Brazil requested a World Trade Organization dispute resolution with the European Union over the EU's measures on certain poultry meat preparations from Brazil, the WTO said. In the request circulated to the WTO Nov. 11, Brazil said that the EU's application of its salmonella food safety criteria on fresh poultry meat and certain poultry meat preparations violates the WTO's Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. Brazil is taking issue with how the EU's salmonella food safety criteria are less strict for fresh poultry meat than for certain poultry meat preparations. Due to a 2011 regulation, fresh poultry meat imports can be placed on the market unless two specific serotypes of salmonella are detected. Poultry meat preparations, on the other hand, must be pulled from the market if any salmonella serotypes are detected.

Japan pledged to kick in more than $136,000 to the World Trade Organization Fisheries Subsidies Fund for least-developed countries, the WTO said. Set up in 2019, the fund covers travel expenses of less-developed country officials going to Geneva to negotiate over harmful fisheries subsidies. "I thank Japan for helping LDCs to be able to share their priorities," Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. "If we are to make the WTO rule book more responsive to sustainability challenges and boost the role of the WTO as a multilateral negotiating forum, we need all WTO members to be sitting at the table."

The World Trade Organization launched a new Quantitative Restrictions Database on Nov. 8 -- a platform that allows users to retrieve information on trade restrictions and prohibitions notified by WTO members, the WTO said. The database gives information on COVID-19-related export restrictions, that includes data on the restrictions such as "intended duration" and their "WTO justification." The update streamlines the process for accessing information in the QR notifications and also gives the option to generate charts directly through the platform, the notice said. To date, 84 WTO members have submitted 220 QR notifications to the multilateral trade body, which cover 1,724 notified measures currently in force, the WTO said.

The World Trade Organization chair of fisheries subsidies negotiations introduced new text Nov. 8 to be used for "clause-by-clause" discussions to hammer out the remaining differences on a fisheries agreement ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. The conference will run Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the text "represents a good balance that addresses development issues and maintains ambition." The text was released at a meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules at the Head of Delegation level.

The U.S. and China joined the World Trade Organization initiative on trade and environmental sustainability, dubbed the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions, as co-sponsors, the WTO said. At the Nov. 4 WTO meeting, members welcomed the additions of the globe's two largest economies and also expressed their support for a draft ministerial statement that would set out goals for advancement in key areas such as trade and climate change.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the generally pro-trade New Democrat Coalition, told a webinar audience that reaching an international agreement to lower tariffs on environmental goods and services would be good for U.S. companies, since the U.S. has lower tariffs on these goods than the European Union and China. She said that the European Union and China both export more environmental goods than the U.S. does.

World Trade Organization members agreed to a draft decision ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference relating to non-violation and situation complaints in the area of intellectual property, the WTO said. The agreement was reached at the Nov. 5 meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The decision effectively extends the moratorium on bringing IP cases to the dispute settlement system on non-violation and situation complaints and allows for continued talks on these issues at the TRIPS Council.

Intermediate goods exports -- that is, shipments of inputs used to make a final product -- rose by 47% year over year in the second quarter of 2021, the World Trade Organization said, citing a new WTO report intended to monitor global supply chain health. After Q1 grew by 20%, the new 47% mark signifies sustained growth and continues the trend of 2021 surpassing 2019 pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels, the report said. Leading the IG export growth charge for the second quarter was Africa, which saw an 88% expansion of its IG exports due to "strong jumps in exports of precious metals and stones such as rhodium, diamonds, copper/copper cathodes and iron ore concentrates," the WTO said. China maintained its high growth of international inputs in Q2, coming in at just over 40%, while Australia's IG exports soared 74% in the quarter, due to high volumes for shipments of iron ore concentrates, wheat and meslin.

World Trade Organization members heard from the Committee on Regional Trade Agreement on Nov. 1 when the chair of the committee provided an update on the committee's transparency mechanism for regional trade agreements, the WTO said. Members also looked over the European Union-Vietnam, U.S.-Canada-Mexico and Australia-Indonesia regional trade agreements as part of the update.

Bilateral and small group discussions ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference at the World Trade Organization made some progress fisheries subsidies, heads of delegations reported, the WTO said. More than 20 delegations at the Oct. 29 Negotiating Group on Rules meeting reported on the progress, including on special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries. The 12th Ministerial will be held Nov. 30 - Dec. 3.