News

New Board of Directors Elected

On Monday, March 19 the NAEGA Membership renewed the terms of five expiring Board Members – Charles Colbert, Zen Noh Grain Corporation; Wes Uhlmeyer, ADM; David Smoot, Viterra; Ron Williams, Columbia Grain; and Kevin LaGraize, Russell Marine Group. These terms were renewed for an additional three year period expiring in 2021. Congratulations!

NAEGA Board of Directors Terms

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Grain and Special Grain Arbitrator List and Guidelines

On Monday, March 19 the Board of Directors approved the NAEGA list of Grain Arbitrators, Special Grain Arbitrators, and Guidelines for Grain Arbitrators and Special Grain Arbitrators. All three documents can be found below.

The list of Special Grain Arbitrators is a new list being made available to members. As approved in the March 30, 2018 revisions to the NAEGA 2 contract, Special Grain Arbitrators can serve as chairpersons on three-person AAA arbitration panels. These Special Grain Arbitrators fall under the Guidelines and Fees set by NAEGA. Previously, chairpersons had to be chosen from the AAA list of international arbitrators.

Revised NAEGA 2 Contract Effective on March 30

On January 30, 2018 the NAEGA Board of Directors approved revisions to the NAEGA 2 Model FOB Contract and Addendum 1. In addition, the Board approved Terms of Use for the NAEGA 2 contract. These revisions will be implemented on March 30, 2018.  Please find below copies of the revised NAEGA 2 Contract, Addendum 1, and the Terms of Use. These versions will be public on the NAEGA website on Friday, March 30, 2018. Hard copies are also available and they can be sent to you upon request. Background and further detail on the revisions can be found in the below brochure.

 

Please contact NAEGA if you are having any issues implementing the new contract. Staff is standing by to assist with any questions. 

Comments on Deregulation of Herbicide Resistant GE Canola

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is inviting public comment on a petition from BASF Plant Science L.P. (BASF) seeking deregulation of a canola variety genetically engineered (GE) to convert oleic acid to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), as well as for resistance to an imidazolinone herbicide.

Comments may be submitted from March 30, 2018 – May 29, 2018, at www.regulations.gov by entering docket number APHIS-2018-0014 in the search box.

USDA Statement on Plant Breeding Innovation

On Thursday, March 28, 2018 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a statement on USDA’s stance on new breeding techniques including genome editing. According to the statement USDA “does not regulate or have any plans to regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding techniques as long as they are not plant pests or developed using plant pests. This includes a set of new techniques that are increasingly being used by plant breeders to produce new plant varieties that are indistinguishable from those developed through traditional breeding methods.”

NAEGA is currently working with partners, including the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) to respond to this decision and encourage USDA to exert strong and effective leadership in interacting with governmental authorities in other countries to urge adoption of science- and risk-based approaches to the regulatory treatment of plant breeding innovation so there is not a recurrence of the significant and costly international trade disruptions that occurred with some transgenic biotech traits. These efforts should be done in coordination with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the coordinated regulatory framework.

Section 301 Announcement

On Thursday, March 22 the Trump Administration announced the results from a Section 301 investigation into Chinese intellectual property rights. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives the executive branch the authority to respond to unfair, unreasonable, or discriminatory trade practices and gives the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) the ability to take action to compel another country to eliminate the offending act, policy, or practice, with the president’s approval. The USTR report on Chinese intellectual property rules found that Chinese law and practices have been unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory and calls for the U.S. to take action to address them. Following the announcement of these results, President Trump signed a memorandum calling for the USTR to “publish a proposed list of products and any intended tariff increases within 15 days of the date of this memorandum” and file suit at the WTO to address these practices.

Codex Alimentarius Analysis and Sampling Comments

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration are sponsoring a public meeting on April 6, 2018 to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States (U.S.) positions to be discussed at the 39th Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). The meeting will take place in Budapest, Hungary, between May 7 and 11, 2018. The public meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 6, 2018, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. To register for the meeting please click here.

U.S. Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

On Thursday March 22 the Trump Administration announced tariffs on steel imports of 25 percent and aluminum imports of 10 percent as part of efforts to shield domestic producers on national security grounds. The tariffs went into effect at 12:01am on Friday, March 23. The tariffs are suspended until May 1, 2018 for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the European Union and South Korea pending discussion with these countries on ways they can reduce their impairment of U.S. industry.

IGTC Newsletter

The latest IGTC Newsletter is now available! This week’s newsletter covers IGTC actions at the International Grains Council, a call for participation in the World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture project and an update from the ePhyto project’s national and regional focal points.

For more details, read the IGTC Newsletter here or visit the IGTC website at www.igtcglobal.org.

Annual Meetings and Events

Thank you to all who joined us last week in Scottsdale, AZ at the NAEGA Annual Meetings! During our time in Scottsdale NAEGA had a series of successful meetings and events, including meetings of the Contracts, Production Technology and Grades and Inspections Committee and of the Membership and Board of Directors. Minutes will be available for all these meetings in the coming weeks. In addition, NAEGA introduced the revised version of the NAEGA 2 model contract during a during a briefing on Monday, March 19. Please contact NAEGA staff if you have any questions or would like more information.