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Johanna Asplund

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The WCO Symposium on E-Commerce and Customs Valuation Highlights Key Challenges

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On 15 February 2023, the World Customs Organization (“WCO”) hosted a Symposium on E-Commerce and Customs Valuation. Several key challenges were identified: the fragmentation in the system due to data overload from low level shipments; the consequent shortfalls within data systems and processing; and compliance and enforcement challenges. The sessions provided a high level overview from the WCO and World Trade Organization (“WTO”) of the current scope of challenges and questions to consider, and…

The EU Releases Draft Act to Introduce Binding Valuation Decisions

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In November we reported that the European Commission announced plans to include binding valuation information (“BVI”) decisions in its customs legislation. The Commission has published the draft Delegated Regulation and obtained feedback from a public consultation, which ended on 18 January 2023. The Commission describes this move as the completion of an already well-established legal and operational framework for issuing decisions relating to binding tariff classification information (“BTI”) and binding origin information (“BOI”). The aim…

EU and UK agree a ‘definitive’ solution to resolve Brexit difficulties in Northern Ireland

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The United Kingdom has agreed with the European Union a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland which seeks to significantly reduce the number of checks on goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. The Windsor Framework would create two ‘lanes’ for goods which are arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain: A green lane for goods remaining in Northern Ireland (for which there will be minimal checks or paperwork); A red lane for goods…

Here’s the latest – all excise duty transactions in the EU moved to a fully electronic system on 13 February 2023[1]

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In line with what we previously reported[1] regarding the expanded obligation to maintain electronic registers, a series of new rules were rolled out on 13 February 2023 which will make the taxation of alcohol, tobacco and energy products fully paperless across the EU. They are part of a wider expansion of the common excise duty provisions in the EU. The aim of this new standardised electronic system is to alleviate some of the rigorous procedures…

It’s here – Expansion of obligation to maintain electronic registers of authorisations of economic operators and warehouses extends beyond goods moved under duty suspension

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On 6 February 2023, the European Council published Council Regulation (EU) 2023/246 on the exchange of information in electronic registers in the Official Journal of the European Union. The (recast) regulation extends the obligation to maintain electronic registers relating to economic operators who move excise goods between Member States for commercial purposes from 13 February 2023. Prior to the amendment, Member States were obligated to maintain electronic registers of authorisations of economic operators and warehouses…

UK commences implementation process of free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand

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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…

The EU to Introduce Binding Valuation Decisions

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Operators may request a binding information decision from the relevant customs authorities in the EU, in order to obtain certainty about the application of customs legislation in respect of the tariff classification or the origin of imported goods across the EU. Currently, EU customs legislation does not facilitate the issuing of a binding information decision in respect the value of imported goods. This can present real challenges for importers where customs authorities across the EU…

Customs Valuation – New Update from the WCO on Royalties and Licence Fees

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During the latest session of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (“TCCV”), the TCCV adopted Advisory Opinion 4.19, a new instrument on royalties and licence fees under Article 8.1(c) of the Customs Valuation Agreement (“CVA”). The new Opinion advises on how a single royalty paid for the right to use or incorporate a patented imported input in the production of a finished product in the country of importation and how the use of a trademark…

UK – Updates to UK Information Security Open Licences – what’s new?

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The scope of the two Open General Export Licences (OGEL) for security items has been further refined and amendments to the OGELs were on Wednesday (26 May 2021) published by the Department for International Trade in a Notice to Exporters. The updated OGELs permit the export of low risk information security items that rely on encryption technologies listed in Schedule 1 to each OGEL. The new Information Security OGELs cover a significantly wider range of items than the…