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Jennifer Revis

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Hot on the heels of the German Federal Fiscal Court’s publication of its final decision in the Hamamatsu case (our blog on that here), UK Customs (HMRC) have today published updated guidance on the customs valuation of imports, replacing its previous guidance (Notice 252). What jumps out at first glance is a seeming change in policy with regards to the valuation of goods sold between related parties, with HMRC advising “you will not usually be…

On Monday 31 October 2022 the European Commission published the updated Combined Nomenclature (CN) for 2023. The publication of the 2023 CN can be found here: EUR-Lex – 32022R1998 – EN – EUR-Lex (europa.eu). The most significant updates to the CN relate to – amongst others: Addition of new subheadings to better monitor particular items and account for changes in requirements related to statistics, commercial policy, and technological and commercial developments (e.g. ‘critical raw materials’…

Update to the UCC The European Union made the decision to establish a single window for customs (or its official designation: “EU Single Window Environment for Customs”) in order to facilitate international trade, speed up the customs clearance process, and lower the likelihood of fraud. On 24 October 2022, the Council of the European Union enacted a new regulation that establishes the necessary framework for digital cooperation between customs and associated competent authorities (link to…

Brexit has given rise to a significant increase in customs representation in the EU and more particularly for non-EU established entities. Many UK companies, who no longer qualify as established in the EU, were required to appoint indirect representatives to import goods on their behalf into the EU market. Indirect representation means that the party clearing the goods and submitting the declaration is jointly liable for the content of the declaration and the customs debt…

The UK government has introduced a bill to help bring into force the UK-Australia and the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreements (“FTAs”). The bill is a key step in ratifying the FTAs but before they come into force, Parliament must scrutinise the FTAs, agree the bill and pass secondary legislation to make the changes required to the UK’s procurement regime to meet the terms of the FTAs. The FTAs will remove tariffs on all goods…

In 2014, Ukraine and the EU signed a free-trade agreement in the form of an Association Agreement that contains a Title IV which relates to trade and trade related matters and has been applied since 1 January 2016. Article 29 of the Association Agreement provides for the progressive elimination of customs duties in accordance with the schedules included in the agreement and envisages the possibility to accelerate and broaden such elimination. Following a request of Ukraine,…

The Customs Expert Group of the European Commission’s DG TAXUD on ‘Import and Export formalities’ met on 16 March 2022. The minutes of the meeting have been released on 25 April 2022. Several topics were discussed, notably the following subjects: The new guidance on the Interpretation of Article 173 of the Union Customs Code (UCC) on the amendment of the customs declarations: in this guidance, it will be reminded that the customs declaration should reflect…

Representatives of the EU and New Zealand held negotiations from 14 to 31 March 2022, discussing most areas of the future free trade agreement between the jurisdictions. According to a two-pager published by the European Commission, EU’s request to be exempt from New Zealand’s import customs fees is the only outstanding element in the text as far as the topic “Trade in goods” is concerned. Various items remain open in respect of Rules of Origin…

On 7 April 2022, the ECJ issued its decision in the case C‑489/20 (UB vs Kauno teritorinė muitinė). UB arranged the unlawful introduction of cigarettes from Belarus to Lithuania. In September 2016, 6000 packages of cigarettes were thrown across the State border to be picked by vehicle on the other side. Lithuanian border officials managed to detain the vehicle carrying the cigarettes that same day. In addition to the penalty order imposed on UB and…

On 21 September 2021, the European Commission published its proposal for a new EU scheme of generalised preferences, also called GSP. The GSP provides preferential access for products to the EU market originating in developing countries without the need for these countries to open their markets to EU exports in exchange. This preference shall be granted in accordance with the “Enabling Clause” set in Article 2a of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT),…