India revised its export restrictions for certain “diagnostic kits,” the country’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a June 10 notice. The notice revised the description for an April notification that restricted exports of the kits (see 2004060016). It also added export restrictions on several related items, including “diagnostic instruments/apparatus/reagents." Those items include certain falcon tubes and sterile swabs, silicon columns, and other chemicals, acids and substances.

China will continue to reduce logistics and transportation costs for traders to accelerate the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a June 3 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The measures, introduced in part by the Ministry of Transport, emphasize the use of electronic certificates and call for “facilitation of customs clearance” in the railway sector, the report said. China will also continue to lower fees and taxes related to logistics. China previously lowered transportation costs for traders (see 2003190039).

Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department is asking industry to report activities involving certain chemicals controlled by the Chemical Weapons Convention by July 23, the agency said June 2. Hong Kong requires operators of certain facilities that work with the chemicals to submit annual reports, which are then submitted to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The annual reports must contain details about past and “anticipated activities” involving controlled chemicals.

Vietnam will exempt auto parts from import duties if those parts are not also available from domestic suppliers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in a June 8 report. The measure, effective July 10, will cover “all automotive parts” imported for domestic assembly and manufacturing, including “input material” imported for production of “automotive components,” the report said. To qualify for the exemption, parts must have been assembled without having undergone a “manufacturing process” before they were imported, the report said. The measure will apply to all auto parts imported before 2025. Manufacturers will only be eligible to access such benefits for six months of the year, January through June, or July through December.

Laos recently clarified its law on antidumping and countervailing measures to specify procedures for determining whether dumping is taking place, a June 5 Hong Kong Trade Development Council report said. The revised guidance clarifies “two methods for the determination of the ‘normal’ price of imported goods” if those goods are suspected of violating antidumping measures. Laos issued the guidance to ensure it's complying with World Trade Organization requirements.

While the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 gives the president clear authority to terminate Hong Kong's special status if China violates the island's autonomy, the fact that Hong Kong has its own membership in the World Trade Organization could complicate the matter, the Congressional Research Service says. In a June 5 “legal sidebar,” CRS said that not only is it not clear when the administration would end Hong Kong's special trade status, it's also not clear whether the U.S. would say it no longer acknowledges Hong Kong's membership in the WTO.

Vietnam plans to reduce a range of tariff rates on agricultural goods, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released June 1. The measures, which take effect July 10, will reduce tariffs on dairy products, almonds, apples, grapes, wheat, walnuts, frozen potatoes, raisins, chilled pork and ethanol, the report said. The measures also include a “temporary reduction” in tariffs for frozen pork through Dec. 31. The reduced rates will apply to imports for all trading partners with which Vietnam “has no preferential arrangements in place.”

Thailand plans to ban residues of paraquat herbicides and chlorpyrifos pesticides in food products, which will “disrupt” imports of agricultural goods from a variety of trading partners, including the U.S., according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released June 1. Thailand's agencies are likely to adopt a “zero-tolerance” policy for residues of the two substances in food products, which could result in about $1 billion in U.S. agricultural export losses per fiscal year, the USDA said. Thailand notified the World Trade Organization of the change, and countries have until July 18 to comment, the report said.

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus Japan, China and South Korea, issued a joint statement committing to open trade during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an unofficial translation of a June 4 Japanese government notice. The countries agreed not to take “unnecessary measures that may affect the smooth flow of medical products” and committed to imposing only “targeted, purposeful, transparent and temporary” trade restrictions. The countries also said they are still working toward signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement this year and plan to “resolve India’s outstanding issues” with the agreement (see 2005130018 and 1911040016).

China said it will continue to impose antidumping measures on imported acetone from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, according to an unofficial translation of a June 5 notice. Introduced in 2008, the measures will be imposed for another five years, China said.