As explained in our previous blog post (see here), the UK Government announced its intention in 2019 to introduce a temporary tariff regime that would come into force in the event of a no deal Brexit. The regime was intended to apply for up to 12 months post the transitional period while the UK Government undertook a full consultation on a permanent approach to its Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff regime. Following the ratification of the…
On 6 February 2020, the Department for International Trade published Notice to Exporters 2020/04 to report that, with immediate effect, the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) has amended its inspection of records process related to the use of open licences and electronic standard individual export licences (SIELS). This process is provided for in Article 31 of the Export Control Order 2008 (as amended), which states that inspections can take place “at any reasonable hour”. As…
On February 10, 2020, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) published in the Federal Register a summary of Commission practice relating to administrative protective orders (APOs). Since February 1991, the USITC has published in the Federal Register reports on the status of its practice with respect to breaches of its APOs under title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930, in response to a direction contained in the Conference Report to the Customs and Trade…
On February 10, 2020, the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice designating World Trade Organization (WTO) Members that are eligible for special de minimis countervailable subsidy and negligible import volume standards under the countervailing duty (CVD) law. The designations include 44 countries as Least-Developed Countries and 35 countries as developing countries. On the same date, USTR published a final rule removing the USTR’s rules (15 C.F.R. Part 2013) that contain…
On February 7, 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published in the Federal Register a final rule adding regulations (31 C.F.R. Part 355) to implement Executive Order 13882 of July 26, 2019 (“Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Mali”). OFAC intends to supplement these regulations with a more comprehensive set of regulations, which may include additional interpretive and definitional guidance, general licenses, and statements of licensing…
On February 11, 2020, the US Trade Representative (USTR) will publish in the Federal Register a notice announcing USTR’s determination to grant additional exclusions to the $34 billion Sec. 301 action (25% additional duties), as specified in the Annex to the notice, and makes amendments to certain notes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). The USTR will continue to issue decisions as necessary. The product exclusions will apply as of the…
On February 7, 2020, the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a document announcing the country-by-country reallocations of 78,071 MTRV of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 in-quota quantity of the World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported raw cane sugar from those countries that stated they do not plan to fill their FY 2020 allocated raw cane sugar quantities. See the notice for country-by-country reallocations.
On February 7, 2020, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register a final rule [CBP Dec. 20-02] that amends the CBP regulations to reflect the imposition of import restrictions on certain archaeological material from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Jordan). These restrictions are being imposed pursuant to an agreement between the United States and Jordan that has been entered into under the authority of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act.…
On February 7, 2020, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register a final rule [CBP Dec. 20-01] that amends the CBP regulations to reflect the imposition of emergency import restrictions on certain archaeological and ethnological material from the Republic of Yemen (Yemen). The Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Department of State, has determined that conditions warrant the imposition of emergency restrictions on categories of archaeological material and ethnological…
On February 5, 2020, the Federal Register published Executive Order 13904 of January 31, 2020 – Ensuring Safe and Lawful E-Commerce for United States Consumers, Businesses, Government Supply Chains, and Intellectual Property Rights Holders. The Executive Order (EO) states that e-commerce, including transactions involving smaller express-carrier or international mail packages, is being exploited by traffickers to introduce contraband into the United States, and by foreign exporters and United States importers to avoid applicable customs duties,…