All the institutions here today work on the same objective, which is to strengthen the diplomatic relations between Trkiye and the EU. We work together to stimulate trade and to facilitate networking. We hope that this visit will create a solid basis for future dialogue.

Dr Markus Christian Slevogt, President of the German-Turkish Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Trkiye) started the meeting by presenting a joint position paper assessing the benefits and impact of a modernised CU between the two blocs.

The paper highlights how the CU, which was created 25 years ago, is becoming outdated and needs to be updates to the changing times. We didnt even have internet when the Customs Union was implemented, Dr Slevogt pointed out.

New factors need to be taken into consideration and included in the CU, such as e-commerce, services and the strong agricultural field in Trkiye. Moreover, geostrategic needs, like the pandemic and war in Ukraine have shown that the value chain built around Asian countries, be it China or Vietnam, needs to be taken closer to Europe, Dr Slevogt continued. Assets coming from China and the US take 2, 3, 4 months, Trkiye could be a closer supplier, Franck Mereyde, President of the French Chamber of Commerce in Istanbul, added.

We believe that this country, as it is, is substantially undervalued. People who want to take advantage of an undervalues asset need to position themselves early and anti-cyclical.

The same point was made by Livio Manzini, President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Istanbul, who remined the room that the first trade agreement the UK made after Brexit was with Trkiye. It only took a few weeks to negotiate, not years. The US Trade Department also had a lengthy meeting in the country which concluded with a trade agreement. The EU should realise the moment to enhance economic ties with Trkiye is now.

We are missing the train! The US is taking it, the UK is taking it, the EU is missing out.

Furthermore, as of June 2020, more than 5 million people are working in agriculture in Trkiye, which is 19% of the total employment in Trkiye and 4% of total employment in the EU. The country has the potential to replace Russia and Ukraine, or at least heavily aid, in providing agricultural goods to the EU, but it has one of the highest tariff rates on agricultural products among OECD countries.

Regarding the EU standards for business, like the contents of the EDG, Dr Slevogt indicated that the companies investing in Tukey are still respecting the standards of their mother companies. Spill-over I think is the best term for this, when you are entering certain production sites in Trkiye, he said, adding that foreign investors are also pushing very hard for digitalisation.

Not only digitalisation, but the private sector is also pushing very hard for CO2 taxation. Trkiye is ready to step up to the standards of the investors, with the collaboration of the EU I think Trkiye can overcome all these challenges.

Lastly, Mr Mereyde stressed that although the CU was started in the context of Trkiye joining the EU, now they should be approached as completely separate issues.

Improving the Customs Union is not a tool for joining the EU. Our aim is only to improve business. And business is not only money, it is also people.

If we improve the Customs Union, we have more people working for EU and Turkish companies. These companies have to bring the same values between the EU and Trkiye, which requires a delicate balance. Again, we are here for the Customs Union, not EU membership. This will create a better understanding between the EU and Trkiye, he concluded.

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Is Trkiye again attractive to the European Union? - Travel Tomorrow

SARAJEVO, 7 September 2022 - The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) welcomes BiH accession to the European Union (EU) Civil Protection Mechanism. The Mechanism strengthens co-operation and solidarity on civil protection among its 27 members and 7 participating states to improve prevention, preparedness and response to natural and other disasters.

As a full member of the Mechanism, BiH will be able to more effectively co-ordinate preparedness and rescue activities with actors in country as well as with those beyond its borders. Unique access to best practice and experience of the Mechanisms members will also help BiH to develop its policies to a higher standard. With natural hazards on the rise, such policies will enable the civil protection system to function far more effectively in diminishing the consequences in times of emergency including those caused by wildfires, floods and earthquakes.

The OSCE Mission to BiH is proud to have played a part in helping BiH achieve this important milestone. Among our key initiatives, we have supported the establishment of the 112 Operational-Communication Centre within the BiH Ministry of Security and the development and updating of the Document on Disaster Risk Assessment from Natural and Other Disasters in BiH. We will continue to assist BiH with strengthening its capacity for protection and rescue and for disaster risk reduction helping save lives, the environment, this countrys rich cultural heritage, and peoples property.

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OSCE Mission to BiH welcomes BiH membership in the European Union (EU) Civil Protection Mechanism - OSCE

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VILNIUS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - European Union members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to restrict the entry of Russian citizens travelling from Russia and Belarus, their foreign ministers said on Wednesday.

