EU Archives

European Union: Sustainable Batteries Regulation published in Official Journal

August 3, 2023 By Graham Stuart, Rachel MacLeod and Adeel Haque 1 Min Read

On 28 July 2023, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries (“Batteries Regulation”) was published in the Official Journal. The new Regulation repeals and replaces the existing Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC) and seeks to make all batteries placed on the EU market more durable, safe, sustainable, and efficient. It takes the extended producer responsibility (EPR) regime created by the existing Directive and expands it significantly through the introduction of more detailed mandatory design, content and conformity assessment…

Germany: Munich court rules that a year-end TP adjustment does not justify additional import duties

May 30, 2023 By Nicole Looks, Joerg Hanken, Christian Port and Daniela Staeger 9 Mins Read

In our blog post “The Hamamatsu TP/customs valuation case comes to a surprising conclusion” we summarized the final judgment of the German Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof; “BFH”) in the “Hamamatsu” case. The BFH had ruled that taxpayers cannot claim refund of import duties in case of lump-sum TP adjustments applied at the end of the fiscal year that result in a subsequent lump-sum decrease in resale prices and thus in an intercompany credit note for…

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

May 15, 2023 By Jennifer F. Revis, Sylvain Guelton and Thijs van Luijt 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…

European Union: “FIT FOR 55”- Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism regulation signed

May 11, 2023 By Ana Royuela, Oliver Pendred, Albert Arenas and Thijs van Luijt 7 Mins Read

On 10 May 2023 the Council of the European Union and European Parliament signed the regulation implementing the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (“CBAM”). CBAM will enter into force twenty days after it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Below we will provide further detail on the regulation and highlight some aspects that have been amended when compared to the initial proposal. The new CBAM Regulation is targeted at imports of products…

The EU Releases Draft Act to Introduce Binding Valuation Decisions

March 29, 2023 By Lionel Van Reet, Thomas Kukanza, Johanna Asplund and Suha Alwan 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 EU foreign subsidies regime will impact many large businesses operating in Europe – preparing to minimise that impact is now urgent

January 4, 2023 By Fiona Carlin, Bram Hoorelbeke and Nina Niejahr 1 Min Read

Baker McKenzie’s Global Compliance News Blog published “New EU foreign subsidies regime will impact many large businesses operating in Europe – preparing to minimise that impact is now urgent,” which can be viewed here.