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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
On 7 December 2023, the government announced a package of customs simplification measures to simplify export and import processes for traders. These measures are aimed at supporting the UK government’s goal of having “the world’s most effective border” under its 2025 UK Border Strategy (our previous blog on that here), developed in 2020 to “simplify processes to traders, improve the security and biosecurity of the UK, and embrace innovation”. Together these improvements in the following…
The most significant updates to the Combined Nomenclature (“CN”) relate to – amongst others: Addition of new subheadings to account for changes in requirements related to statistics, commercial policy, and technological and commercial developments and modernizing the current structure of subheadings to better monitor particular items, such as: Addition of a subheading for Plátano de Canarias in Chapter 8; Addition of subheadings for prepared tomatoes in Chapter 20; Addition of subheadings for plastic waste in…
The recent amendments to the Russian iron and steel sanctions that came into effect across Europe on 30 September 2023 have had a significant impact across sectors. We previously reported on the business consequences and recommendations on the tightened restrictions in our blog post available here. Although the latest restrictions are still in their early days, it is becoming increasingly clear that cooperation between sanctions and customs teams within businesses is crucial to ensure that…