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Jennifer F. Revis

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Customs and FTAs week: key trending customs and compliance developments

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For the third week, we continued our Annual Compliance Conference with key customs developments impacting on businesses today. Specifically, we discussed the reform of the Union Customs Code in the EU, key trending customs developments in EMEA, and different methods of driving significant financial savings in global supply chains. EU customs reform: biggest overhaul since 1968 Tuesday 14 May SPEAKERS: Nicole Looks (Partner, Amsterdam), Thomas Kukanza (Senior Trade Advisor, Brussels), Sylvain Guelton (Senior Associate, Brussels),…

EU: Revisions to the Customs Valuation Compendium by the European Commission

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In addition to minor editorial amendments, the European Commission has made the following key changes to the Customs Valuation Compendium (the “Compendium”), which serves as useful guide for the customs valuation of goods imported into the EU. The Compendium is prepared primarily for local customs authorities of the various EU Member States, but is made publicly available for interested parties. The latest version was published in April 2024. Customs valuation treatment of damaged or defective…

EU: European Commission adopts Regulation to ensure the smooth implementation of the Binding Valuation Information decisions

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On 12 April 2024, the European Commission adopted the Implementing Regulation no. 2024/1071 (“Regulation”) relating to binding valuation information (“BVI”) decisions in the field of customs valuation and introducing an electronic system for binding origin information (“BOI”) and BVI decisions. The Regulation can be found here. The possibility to apply for BVI decisions from relevant EU customs authorities was introduced into EU Customs Law by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1072. See our earlier blog about…

UK: Upper Tribunal disagrees with HMRC’s strict application of compliance obligations for the discharge of inward processing relief procedure

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When importing goods into the UK, traders are required to account for any applicable customs duty and import VAT (collectively “Duties”) on import unless they can utilise a customs special procedure to delay or reduce payment of these amounts. Customs special procedures include the Inward Processing (“IP”) regime which allows traders to suspend the Duties while the imported goods are subject to repair or further manufacturing. Where a trader utilises IP, they are required to…

European Union: New European Commission Guidance on Customs Valuation Simplification under Article 73 UCC

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Article 73 of the Union Customs Code (“UCC”) provides an easement for determining the customs value of goods, where elements of the transaction value are not quantifiable at the moment of importation. The simplification has been proven particularly useful for declaring additions to value such as assists (e.g. certain R&D related costs), royalties and license fees. Subject to an authorization from the competent customs authorities, the simplification allows for the value of these elements to…

EU: the EU-Canada Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA)’s existence under threat by French Parliament

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On 21 March 2024, the French Senate (French Parliament’s higher chamber) rejected the bill of the French government proposing to approve the EU-Canada Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA). For several years, the European Commission and the Canadian government negotiated a comprehensive free trade agreement, including new types of provisions on investment. It was the first ever ambitious free-trade agreement that the EU concluded with a G7 country (Japan and the UK were concluded later). The CETA…

European Union: European Council approves Forced Labour Regulation

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On 13 March 2024, the European Council and European Parliament agreed the final text of the proposed EU Forced Labour Regulation (“Regulation”). This follows negotiations between the EU Council and Parliament which took place on 22 January 2024 and the European Council and European Parliament reaching a provisional agreement on the Regulation on 5 March 2024. The European Commission had initially proposed the Regulation on 14 September 2022. For information on the key similarities and…

United Kingdom: New customs regulations set out penalties for exporters’ errors

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The Customs (Preferential Trade Arrangements: Error in Evidence of Origin) Regulations 2024 (the “Regulations”), which introduce into UK law the obligation for exporters to notify their customers if they discover any material error in a Certificate of Origin they have issued, have come into force on 13 March 2024. The Regulations only apply to exports made under the UK’s trade agreements with Canada, Turkey, New Zealand, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific…

UK: start of the public consultation on the introduction of a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM)

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Last week, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury launched a public consultation on the introduction of a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), following its announcement in December 2023. The CBAM proposal forms part of the UK government’s wider strategy to tackle carbon leakage. To achieve this it will impose a carbon price on imported goods with the aim of levelling the playing field and ensuring that imported goods are subject to a…

EU: European Parliament adopts its first position regarding reform of the EU Customs Code

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On 13 March 2024, the European Parliament adopted its first reading position on the proposal from the European Commission to repeal and significantly reform the EU Customs Code (which we originally reported on in our blog available here). On 17 May 2023, the European Commission published its proposal for the reform of the EU Customs Code, which aims to change the way that EU customs authorities operate, in particular due to the significant growth in…