Customs and Trade News
Claudia Stroe
Certified Customs Practitioner | Export and Import Customs Procedures | Customs Compliance | Open to Exciting Opportunities to enhance my skills and stay updated on industry trends.
Welcome to the latest edition of the Customs and Trade Newsletter! ????
In this edition, I will cover the latest insights and updates for the past two weeks on the ever-evolving world of international trade and customs.
As part of its ongoing investigation, the Commission has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles(BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.
The investigation also considered the likely consequences and impact of measures on importers, users, and consumers within the EU.
Consequently, the Commission has reached out to Chinese authorities to discuss these findings and explore possible ways to resolve the issues identified in a WTO-compatible manner.
Proposed Countervailing Duties: The Commission has pre-disclosed the level of provisional countervailing duties it would impose on imports of battery electric vehicles (‘BEVs') from China. If discussions with Chinese authorities will not lead to an effective solution, these provisional countervailing duties would be introduced from 4 July by a guarantee; they would be collected only if and when definitive duties are imposed.??
The individual duties the Commission would apply to the three sampled Chinese producers would be:?
Other BEV producers in China, which cooperated in the investigation but have not been sampled, would be subject to the following weighted average duty: 21%.?
All other BEV producers in China which did not cooperate in the investigation would be subject to the following residual duty: 38,1%.?
French and Irish beef producers will once again be able to export beef to the Republic of Korea, thanks to the European Commission’s efforts to negotiate the removal of local restrictions on EU beef.
The removal of this trade barrier also underscores the cooperative efforts between the EU and the Republic of Korea to ensure the safety and quality of traded food products. The Commission anticipates that other Member States will soon follow in being able to export beef to the Republic of Korea, further deepening our trading relationship.??
The EU launched a dispute settlement case against Algeria and requested consultations with Algerian authorities to address several restrictions imposed on EU exports and investments, on several market sectors, spanning from agricultural products to motor vehicles.
The EU considers that, by imposing these trade restrictive measures since 2021, Algeria is not respecting its trade liberalisation commitments under the EU-Algeria Association Agreement.? ?
The EU has taken this step to preserve the rights of EU exporters and EU companies operating in Algeria who are adversely affected. The Algerian measures also harm Algerian consumers, due to an unduly restricted choice of products.??
The new 'Procurement for Buyers' tool will serve as a portal for public procurement entities in EU Member States, helping them to understand and apply international procurement rules in a clear and consistent manner. This new initiative expands the existing public procurement section of Access2Markets, which already features the 'Procurement for Suppliers' tool.
The new tool helps identify which bidders are eligible for public procurement procedures in EU Member States, based on the provisions of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and bilateral EU trade agreements. It also covers key parameters, such as requirements regarding the origin of goods and services that can be offered.
With ‘Procurement for Buyers’, DG Trade is paving the way for more transparent and efficient public procurement processes within the EU, supporting fair competition and fostering international trade relations.
On June 18th, the 11th high-level meeting of the EU-China Joint Customs Cooperation Committee (JCCC) took place in Shanghai, marking a significant milestone – the 20th anniversary of this cooperation.
The EU and China reaffirmed their commitment to actively reinforce the effectiveness of customs controls and enhance fair and legitimate trade.
Key highlights include:
?? The establishment of a new Working Group focused on cross-border e-commerce, while intensifying their cooperation on designer drug precursors.
?? Commitment to actively strengthen their long-term customs cooperation. The agreed to engage in a review process?that should improve and reach even better results.?This could lead to a renewed EU-China Customs Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance (CCMAA)?Agreement.
??They both stressed the important contribution that customs cooperation makes in ensuring safety and security of supply chains and of traded goods.?
