Evaluating the Impacts of Food Safety Policies on Japan’s Rice Imports Based on the Simultaneous Buy and Sell System

This study evaluated the impacts of food safety policies on Japan’s Simultaneous Buy and Sell rice imports through measuring tariff equivalents of food safety policies. In order to construct an estimated model, a Japanese consumer’s utility function is introduced and developed with consumer’s preference parameters and elasticity of substitution. In the empirical study part, Japan’s positive list system and rice traceability were analyzed and assessed as critical food safety policies. Results showed that after the implementation of the positive list system, consumers’ preference for foreign rice and the substitution elasticity diminished. This decreasing tendency was quite similar to the results after the enforcement of rice traceability. The tariff equivalents of food safety policies on imported rice fluctuated around ¥50 yen/kg from fiscal year 2000 to 2005 and decreased because of the global grain price hike after 2006. The tariff equivalents soared in 2010, which was induced by the traceability regulation, and then dulled during Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Subsequently, after the recovery from natural disasters, the tariff equivalents of food safety policies became higher. Therefore, food safety policies had made imported rice less attractive, weakened the competitive power of rice exporting countries, and had statistically significant impacts on Japan’s rice importation.

Time to Patients’ Access to New Medicines in Greece: Evaluation of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Process from July 2018 until January 2021.

Background: To present the outcome of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process in Greece from its onset back in July 2018 till January 2021 and to quantify the median time from marketing authorization (MA) to listing especially for new medicines. Methods: All products included in the reimbursement positive list from July 2018 to January 2021, were identified through the relevant Ministerial Decisions (MDs) posted on the website of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Positive Reimbursement Lists issued this period. The following information were collected for these medicines: date that MDs and Positive Reimbursement lists were issued, the legal basis of the initial MA, the MA date, the date of price registration, and the type of the HTA application. The time from MA to listing was calculated. Results: During the study period, 38 MDs were issued from which 35 (92%) were positive and resulted in the inclusion of 318 medicines and 3 (8%) were negatives that excluded 6 medicines. Focusing on new medicines, the median time from MA to listing was found to be 30 months with an interquartile range of 22 to 39 months. This time was statistically significantly shortened for FDC [19.3 (13-35) months], compared to biosimilars [26 (22-35) months, p=0.09] and on patent [38.5 (29-44) months, p=0.008]. For new generics, the corresponding median time was 22 (IQR: 12.5-31) months, statistically significantly lower than that of new medicines (p=0.028). Focusing on the four most common therapeutics areas, the median (IQR) time from MA to listing for new medicines was 28.3 (24.9–32.9) months and 34.9 (21.9-41.1) months, for oncologic and immunosuppressants (p=0.136), respectively, while on the field of cardiovascular and CNS there was no reimbursement of new active substances during the study period. Conclusions: This study showed that it takes a long time for Greek patients to get access to newly registered medicines. Given that the delay in access might result in potential loss of many life years, actions should be taken by policy makers to speed up patients access to new and innovative medicines.

The Positive List Approach and the Legality Principle in Criminal Law in the European Union

In the context of a critical review of CITES as an instrument that deals with the trafficking of species of wildlife fauna and flora, this paper intends to analyse the legislative strategy of positive lists as an alternative to the negative lists approach used by CITES, from the perspective of criminal law. From the perspective of criminal law, it is important to analyse the problems this legislative strategy may pose when regulating crimes, or enforcing them in courts. This work focusses on a fundamental question: Could a reference to positive lists in the description of offences raise issues about constitutionality in national courts due to violation of the legality principal in criminal law? The conclusion is that, indeed, the reference to positive lists in the description of an offence could raise issues in the courts for violation of the legality principle in criminal law.

Plant-Back Intervals of Imicyafos Based on Its Soil Dissipation and Plant Uptake for Rotational Cultivation of Lettuce and Spinach in Greenhouse

The plant-back intervals (PBIs) of imicyafos were investigated for rotational cultivation of lettuce and spinach in greenhouses. Imicyafos dissipation in soil and its plant uptake were evaluated by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Bioconcentration ratios (BCRs) were calculated by comparing the residues in plants to the initial residue in soil. The BCRs were used to calculate the soil acceptable residues (SARs) transferable to plants at the Positive List System (PLS) level. The number of days, PBIs for reaching SARs were obtained from the dissipation equation for imicyafos in soil. In soil, imicyafos followed first order dissipation kinetics (R2 = 0.975) with a half-life of 40.8 days. The BCRs ranged from 0.041 to 0.469 in the edible leaf parts of lettuce and 0.006 to 0.134 in those of spinach. The SARs ranged from 0.021 to 0.244 for lettuce and 0.075 to 1.667 mg kg−1 for spinach. The PBIs of imicyafos were estimated to be 213.9 to 357.3 days for lettuce and 100.8 to 283.6 days for spinach. This study suggests at least a minimum 1-year interval after the final application of imicyafos as a management method that complies with the PLS for the rotational cultivation of lettuce and spinach.

Responses and Thoughts of Transportation Construction Projects in the Reform of Environmental Review and Approval System in the New Situation

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has promoted the reform of the environmental impact assessment approval system for construction projects. It has formulated and implemented a positive list of environmental assessment approvals, simplified and optimized the environmental assessment approval process, improved approval efficiency, and effectively guaranteed the smooth development of various construction projects. The long-term implementation mechanism in the future points out the direction; through the study of the reform of the environmental review and approval system under the new situation, the corresponding suggestions for the construction unit and technical unit of the transportation construction project are put forward.