Customs and Trade Newsletter
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 my Customs and Trade Newsletter! Each issue is carefully crafted to bring you the most current and relevant insights into the ever-evolving world of international trade and customs regulations.
On July 1, 2024, the Centralised Clearance for Import (CCI) system officially entered its first phase of implementation! The new trans-European system aims to ensure the digitalisation of the centralised clearance process at European level, making it more efficient and streamlined.
Available for use in Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, the system allows businesses to submit customs declarations at the supervising customs office in one Member State, which are physically presented to a customs office in another Member State.
Other Member States are planning to join gradually in the coming year.
How It Works:
What’s Next?
Read more here .
Starting from 8 July 2024, EU Member States will accept A.TR movement certificates issued electronically by the Turkish competent authorities, bearing a QR code and without a wet-ink signature. This is pending the adoption of a Decision of the EU–Türkiye Customs Cooperation Committee, with retroactive effect, currently under preparation.
Read more here .
EU activates emergency brake on imports of eggs and sugar from Ukraine.
As of 2 July 2024, the tariff rate quotas from the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) are reintroduced for imports of eggs and sugar from Ukraine into the EU. The revised Autonomous Trade Measures, in place since 6 June 2024, includes an emergency brake for seven agricultural products to be automatically triggered if import volumes reach the average yearly imports recorded between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2023.?
As imports of eggs and sugar from Ukraine since the beginning of 2024 are already above the volumes set in the DCFTA tariff-rate quota, additional imports will continue with most-favoured nations (MFN) duties .
Read full press release here .
During a recent mission to New Delhi, Director-General of the European Commission Gerassimos Thomas, emphasised the importance of CBAM in fostering sustainable trade.
He highlighted CBAM’s environmental objectives, design, timeline, and opportunities for the industry and welcomed India’s plans to decarbonise its economy, underlining the shared commitment to collaborate with India in their decarbonisation efforts.?
This collaborative effort is set to help both regions meet their environmental goals by aligning carbon pricing and encouraging cleaner production practices. The dialogue also covered broader tax and customs topics, marking a significant step towards deeper economic ties.
For more details, check out the full article news here .
Monday, 1st July, the landmark deal on cross-border data flows between the EU and Japan entered?into force, marking a major step in digital cooperation between the two regions. Its provisions will facilitate business on both sides, sending a strong signal against digital protectionism.?
Integrated into the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the agreement simplifies data handling for sectors like financial services, transport, machinery, and e-commerce.
This entry into force of this agreement also promotes the concept of ‘Data Free Flow with Trust’, a guiding principle for international cooperation on data flows, based on shared values, reducing barriers to data flows.
Read more here .
Monday, 1st July, the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) has entered into force, representing a key milestone in the EU-Kenya Strategic Partnership.
The agreement will boost bilateral trade in goods, increase investment flows, strengthen the ties between reliable partners, and facilitate mutually advantageous economic relations in a sustainable manner, stimulating job creation and economic growth.
Kenya is East Africa's main economic hub - and the EU is Kenya's first export destination and second largest trading partner. Total trade between the EU and Kenya reached €3 billion in 2023 - an increase of 16% compared to 2018.
Read more here .
领英推荐
The European Commission announced provisional countervailing duties on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China. These provisional duties will apply as of 5 July 2024, for a maximum duration of four months. Within that timeframe, a final decision must be taken on definitive duties, through a vote by EU Member States. When adopted, this decision would make the duties definitive for a period of five years.
Compared to the rates pre-disclosed on 12 June 2024, provisional duties were adjusted slightly downwards based on comments on the accuracy of the calculations submitted by interested parties.
The individual duties applying to the three sampled Chinese producers are:
Other BEV producers in China, which cooperated in the investigation but were not sampled, are subject to the 20.8% weighted average duty. The duty for other non-cooperating companies is 37.6%.
Read more here .
The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) is investigating a major customs fraud case in France involving eyewear imports from China. It is alleged that the fraud consisted of?illicitly undervaluing?the price of the glasses, which were sold on a massive scale within the EU, in order to avoid?paying the import taxes. It is understood that the scheme led to savings in customs duties and taxes, and may have allowed the glasses to be sold at a lower market price, thus causing?unfair competition.
For more details, read the full article here .
The Modernized Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement has come into effect as of July 1, 2024. The modernized CUFTA will enhance trade, increase economic cooperation and support Ukraine’s financial reform and efforts to rebuild. It maintains the preferential market access gained in the original 2017 CUFTA; it updates and adds new language in areas such as trade in services, investment, temporary entry for businesspeople, telecommunications, digital trade, labour and the environment; and it adds a dedicated chapter on trade and Indigenous Peoples, a first in each country’s history.
Read the press release here .
On Tuesday 2 July, Ministers for Trade from New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica and Iceland announced the conclusion of negotiations on an Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), the first such agreement to seriously address climate issues. The list of environmental goods covered by the agreement includes solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, recycled paper and wood products as environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil-intensive building materials.
The agreement can be regarded as comprehensive since it covers trade in both goods and services, as well as environmental labelling and restrictions on fossil fuel subsidies.
Read the full press release here .
The World Customs Organization signed an agreement with the German Customs Authority, establishing a new Customs Cooperation Fund of Germany for the period 2024-2028.
The CCF-Germany will allocate funds to support various capacity-building activities for WCO Members from the European Union, potential candidate countries, and countries under the European Neighbourhood Policy. This financial support will facilitate training programs for Customs officials, seminars, workshops, and regional meetings aimed to promote trade facilitation, improve compliance and enforcement, and advance Customs modernisation efforts.
Full press release here .
The World Customs Organization has released a comprehensive study on the cumulative rules of origin. This Study reviews the cumulation provisions of existing Free Trade Agreements and presents the administrative practices of WCO Members regarding cumulation.
The Study encompasses three key components:
Read the full press release here .
According to the latest trade statistics released by the WTO, the merchandise trade as measured by the average of exports and imports was up 1.0% in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter. If the current pace of expansion continues through the end of this year, trade volume for the whole of 2024 will be 2.7% higher than in 2023.
Most regions contributed positively to the upturn in trade volume, with Europe remaining a notable exception as its exports and imports continued to decline.?
The latest quarterly merchandise trade data and other trade statistics can be downloaded from the WTO's online database at https://stats.wto.org/ .
Full press release here .