In the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) judgment of 23 November 2023 in case C-653/22 J.P. Mali, the CJEU ruled on the EU principle of proportionality with respect to the imposition of penalties for underpayment of customs duties (including anti-dumping duties) in Member States. The case concerned Hungarian company J.P. Mali, which imported into Hungary bicycles and bicycle parts declared as originating in Taiwan. For context, both bicycles and bicycle parts originating in…
Companies importing goods into the EU should be aware of a recent uptick in investigations into alleged circumvention of EU anti-dumping and/or anti-subsidy duties, and, in particular, the implications of such investigations under customs law. For context, in August 2023, the European Commission initiated three circumvention investigations, covering imports of biodiesel consigned from China, plywood consigned from Kazakhstan and Türkiye, and stainless steel consigned from Taiwan, Türkiye and Vietnam. These investigations signal a return of…
In keeping with tradition, we are pleased to invite you to our annual Global Year-End Review of Import/Export & Trade Compliance Developments Conference to be held between December 4-7. The conference will provide valuable insights on the latest developments, challenges and opportunities in the ever-changing landscape of international trade.We will kick off the conference with an in-person networking session and panel discussion on December 4 on the pressing topic of “Navigating Trade Compliance Amidst Geopolitical Disruptions…
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…
On 21 September 2023, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) gave its judgment in a case concerning the non-preferential rules of origin (“ROO”) as laid down in the European Commission’s Union Customs Code Delegated Act (“UCC DA”), which supplements the Union Customs Code (“UCC”). The ECJ concluded in this case that the ‘Change of Tariff Heading’ (“CTH”) ROO laid down in the UCC DA can be deemed invalid in the light of the Treaty of…
2023 has proven to be another dynamic year under the Government of Canada’s trade agenda, which showed no signs of slowing over the summer. From May to August 2023, the Government passed into law novel supply chain transparency legislation and introduced amendments and legislative proposals that are impacting, or will impact, compliance with Canadian customs, export controls, and economic sanctions legislation. Baker McKenzie’s Canadian trade and customs team continues to monitor the following key customs…
Japan Customs has amended their import procedures in order to continuously realize both the effective border enforcement and the appropriate collection of taxes as well as securing the smooth import. The amendments were made in response to the circumstances where (1) imports of cargo transacted through online shopping platforms and other means have been increasing due to the expansion of cross-border E-commerce (“EC”), (2) a large number of smuggling of illegal drugs and goods infringing…
With the expansion of cross-border e-commerce, imports of mail-order shipments have increased, and many cases of smuggling of illicit drugs and intellectual property infringing goods have been uncovered. In response to such circumstances, the Japanese Customs has amended the system to continue to ensure smooth imports, to ensure the effectiveness of border control, and to achieve appropriate taxation. Most recently, as of October 1, 2023, “the address and name of the person who intends to…
The UK government published an evaluation report for the six pilot initiatives on an ‘Ecosystem of Trust’ (“EoT”) on 29 August 2023, which was first set out in the government’s 2025 UK Border strategy. Aimed at using technology to create the so called EoT around the border, the UK proposed an automated assurance and reliability model that could allow a simplification of the current customs and border processes. Such an ecosystem would be built on…
Vietnam currently maintain a drop ship model under which a foreign buyer may purchase goods in Vietnam, and instruct the seller to deliver the goods to another Vietnamese entity, which is called “On The Spot” Export/Import (OTS). Under this OTS scheme, the seller is still qualified as exporting their goods out of Vietnam to enjoy certain tax and duty incentives (i.e import duty exemption of imported materials, 0% VAT).Under this new proposal, OTS scheme is…