Thousands of jobs are expected to be created by construction of a new international bridge linking Windsor and Detroit, but its impact on the North American auto industry is expected to be just as important.

A study released June 14 by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research estimates there will be 12,000 jobs created for each of the four years of construction and more than 8,000 permanent jobs in southeast Michigan once the bridge is operational. On the Canadian side, it's been projected that 12,000 jobs will be created during construction of the Windsor-Essex Parkway and thousands more once the bridge itself is under construction.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and officials from both sides of the border were in Windsor and Detroit last week to announce plans to build the new $1-billion government-backed bridge.  

A proposed new food safety model that would "standardize" Canada's approach to federal food inspection across all commodities and products has been laid out for stakeholder comment.

The federal government released a discussion document earlier this month proposing a "more effective and efficient food inspection system" that would "standardize requirements and procedures across all food, based on science and risk."

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, when set up in 1997, brought together and currently operates eight separate inspection programs previously handled through different federal departments with "diverse" approaches: meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, fresh fruits/vegetables, imported/manufactured foods, maple, and "processed products" such as honey.

The multiple inspection regimes, the government said, have led to situations in which "foods of similar risks may be inspected at different frequencies or in different ways." Also, the eight food programs leave food industries "having to meet multiple and different requirements that are challenging to address."    

As part of their commitment under the Beyond the Border Action Plan for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, Canada and the United States announce the establishment of Binational Port Operations Committees at eight Canadian airports that provide a U.S. preclearance service. This will facilitate legitimate cross-border trade and travel and promote collaboration on overall port management, and also facilitate the existing 20 committees established at land border ports.

In addition, each Binational Port Operations Committee has developed an action plan that includes specific initiatives to improve border management and efficiency. Each action plan looks at enhancing both countries' ability to jointly address operational issues that impact both sides of the border, and facilitate communications during events.     

Binational Port Operations Committees ensure that cooperation and partnering result in: enhanced collaboration on overall port management; coordinated emergency response and preparedness; the opportunity to integrate enforcement efforts; and an improvement to the efficiency of the mitigation strategies for border wait times.   

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is currently soliciting comments through Aug. 6 on the proposed three-year extension of the import declaration required for certain plants and plant products under the Lacey Act.

This declaration must contain, among other things, the scientific name of the plant, the value of the importation, the quantity of the plant, and the name of the country from which the plant was harvested. For paper and paperboard products with recycled plant content, the importer is not required to specify the species or country of harvest with respect to the recycled plant product component but will be required to provide the average percentage of recycled content. If the product also contains non-recycled plant materials the basic declaration requirements still apply to that component of the product imported.

Industry sources believe Congress may act soon on legislation that would make various changes to the Lacey Act amendments of 2008, including the import declaration requirement. The Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness (RELIEF) Act (H.R. 3210) would exempt any plant product imported or manufactured before May 22, 2008, from the requirements of the Lacey Act amendments and limit the import declaration requirement to solid wood and items imported only for commerce.

Witnesses at recent congressional hearings have testified of the difficulty of providing the information required on the import declaration, and key lawmakers have said they are interested in advancing reforms this year. Others, however, have expressed opposition to what they see as an effort to water down the 2008 amendments.

A working group commissioned in November 2011 to examine ways to increase trade and investment between the United States and the European Union says a comprehensive agreement that addresses a broad range of bilateral trade and investment policies would provide the most significant benefits of the various options it has considered. A final report with more definitive recommendations is expected by the end of this year. While officials from both sides have said that any effort to further liberalize trans-Atlantic trade should be as wide-ranging as possible, they have also cautioned that political and economic sensitivities could limit the scope of that effort. Prospects for negotiating a trade agreement could also depend on the outcome of this fall's presidential and congressional elections in the U.S. as well as various other factors.

