The European Commission has on July 12, 2022, launched the process for organising the settlement of NextGenerationEU and other EU bonds through the payment and settlement infrastructure of the Eurosystem (the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro area). In following this route, EU bond issuance will be aligned with the … More NextGenerationEU: European Commission to transfer its bond issuance settlement to a Eurosystem-based infrastructure

On the occasion of World Population Day, we take the opportunity to highlight the data published today on EU population. After a first decline in population growth in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU’s population decreased again in 2021, from 447 million on 1 January 2021 to 446.8 on  January … More EU population continues to decrease for a second year

On July 11, 2022, the European Commission has proposed an amendment to the Regulation on European environmental accounts. The proposed amendment adds three accounts (relating to ecosystems, forests and environmental subsidies) to the other six accounts currently existing under the Regulation. For what concerns ecosystems, the proposal envisages that Member States would produce statistics on … More Eurostat: EU Commission proposes new statistics on ecosystems to measure nature restoration

AATCC publishes standards that have been approved since the annual release of the AATCC Manual of International Test Methods and Procedures. The standards will be available for download from the AATCC website starting July 1, 2022. The revised test methods are as follows: TM15-2021e Test Method for Colorfastness to Perspiration TM209-2019e Test Method for pH … More AATCC 2022 Mid-Year Standards Supplement

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture is contributing EUR 150,000 (CHF 148,000) for 2022 to the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to help developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) meet international food safety, animal and plant health standards for trade. The objective is to enable them to access global and regional markets for agricultural … More WTO: Germany commits EUR 150000 to boost safe food exports from developing countries

Speaking at an informal Heads of Delegation meeting on July 7, 2022, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcomed the “Geneva package” concluded at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) on  July 12-17, 2022 but warned WTO members that they should not rest on their laurels. “We showed that we can deliver results for people across the globe,” … More WTO DG Okonjo-Iweala: “The world expects us to keep delivering”