Nepal recently extended an import ban on certain luxury items and toys, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported July 29. The ban will prohibit imports of various toys, snacks, cards, diamonds, liquor, tobacco, vehicles and 32-inch televisions, the report said. Also banned are mobile phones worth more than $300 and certain motorcycles. The ban was extended through the end of August.

Stellantis, an auto-making giant and owner of the Jeep brand, closed down its only Jeep factory in China because of local political interference in the car market, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares told Bloomberg July 28. The company is rolling out an "asset-light" strategy in a bid to appease concerns that political tensions could result in sanctions on the carmaker. “We have been seeing over the last few years more and more political interference in the world of business in China,” Tavares said. “We don’t want to be a victim of cross-sanctions as has been the case for other companies in other regions of the world recently.”

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade on July 27 suspended eight standard input output norms (SIONs) appearing under four serial numbers. Those SIONs are for C594, carbon/ alloy steel seamless tubes (cold finished); C791, seamless stainless steel tubes (cold finished); C792, seamless stainless steel tubes (cold finished) (stainless steel grade-304/304L/321); C793, seamless stainless steel tubes (cold finished) (stainless steel grade-316/316L/316TI); C794, seamless stainless steel tubes/pipes (hot finished); C795, seamless stainless steel tubes (hot finished) (stainless steel grade-304/304L/321); C796, seamless stainless steel tubes (hot finished) (stainless steel grade-316/316L/316TI); and C831, stainless steel seamless tubes/pipes (cold finish).

India provided guidance on its recent decisions to change its import policy for items of copper and aluminum from "Free" to "Free subject to compulsory registration under Non-Ferrous Metal Import Monitoring System." The Directorate General for Foreign Trade clarified several items, including that NFMIMS won't be applicable on air-freighted goods and that multiple assignments against a NFMIMS registration can be imported within the validity of the NFMIMS registrations.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade in a July 27 notice relaxed the provision requiring the submission of a "Bill of Export" for supplies exported to a special economic zone (SEZ). DGFT eased the requirement for shipments under Export Promotion Capital Goods authorization or all supplies made before April 1, 2015. For the purposes of discharge of export obligation under the EPCG, exporters can submit corroborative evidence in place of the Bill of Export such as an ARE-I form, evidence of receipt of the supplies by the recipient in the SEZ, and evidence of payment made by the SEZ unit to the EPCG authorization holder.

Cambodia recently enacted a new food safety law that will affect imports, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported July 22. The law, which was signed in June, requires importers to submit an authorization certificate for certain foods, HKTDC said, adding the foods may also be subject to a “laboratory analysis.” Imported goods that don’t meet the new compliance requirements may be reexported, destroyed, replaced or reexamined, HKTDC said. Cambodia plans to issue a list of food items subject to the new procedures along with their import conditions.

South Korea recently adjusted its tariff rate quotas on seven “key” agricultural goods for the second half of this year, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report last week. The new expanded quotas, meant to stabilize food prices, will affect soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, pork, wheat, wheat flour, processed egg products and fodder, the agency said. The changes took effect July 1.

Japan Customs now accepts mobile payment applications for customs duties payments at seven airports, the agency announced. Customs duties and taxes can be paid using mobile payment applications at Narita International Airport, Tokyo International Airport, Kansai International Airport, Chubu Centrair International Airport, Fukuoka Airport, New Chitose Airport and Naha Airport. In another notice, Japan Customs said that credit cards are now accepted for customs duties payments by passengers in these same seven airports.

Australia this week announced a new supply chain service to give Australian agricultural exporters better real-time trade information. The Export Supply Chain Service will help Australian shippers of perishable products “navigate ‘new-look' supply chains and a changed international trade environment” by providing better logistics information, Australia said. The service, launching Aug. 1, will give exporters “the real-time information and insights they need to navigate complex global supply chains,” Don Farrell, Australia’s trade minister, said.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade in a July 18 notice implemented three memorandums of understanding -- for urad and tur from Myanmar, pigeon peas from Malawi and pigeon peas from Mozambique. For 2022-2026, the DGFT set import quotas for urad and tur from Myanmar at 250,000 metric tons and 100,000 metric tons, respectively. For pigeon peas from Malawi, the import quota was set at 50,000 mt; for pigeon peas from Mozambique, the quota was set at at 200,000 mt.