According to a preliminary report issued June 19, the working group has identified mutually beneficial areas in which the two sides could likely agree as well as certain areas in which further substantive work is required before a more definitive recommendation can be made. If these issues are addressed in a satisfactory manner, the working group envisions a comprehensive agreement that would eliminate all duties on bilateral trade, with a substantial elimination of tariffs upon entry into force, a phasing out of all but the most sensitive tariffs in a short time frame, and options for the treatment of the most sensitive products.

The working group recommends that the two sides gather concrete proposals that address the impact of regulatory differences on trade and use those proposals in developing during the course of negotiations on a trade agreement specific action plans to reduce unnecessary regulatory costs and promote regulatory compatibility while respecting legitimate regulatory objectives.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General issued recently a report identifying the need for certain improvements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's administration of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.

C-TPAT requires participants to document and demonstrate their supply chain security procedures according to applicable security requirements. The Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006 required CBP to review and certify security profiles within 90 days of submission, complete C-TPAT validations within one year of certification and revalidate within four years of the initial validation. To help implement this requirement CBP established standard operating procedures for its supply chain security specialists (SCSSs), who travel around the world to visit partners and their facilities to validate that supply chain security practices and procedures meet the program's minimum security criteria and agreed-upon security standards.

The report finds, however, that the documentation maintained by SCSSs for the initial C-TPAT validation process for highway carriers did not always confirm the accuracy and effectiveness of security measures declared in a carrier's security profile. In addition, SCSSs did not always follow the SOPs and did not include adequate details in the validation worksheet explaining how they verified evidence of implementation for critical business partner and conveyance security procedures. OIG also determined that SCSSs did not always conduct secondary vetting procedures to confirm that no significant customs violations had taken place, complete the initial validation within one year of certification, or obtain signed certification letters.

According to the report, these conditions occurred because the SOPs did not indicate what evidence should be maintained to support conclusions made by SCSSs or where this evidence should be included in the Security Link Portal that is used as a records management system for C-TPAT. In addition, the evidence-of-implementation training provided to SCSSs did not contain specific details of what should be obtained to support tests conducted for critical business partner and conveyance security requirements.   

The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has created a new website that will provide stakeholders with information about the commodity import approval process for plants and plant products, including fruits, vegetables, plants for planting, cut flowers, wood and wood products.

Persons who request changes to the import regulations and who wish to import plants, plant parts or plant products that are not allowed into the U.S. must file a request with APHIS. USDA regulations set forth the procedures for submitting requests and supporting information, which includes information about the requestor, information about the commodity to be imported, shipping information, a description of pests and diseases associated with the commodity, risk mitigation or management strategies, and additional information as determined by APHIS to complete a pest risk analysis in accordance with international standards. Once the risk analysis has been completed and APHIS determines that the risks associated with the commodity in question can be adequately mitigated, the risk analysis is made available for public comment.

APHIS will also post draft risk assessments on this Web site for 30 days to give stakeholders an opportunity to review them and provide comments via email.

The Commuter Challenge promotes green commuting options (walking, cycling, carpooling/ride-sharing, taking transit and telecommuting) during Canadian Environment Week, this year June 3 to 9. The goal of the friendly competition between Canadian cities and workplaces is to encourage people to choose active and green commuting year-round and to recognize those who are already doing so

Winnipeg's Green Action Centre announced more than 6,000 employees at 233 workplaces across Manitoba participated this year. Manitobans logged about 600,000 "green" kilometres, saving $41,000 in fuel, avoiding 100,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions and burning 5.5 million calories.

"The great success of the Commuter Challenge in Manitoba over the past years shows that people across the province are willing to try climate-friendly ways of getting around," said Randall McQuaker, Green Action Centre executive director.

Provincial winners in the individual categories include Manitoba Hydro, Investors Group, Assiniboine Credit Union, The Fairmont Winnipeg, Public Works and Government Services Canada and GHY International.

GHY had a participation rate of 85.14%, logging 5,390 kms in total.