Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade states that effective immediately, all requests for cancellation of permits for released Agriculture, Steel, Textiles and Clothing shipments are to be submitted by facsimile on the new Request for Cancellation form EXT 876. Failure to provide the Cancellation form and the Customs documents will result in delaying the cancellation request.

Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade states that effective immediately, all requests for cancellation of permits for released Agriculture, Steel, Textiles and Clothing shipments are to be submitted by facsimile on the new Request for Cancellation form EXT 876.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.

Xinhuanet.com says that with the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Taiwanese businesses are hoping for better access to southeast Asian markets. The ECFA agreement reached on June 29 means the mainland and Taiwan will "gradually reduce and remove trade and investment barriers and create a fair environment" for each other. The agreement also had a list of products and services for the "early harvest program." Tariffs on these goods and services will be reduced to zero within two years of implementation.

The Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that the share of farm support provided by government programs rose slightly in OECD countries last year, reversing a declining trend in state support since 2004.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and related ministries has compiled and released its "Annual Report on the Office of Intellectual Property Protection", which summarizes measures that the government took to combat counterfeit and pirated goods in the past year. Its purpose is to provide relevant information primarily for Japanese industries.

The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species on the occasion of its 35th anniversary has announced its new web-based CITES Trade Data Dashboards, which uses the trade data from the annual reports of the Parties to provide an instant overview of the magnitude of wildlife trade per country and per species group, such as mammals, birds or fish.

China's Ministry of Commerce reports that a 1000 member delegation from southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region arrived in Taiwan on July 1, 2010, becoming the first mainland delegation in Taiwan after the two sides signed their Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on June 29, 2010. The ECFA will "gradually reduce and remove trade and investment barriers and create a fair environment."

Xinhuanet.com reports that China's central bank set the yuan's reference central parity rate on July 2, 2010 to its highest level against the dollar since 2005's revaluation, despite growing concerns about the economic slow-down in China and the rest of the world.The People's Bank of China set the yuan's reference rate at 6.772, up more than 0.8 percent compared to the 6.83 it was two weeks ago when the authorities announced the yuan would be made more flexible.