Brian Feito

The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 33 companies and governmental bodies to the Entity List for their roles in military and proliferation activities and human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province, BIS said May 22. The two agency press releases do not mention an effective date.

Recently announced restrictions on exports of personal protective equipment (PPE) only apply to commercial shipments, and exports to Canada and Mexico are exempt from the policy, said CBP in a memo dated April 9. The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America included the memo in an April 9 email on COVID-19 developments.

A “Transfer of Non-Repairable Vehicle to a Demolisher” certificate issued by the District of Columbia, along with a bill of sale, is enough to prove eligibility for export of a used car through the Port of Baltimore, CBP said in a recent customs ruling. Though the exporter did not provide a title for the vehicle, the documents provided “are sufficient to show that the requestor has ownership of the subject vehicle,” CBP said in HQ H308498.

The European Union is proposing to amend its rules on tariff retaliation so it can still impose tariffs and other restrictions after the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement appellate body ceased to function on Dec. 11, the EU Commission said in a press release.

The U.S. and the European Union would recognize each other’s product testing across a variety of sectors including electronics, toys, machinery and measuring instruments, under a proposed agreement released by the EU on Nov. 22. “The EU proposal seeks an agreement, under which the EU and the U.S. would accept the conformity assessment results of each other’s assessment bodies, certifying products against the legal requirement of the other side. This would enable exporters to seek certification of their products in their originating country,” the European Commission said in a press release.

The United Kingdom will not leave the European Union on Oct. 31, after the EU and the U.K. agreed to postpone Brexit day to Jan. 31, 2020. European Council President Donald Tusk on Oct. 28 announced the Brexit “flextension,” which allows the U.K. to leave earlier if its Parliament approves a recently renegotiated transition deal. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted the extension later that same day, as required by a law passed by Parliament in September (see 1909090056), a BBC report said.

The Treasury Department announced a mechanism to help companies ensure their humanitarian exports to Iran will not be diverted to the government and other sanctioned Iranian entities, Treasury said in an Oct. 25 press release. The mechanism will require participating foreign governments and financial institutions to “conduct enhanced due diligence” -- including the reporting of “a substantial and unprecedented amount of information” -- on a monthly basis. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also issued a guidance outlining the requirements.

The United Kingdom Parliament on Oct. 22 voted to approve the broad outlines of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new transition deal for exiting the United Kingdom. The 329-299 vote on the implementation bill’s “second reading” in Parliament would normally move the bill forward to a detailed examination of the bill at committee stage and then a final vote on the “third reading,” though U.K. lawmakers in a second vote rejected Johnson’s proposed three-day timetable for considering the bill and a new schedule has yet to be proposed, according to a report from the BBC.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP hopes to have a fully functioning electronic export manifest system up and running by the end of year, said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and security controls, at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) on Oct. 11. Specifically, Swanson is eyeing a “November time frame” for the ocean, air and rail modes, with truck coming at a later date after CBP completes its work on rebuilding the inbound manifest system for that mode, he said.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will take a second European Union exit deal to the U.K. Parliament on Oct. 19, after coming to new terms with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on an agreement on Brexit. Under the deal, Northern Ireland will formally remain part of the U.K. customs territory, but will also be an entry point into the EU customs zone with no tariffs on goods entering from Ireland and a vote in four years on whether to keep the arrangement in place, according to a BBC report.