Posts by Alastair Tempest
News From Africa
The AUC Holds the First Exporters’ And Ecommerce Conference in Nairobi EFA attended the African Union Commission’s first Exporters’ and Ecommerce Conference (13-16 Dec). This was not intended to replace…
Read MoreA Few New Developments in the USA – Shopify; Drones; SEO and AI, Meta’s Cryptocurrencies, and, of course, the Metaverse
Shopify has announced a new tool called Commerce Components, which targets large enterprise retailers. Big businesses can now more easily integrate Shopify’s mainstay tools, such as checkout, into their existing systems. While Walmart has announced…
Read MoreInteresting Festive Trends from the UK
The Royal Mail went on strike over the Christmas period (as did the trains and a number of other services). According to Statista, ecommerce represents 26% of retail turnover in…
Read MoreEU Considers Extending Consumers’ Right to Withdraw from a Sale
The EU introduced the concept of the right to withdraw from a sale for distance selling nearly forty years ago. That right was incorporated in both the CPA and ECTA…
Read MoreNew Distribution Rules in the EU as of mid-2023
From June 2023, businesses in Europe have to implement new rules intended to protect fair competition within the European Single Market – The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER). These updated…
Read MoreThe EC Publishes its Proposals for VAT in the Digital Age
On 8 December, the European Commission (EC) published a proposal for a Council Directive on VAT in the Digital Age, aimed at modernising and taking full advantage of technological and digital advances to deliver an update VAT system…
Read MoreTrade Facilitation
Last month I reported in this Newsletter that EFA had taken part in the annual Africa Trade and Customs Summit on 7-9 Nov. The session I moderated was about how…
Read MoreMiscellaneous
More about Big Tech – Tik Tok, ChatGPT, Google, Meta and Apple in the hot seat Viewership of Tik Tok, it is claimed, has now reached an average of one…
Read MoreBig Tech Loses Support in The USA
In a recent interview, President Biden outlined an ambitious legislative agenda for Congress to tackle alleged shortcomings of “Big Tech.” Key among these are creating a federal privacy law, reforming…
Read MoreImproving Africa’s Infrastructure
The African Air Cargo conference will take place in Johannesburg on the 21 – 23 February. Check it out – https://aircargoafrica.aero/ . This comes as the new Kenyan President has just…
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