The three Baltic nations expect the entry ban to be in place by the middle of September, after it gets formal approval from the national governments, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said.

"In the last couple of weeks and months, the border crossing by Russian citizens holding Schengen visas have dramatically increased. This is becoming a public security issue, this is also an issue of a moral and political nature," he told a press conference in Lithuania.

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The countries will turn back all Russian citizens with visas to enter the EU's Schengen open border area. Exceptions will be made for humanitarian and family reasons, lorry drivers, diplomats.

Direct flights between Russia and the EU were cancelled after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, leaving few options for Russians to travel into the union.

The scheme would be the first of its kind in the European Union. Estonia has had a softer ban in place since Aug. 18, barring the entry only of Russians holding Schengen visas issued by Estonian authorities.

Finland, which also borders Russia, is not joining the ban due to legal uncertainty over whether it can refuse Russian nationals with Schengen visas issued by other European nations, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told the briefing.

"Can you actually cancel the whole Schengen principles? This is, at the moment, still unclear," he said.

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Reporting by Andrius Sytas; editing by William Maclean and Bernadette Baum

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Baltic nations to restrict entry of Russians, hindering access to EU - Reuters

In 2021, the European Union introduced a Fit for 55 package which was a part of a set of proposals that would assist the European Commission in the delivery of the European Green Deal. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is a part of the package, is a proposed border tariff on imports of carbon intensive products into the European Union (EU).

The transitional phase of the implementation of the CBAM will kick in on January 2023 and will cover five industrial sectors, namely: iron and steel; cement; fertilisers; aluminium; and electricity generation. During this time, importers in these sectors will be subjected to the EUs carbon emissions calculations and reporting requirements. This will allow the European Commission to collect accurate CO2-equivalent emissions data from the importers concerned. At this point, importers need not worry about payment of the financial adjustments.

After the transition period ranging from January 2023 to December 2025, the European Commission will evaluate if the ambit of the CBAM should be expanded to include indirect emissions and to products further down the supply chain. Thereafter, from January 2026, EU importers of iron and steel; cement; fertilisers; aluminium; and electricity products will need to obtain the relevant authorisation from a CBAM authority. This authorisation will comprise purchasing carbon certificates which will be priced in correspondence to carbon prices that would have been paid to produce the same in the EU.

While the current EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) covers EU countries, the CBAM will apply to goods produced outside the EU and will indirectly impact supply chains and the manufacturing sector based in Asia that heavily imports goods to the EU. The prices of CBAM certification would be derived from the weekly average auction price of EU ETS allowances, which would be denoted in / tonne of CO2 emitted. Importers will have to register with national authorities where they can buy CBAM certificates, either individually or through a representative. The CBAM would be gradually implemented, meaning that the number of required certificates would be adjusted to reflect any free allowances still allocated under the ETS. The rationale of the law is to address carbon leakage a situation wherein companies move production of goods abroad, to countries with less rigorous emissions policies, predominantly to save costs associated with carbon pricing.

Companies in the identified sectors will have to be mindful that CBAM levies will undeniably increase the cost of exporting to the EU and place them at a relative disadvantage. South Asian and ASEAN economies export greatly to the EU market in the identified sectors, exposing them to the potential CBAM charges. In 2019, of the US$40 billion CBAM-related exports from six South Asian countries, around 14 per cent were sent to the EU. India alone accounted for just above 80 per cent of these exports, while Malaysia accounted for around 15 per cent.

Thus, in order to comply with the new law, affected companies in Asia will have to, at the very least:

Asian economies which export to the EU market will feel the brunt of the CBAM charges. Only a handful of economies in the Asia-Pacific region have a carbon pricing infrastructure in place and even ones that do are significantly lower than the EU or might not cover all the relevant sectors. For example, India has a de-facto carbon tax (levied as coal cess) of around USD 5per tonne, which is applicable only on the production of coal. On the contrary, carbon taxes in the EU range from USD 0.08 to USD 129 per tonne, depending on the country the tax is levied in.

