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Canada Proposes “last sale” rule in relation to Customs Valuation

By and 8 Mins Read

On May 27, 2023 the Canada Border Services Agency (the “CBSA”) introduced amendments (the “Amendments”) to the Valuation for Duty Regulations (the “Regulations”), which will alter existing Canadian customs valuation rules. The Amendments intend to clarify the “sale” used to establish the value for duty under the transaction value method for all goods imported into Canada. Effectively, the Amendments propose a “last sale” approach to customs valuation, which has the potential to increase the declared…

Taiwan and the US have concluded negotiations on five issues of the Taiwan-US 21st Century Trade Initiative

By 3 Mins Read

Taiwan and the US have concluded negotiations on five issues since the announcement of the Taiwan-US 21st Century Trade Initiative’s launch in June 2022, including trade facilitation, good manufacturing practices, domestic regulations for service industries, anti-corruption, and small and medium-sized enterprises. This is a key step towards the completion of the Taiwan-US FTA using the building block approach. The first agreement is expected to be signed in the next few weeks. This agreement will represent…

Japan amends the Customs Tariff Act, etc.

By 2 Mins Read

On 30 March 2023, the Japanese Diet passed the Amendment Act of the Customs Tariff Act, etc. (“Amendment Act”). Most of the provisions of the Amendment Act came into force on 1 April 2023. The overview is as follows: 1. An extended period of application of the provisional tax rate, etc. The period of the provisional tax rate (412 items) and the special safeguard system for rice, wheat and dairy products, etc. were extended until…

EU: Proposals envisioning most ambitious and comprehensive reform of EU Customs Union since 1968 published

By , , and 6 Mins Read

On 17 May 2023, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published a set of proposals that, according to the Commission, constitute the “most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment in 1968.” Please find our previous blogpost in which we anticipated the proposal here. The proposals now published aim to: Increase duty revenue; Avoid illicit and non-compliant products; Align the current customs framework with the current e-commerce landscape; and Uniformize the…

Creation of an EU Customs Agency and an EU Customs Data Hub?

By , and 2 Mins Read

Introduction of an EU Customs Agency is becoming more and more tangible. This idea of a “European Customs Agency” was first proposed on 31 March 2022 by the “Wise Persons Group on Challenges Facing the Customs Union”. More recently, on 28 February 2023, during the 62nd Plenary Meeting of the Trade Contact Group set up by the European Commission, the creation of an EU Customs Authority was once again discussed alongside the introduction of an…

UK’s Customs Valuation Ruling System is Live

By and 4 Mins Read

The UK government announced on 15 March 2023 that customs valuation rulings, so-called Advance Valuation Rulings (“AVR”), would soon be a feature of the UK Customs regime (please see our earlier blog here). On 27 April 2023, the UK government published guidance on submitting applications for an AVR with the system going live. This is despite the necessary legislative amendments not yet coming into force. An AVR is a legally binding ruling held by the…

China Customs’ new practice further challenges the implementation of post-importation TP adjustments

By , and 5 Mins Read

Introduction Post-importation transfer pricing (“TP”) adjustments have always presented great challenge for multinational companies doing business in China due to the lack of formal nationwide mechanism which simultaneously addresses the tax, customs and foreign exchange administration requirements, in order to allow customs valuation adjustment to be made in response to a post-importation TP adjustment. While a TP and customs aligned approach which was introduced in a pilot program in Shenzhen in 2022 allows retroactive TP…

The EU Releases Draft Act to Introduce Binding Valuation Decisions

By , , and 1 Min Read

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…

New guidelines issued by the Spanish Customs Authorities on provisional customs value: Use of simplified declarations and impact of TP adjustments

By 2 Mins Read

The Spanish Customs Authorities (“SCA”) have released new guidelines (available only in Spanish) on provisional customs values and simplified declarations. The aim is to clarify the utilization of simplified declarations foreseen in Article 166 of the UCC due to the high number of queries from operators. The current guidelines supplement previous guidelines on this issue (our tax alert about them can be found here). Through the new guidelines the SCA analyses the proper method to…

UK to implement Advance Valuation Rulings (“AVR”) for Customs Valuation of imports

By , and 2 Mins Read

As part of its slate of Customs measures announced for the Spring Budget 2023, the UK government confirmed yesterday, March 15, that AVRs will soon be a feature of the UK Customs regime. The long awaited mechanism will allow for legally binding rulings on the Customs Valuation methodology for the specified goods in a particular scenario, for a period of three years (subject to cancellation or withdrawal). Amendments will be made to the UK legislative…