The Congressional Research Service has issued a report entitled, "Europe’s Preferential Trade Agreements: Status, Content, and Implications." Among other things, the report states that there are only a few remaining major developed countries that fall outside the EU’s network of PTAs, including the U.S., China, Japan, and Australia.

The World Trade Organization reports that during the June 8-9, 2010 meeting of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, members discussed intellectual property enforcement trends, including concerns about a group of countries negotiating an anti-counterfeiting agreement; whether life forms should be eligible for patenting; and plans to beef up the annual review of a 2003 decision on access to medicines.

On June 16, 2010, Members of European Parliament adopted draft legislation on food labeling that would require quantities of fat, saturates, sugar and salt - as well as energy - to be indicated on the front of food packages along with daily guideline amounts. It would also extend EU country of origin labeling requirements to meat, poultry, and dairy products. They also voted for the country of origin to be stated for meat, poultry and fish when used as an ingredient in processed food. However, this may be subject to an impact assessment.

Xinhuanet.com reports that China appears to have won in a dispute against the U.S. over the latter's ban on poultry imports, according to an interim report by the World Trade Organization. "We think the US will not try to impose a similar ban in the next fiscal year, since it would be regarded as open defiance of the latest WTO ruling," a Ministry of Commerce official said.

China's Ministry of Commerce reports that Taiwan experts and local officials expect a cross-Strait economic pact with China, likely to be reached soon, to redistribute resources and restructure Taiwan's economy. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, or ECFA, will send the signal that economic relations across the Strait to China will steadily develop.

In the June 16, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:

The Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament has approved 41-2 a plan for a new European Union agricultural policy, representing the committee's contribution to the debate on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013. The plan includes certain reforms to improve competitiveness and discusses climate change reduction, food security and food quality.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization have issued their annual Agricultural Outlook for the period 2010-2019. Among other things, the report concludes that farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade.

The European Chemicals Agency will be holding a webinar on June 28, 2010 to help companies prepare their REACH-IT dossiers.

The World Trade Organization has launched a new analytical tool ,the Air Services Agreement Projector, which displays the characteristics of air transport agreements in terms of relative openness and aviation traffic.