China has ambitious targets for net-zero emissions and adopts one of the worlds most robust emissions trading schemes (a rate-based system) which targets reductions in CO2 emissions per unit of output rather than total CO2 emissions (a mass-based system). The Chinese system covers more than twice the CO2 emissions accounted for under the EU ETS. As of June 2022, Chinese carbon credits cost 8.5% the price of EU ETS credits, with a growth rate of just 10% year-on-year compared to 53% in EU ETS credit prices. This disparity will impact Chinese cement exporters, for instance, who will have to comply with Chinese law as well as the CBAM, and increase in costs anticipating the inclusion of indirect emissions which could potentially target Chinas 57% coal-powered economy.

What this means for stakeholders are rising costs, which are likely to see a year-on-year increase, especially as the carbon footprint of more products are taken into consideration after the initial phase. The cost to calculate, monitor, report, and verify emissions will be on the exporter.

1. CBAM compliance-related measures including but not limited to regulatory changes, calculation and reporting of carbon emissions, and perhaps offsetting will have to be done once the CBAM becomes operational, if companies want to continue exporting to the EU.

Whist the CBAM will be borne by the importer, market practices in the sustainability sector show that the cost for carbon compliance often gets shifted further down to counterparties by back-to-back contracts. This will add to the exporters accounting and operational costs as there will be an imminent need to plan for supply chain management and carbon accounting.

Importers and exporters alike should be mindful of other ancillary issues such as customs declarations and the origin of goods. As it stands, the customs authorities have the obligation to ensure that each importer also known as a customs declarant has been previously registered with the central CBAM authority. In addition to this, the recommendation clarifies that non-preferential rules of origin as per the Union Customs Code shall apply. In theory, this means that goods with a production line encompassing multiple countries will be deemed to originate from the country wherein the last material manufacturing was undergone. This could potentially shift the cost of compliance on manufacturers and exporters based in Asia. Compliance might also become part of the exporters contractual obligations, based on which the importer will comply with the CBAM in the EU.

2. International trade law, carbon finance, and on-going government negotiations

The Paris Agreement is the key driver behind the CBAM, and was negotiated and adopted by 196 countries at the United Nations COP 21 meeting in Paris in December 2015, and entered into force in November 2016. Jurisprudentially and historically (under the common but differentiated responsibility principle), developing countries have maintained that since industrialised nations such as the EU created the problem of global warming through their historic emissions, developing nations should not have to support the cost of mitigating impacts of climate change. In this way, the CBAM may conflict with the Paris Agreement which is based on nationally determined contributions, and by extension individual countries goals on emissions reductions. The CBAM, through its charges, is making developing countries (through their export markets) align with the EU, failing which they will bear extra charges on their exports to the EU. It is important, therefore, to follow international negotiations on the application of the CBAM to developing countries, which will ultimately impact the private sector.

3. Domestic regulations on carbon pricing, taxation, and subsidies

It is crucial to note that some Governments may intend to subsidise the impact of the CBAM on exporters by internal budgeting policies, while others may have contrasting budget policies. Further, compliance under domestic law as well as CBAM may be tricky considering different methods of calculating emissions, harmonising laws, as well as financing offsets.

The CBAM and carbon pricing in Asia in general as well, are fast-developing areas. We are closely monitoring this space to be able to assist our clients in not only compliance with carbon pricing mechanisms but also in helping them avoid legal risk in all aspects of carbon emissions and offsets management.

Dentons Rodyk thanks and acknowledges Pulara Somachandra for her contributions to this article.

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The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Why it should matter to Asian exporters - JD Supra

In West Africa, hunger has reached a sad new record. For the 3rd consecutive year, the Sahel and Lake Chad regions are facing food and nutrition crises of exceptional proportions, affecting up to 38.3 million people.

The multiple conflicts devastating the region have driven millions from their homes and pushed food insecurity as populations abandon their homes to escape violent attacks, leaving vital crops and herds.

The crisis is worsening, also due to the global rise in food prices sparked by COVID-19 restrictions on trade.

As the United Nations reminded the world last April, the war in Ukraine, in all its dimensions, is producing alarming cascading effects on a world economy already battered by COVID-19 and climate change, with particularly dramatic impacts on developing countries.

Therefore, the European Union pledged 554 million on 6 April to increase food security in the Sahel and Lake Chad countries. This funding will also address the root causes of hunger in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.

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Scaling up the EU's response to soaring hunger in West Africa - EU Humanitarian Aid