World Trade Organization (“WTO”) Members laid out several key principles for determining the customs value of imported goods in the 1995 Customs Valuation Agreement (“CV Agreement”) with the aim of ensuring that the value of Members’ tariff concessions would not be nullified or undermined. Nonetheless, the WTO is – incorrectly – seldomly considered as a relevant forum for addressing customs valuation issues. This blog post highlights two avenues at the WTO for dealing with customs…
Baker McKenzie’s Global Compliance News Blog published “Türkiye: Restructuring of Customs Receivables,” which can be viewed here.
Baker McKenzie’s International Commercial & Trade Blog published “Venezuela: Customs Tariff Schedule updated,” which can be viewed here.
A failure to provide accurate and complete information to HMRC in relation to a quantity of goods on which Inward Processing Relief (IPR) has been claimed, gives rise to a customs debt on all the goods covered by the relevant bill of discharge report. This was decided by the UK First Tier Tribunal (FTT) in the case Thyssenkrupp Materials (UK) Ltd v HMRC on 30 November 2022. In Thyssenkrupp Materials (UK) Ltd v HMRC, Thyssenkrupp…
The Argentina Customs Director announced in a November press conference that Customs will continue focusing on customs valuations and transfer pricing issues. The asphyxiating foreign exchange regulations currently in place in Argentina are seen by Customs as an incentive for importers to artificially increase the import value of goods (since this will result in the transferring abroad of more foreign currency; a practice known as “over-invoicing”) as well as for exporters to artificially reduce the…
Baker McKenzie’s Global Compliance News Blog published “Indonesia: New regulation on self-consumed imported goods: what Indonesian importers should consider,” which can be viewed here.
Imports of products in carbon-intensive industries outside the EU will soon be regulated by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism On 13 December 2022, a provisional agreement has been reached between the EU Council and the European Parliament on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (“CBAM”). This mechanism will be set up to align the price of carbon for EU products covered by the EU Emission Trading Scheme (“ETS”) with the price of carbon for imported goods…
Hot on the heels of the German Federal Fiscal Court’s publication of its final decision in the Hamamatsu case (our blog on that here), UK Customs (HMRC) have today published updated guidance on the customs valuation of imports, replacing its previous guidance (Notice 252). What jumps out at first glance is a seeming change in policy with regards to the valuation of goods sold between related parties, with HMRC advising “you will not usually be…
Update to the UCC The European Union made the decision to establish a single window for customs (or its official designation: “EU Single Window Environment for Customs”) in order to facilitate international trade, speed up the customs clearance process, and lower the likelihood of fraud. On 24 October 2022, the Council of the European Union enacted a new regulation that establishes the necessary framework for digital cooperation between customs and associated competent authorities (link to…
Baker McKenzie’s Insight Plus Blog published “Argentina: Oil and gas – Regulation to accelerate the import process for Vaca Muerta,” which can be viewed here.