UK IMPORT CONTROLS, THE NEVER-ENDING STORY
We had just written, last week, about a more diplomatic position taken by the EU towards Britain’s defaults and immediately the British government decided to extend once again the controls, so close to the heart of the EU Commission, on imported goods. (more…)
NEW APPLICATIONS OF THE WTO SIMPLIFICATION AGREEMENT
At the meeting of the Commission on Trade Facilitation on 20 July, the WTO Member States took note of the trade facilitation commitments which should be implemented by the end of the year, as well as continuing to work on first revision of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
TRANSFER OF ELECTRICITY AND NATURAL GAS TO FINAL CONSUMERS
The work of simplifying the obligations by the customs authorities continues: starting from 1 January 2022, the payments of the down payment instalments and any debit balance, due by the sellers of electricity and natural gas to the final consumers, will no longer have to be broken down by provincial supply area.
BRAZIL, THE NEW SISCOMEX SINGLE PORTAL IS STARTED
Last week the Brazilian Federal Government started the new process of importing the Single Portal for the foreign Trade Programme, as part of the changes implemented by the Ministry of Economy, to gradually expand the scope of the Portal and simplify the procedures for operators.
The main novelty of the new style import process is the favor granted to companies certified as Authorized Economic Operator (AEO), which cover about 30% of the total value of Brazilian imports. Facilities are also made available to operators who submit a large number of import declarations, with the possibility of registering, correcting and consulting the single import declaration through the web-based integration of their systems with the government platform. The government also expects optimizations in the customs authorities’ work processes, thanks to the formation of virtual and specialized server teams, a more appropriate distribution of workloads and a better use of available public resources. The Single Foreign Trade Portal program is a federal government initiative to reduce the bureaucracy, time and costs of Brazilian exports and imports, in order to more efficiently meet the demands of individuals who carry out international transactions. The main objectives are the revision of the export and import processes, so as to make them more efficient and harmonized, and the creation of a one-stop shop for the interaction between customs and economic operators.
SHIPPING COMPANIES UNDER EXAMINATION USA
The Federal Maritime Commission plans to check nine of the largest container carriers, operating in U.S. markets, for practices of exercising oligopolistic market power to overload shippers with unjustified fees of detentions and demurrages.
THE WORLD TARIFF PROFILES 2021 HAS BEEN PUBLISHED
The WTO published on July 14 the 2021 edition of World Tariff Profiles, a joint publication with the International Trade Center the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which provides information on tariff and non-tariff customs measures imposed from over 170 countries and territories.
MERCOSUR, COMMON TARIFF COMING SOON
Intense and decisive days for the future of Mercosur’s external relations. The negotiating and technical teams of the regional organisation have been working since March and should publish the new conditions for the Common Customs Tariff.
KOREA, FREE TRADE AGREEMENT TO BE UPDATED?
In 2011, Korea became the first trading partner of the European Union in Asia to sign a Free Trade Agreement. In 2020, the volume of trade between Korea and EU countries reached 90 billion euros, an increase of 45% compared to 60 billion euros ten years ago.
SAUDI ARABIA, CUSTOMS IN SUPPORT OF INTERNAL PRODUCTION
The objective of protecting the domestic economy from unfair practices carried out by competing markets has prompted Saudi Arabia to approve new customs rules, to regulate imports of goods from other member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait).
CHINA ALSO PROTAGONIST AT THE WTO
Protectionist measures (anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties primarily) applied to many Chinese products by economies concerned about Dragon’s aggressiveness on world markets and an unparalleled post-pandemic recovery are often a source of controversy, subject to WTO arbitration.