Italy: Additional freezing order of €6.8 million in probe into VAT fraud involving textile smuggling
The investigation targeted eight individuals and seven companies suspected of evading VAT on the import of over 13 600 tonnes of textiles, worth around €63 million, from China into the EU. The suspects, including owners and managers of customs shipping companies in Prato and Bologna and Chinese entrepreneurs, are suspected of smuggling, forgery, and issuing fake invoices. Despite declaring the imports, they failed to move goods to tax warehouses, allowing immediate release without paying VAT. This scheme caused an estimated VAT loss of over €13 million, leading to the?freezing of assets worth €7.3 million in April this year.
The EFTA FTA Monitor provides an overview?and detailed insights into the use of preferential duties on trade in goods made possible by EFTA’s free trade agreements (FTAs).
The updated report contains import and export data for 2022, extending the analysis to five years (2018–2022). Overall, 21 countries are covered on EFTA’s export side, 18 of which have data for 2022. On the import side, the Monitor features all of EFTA’s 39 FTA partners with agreements in force.
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Implementation of NCTS5 and downtime:
To ensure the transition from NCTS4 to NCTS5 in Northern Ireland (NI) and Great Britain (GB) takes place with minimal disruption for traders, planned downtime will be taking place on:
?? Friday 28 June 2024 for NCTS5 in NI (XI) - the service will be unavailable between 9am to 4pm.
Before this time you’ll need to: discharge all arrivals where possible, to avoid delays and make sure you have received the release for transit notification for any submitted declarations in order to move the goods
?? Monday 1 July 2024 for NCTS5 in GB - the service will be unavailable between 6am and 1pm.
Before this time you’ll need to: discharge all arrivals where possible, submit and release all declarations for goods moving on 1 July 2024 if you are an authorised consignor or consignee. While NCTS4 in GB is unavailable, the new XI NCTS5 will be online and available to submit declarations.
While NCTS is down, you should avoid moving goods under the normal procedure, which requires attending inland border facilities (IBFs) or ports to start movements.
HMRC has released an important information regarding the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), regarding the temporary issues with licence data flows between CDS and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) electronic licensing systems (SPIRE/LITE). These issues occur when a CDS exports declaration contains errors which impacts the licence. As a result, the declaration cannot progress to a cleared status.
?? What to do and how to resolve the CDS Exhaustion Errors:
Risk categorisation spreadsheet updated to reflect that all fishery products associated with histamine are classified as medium risk in all circumstances, even if it otherwise meets the low risk criteria. This is except for fish oil. Commodity 'snails, other than sea snails' (16055800) updated to medium or low risk. This product is low risk if shelf stable at ambient temperature (can be safely stored at room temperature in a sealed container).
The UK Government is seeking public feedback on a proposed Alternative Transitional Registration Model (ATRm) for UK REACH (registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals) regulation, aiming to streamline the regulatory framework for chemicals and make it more cost-effective and efficient for businesses. This consultation invites stakeholders to share their views on how the new model can be structured to meet the UK's regulatory needs while reducing the burden on industry.
This aims to reduce the estimated ￡2 billion costs the chemical industry in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) would have faced under the transition from EU REACH to UK REACH. The ATRm proposes to reduce these transition costs while continuing to ensure high levels of protection of human health and the environment.
This will involve making the processes smarter, more agile, reflective and supportive of the operation of UK REACH in Great Britain.
HMRC has issued a document which provides clarification on the implemented changes and also lists specific declaration completion instructions.
Key changes:
The World Customs Organization (WCO) organized a Regional Workshop on Free Zones for the Europe Region in Skopje, North Macedonia from 10 to 14 June 2024, aiming to support Customs operations in Free Zones and provide capacity building resources for Members in the region.
The workshop covered key elements of the Revised Kyoto Convention, the WCO Practical Guidance on Free Zones, and the SAFE Framework of Standards for adequate Customs procedures in Free Zones:
Mercedes-Benz Group AG has joined the growing number of global business partners working with the Alliance to support and promote simpler, faster, and more inclusive trade.
With manufacturing facilities in many countries, including developing economies in which the Alliance works, and robust supply chains around the world, Mercedes-Benz shares the Alliance’s goals of streamlining trade, driving the economic growth that can help reduce poverty and improve lives in developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs).