Trade update | November 25, 2022

ACITI Conference
ACCI CEO Andrew McKellar spoke at the Australian Centre for International Trade and Investment’s inaugural conference on Tuesday. The speech focused on the importance of trade in Australia and how businesses can adapt to meet Australia’s current strategic challenges.  

Andrew also joined a panel discussion on the topic with University of Sydney Professor James Curran and ACITI’s Executive Director Prudence Gordon, moderated by Australian National University Honorary Professor Jacqueline Lo.

APEC CEO Summit
ACCI’s Head of Trade and International Affairs Chris Barnes attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) CEO Summit held in Bangkok, Thailand – the last of a series of engagements including the B20 Summit.  

Chris met with ICC Thailand Managing Director Adthaporn Singhawichai to discuss the importance of deepening relationships with key Asia-Pacific partners as Australian businesses seek to diversify markets.

At the summit, Chris also met with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and a delegation of business and political leaders to discuss Australia and Papua New Guinea’s bilateral economic and business relations, and future trade and investment opportunities. 

ICC Australia National Policy Committee Meeting 
Edwina Stevens, DFAT’s Assistant Secretary of Free Trade Services Branch was our guest speaker at the ICC Australia Policy Committee meeting held on Wednesday. 

Edwina provided attendees an update on Australia’s Free Trade Agreements with the UK, India, European Union, United Arab Emirates, AANZFTA upgrade, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and engaged in a lively Q&A Session with members including in relation to the government’s recent statement on Investor-state dispute settlement.  

The meeting, chaired virtually by ACCI Head of Trade and International Affairs Chris Barnes, included updates from the ICC Australian Arbitration and Banking committees.

ICC Australia Arbitration Committee Inaugural Chair Mark Mangan provided an overview of the new ICC Arbitration Committee and, the committee’s goals and strategies to ensure members are maximising their memberships.  

ICC Banking Commission Committee Member Hari Janakiraman also provided an overview of the ICC Australia Banking Committee’s activities and priorities on a global and national basis.

ACCI Certificates of Origin Scheme transition

ACCI is transitioning to a new accreditation standard in issuing certificates of origin, in line with DFAT’s 2020 FTA CoO Scheme Issue 2.

Since establishing the scheme in 2010 with reference to ISO/IEC 17020:1998, the relevant internationally recognised standard was updated to (ISO/IEC 17020:2012). 

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as scheme owner, confirmed its desire for the scheme to enforce the full requirements of this accreditation standard and associated ILAC documents with a transition deadline of November 2023. 

From November 2023, accreditation services to the 2010 FTA CoO Scheme will be withdrawn. After this time, JAS-ANZ accreditation will be withdrawn for any remaining accredited bodies that have not attained accreditation to the 2020 FTA CoO Scheme and that do not hold accreditation to any other scheme.

If you require further information, please contact the ACCI team.