The Office of Foreign Assets Control in June sanctioned a network of Iranian petrochemical producers along with Chinese and Emirati front companies that broker sales of Iranian petrochemicals to China and East Asia. In response, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry expressed China's opposition to "illegal and unjustifiable unilateral sanctions" from the U.S. "We urge the US side to abandon the wrong practice of resorting to sanctions at every turn and contribute positively to negotiations on resuming compliance with the JCPOA," the spokesperson said July 7 during a regular press conference in China, according to an English translation of the transcript provided. "The international community, including China, has conducted normal cooperation with Iran within the framework of international law. This is reasonable and lawful without harm done to any third party, and deserves to be respected and protected."

China will officially begin security reviews for certain data exports Sept. 1, Reuters reported July 7, allowing China to regulate how its companies can send the information overseas. The reviews could capture past transactions conducted by a range of firms, including any entities that have sent personal information overseas belonging to 100,000 or more users, or “sensitive" personal information of 10,000 or more users, since Jan. 1, 2021, the report said.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade extended until June 30, 2023, its free trade policy for imported potatoes from Bhutan. The policy covers potatoes, fresh or chilled - Other, under Harmonized System code 0701 90 00 and permits the potatoes to be imported without a license.

Singapore State Courts fined Chin Yew Wen, a Singaporean national, $2.38 million (in Singapore dollars) for evading Goods and Services Tax, Singapore Customs announced July 5. Should the defendant not pay, he will spend 32 months in prison. The sole director of freight forwarding company GLS Shipping, Chin pleaded guilty to two charges of fraudulently evading GST, two similar charges and four other charges of falsification of documents after Singapore Customs found discrepancies between the importer's Cargo Clearance Permits and GLS's permits. Customs said Chin gave the agency fraudulent values of the goods when making declarations for the permits, reflecting lower values than the value of the goods and pocketing the difference in the GST paid. The evaded GST amounted to $433,484.49.

50 E-Services on the Singapore Customs' website's "Customs Forms & Services Links" page are now also available on the Networked Trade Platform, Singapore Customs said July 1. The move allows traders already using the NTP to access the forms on the same website, it said.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued a clarification July 5 on its import policy for 201 tariff lines from "Free" to "Free subject to registration under the Paper Import Monitoring System." The clarification followed an inquiry to DGFT on whether the PIMS registration was required at both the import point into Special Economic Zone (SEZ)/Free Trade and Warehousing Zones (FTWZ) and at the Customs Clearance from the SEZ to the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) and whether the registration also is needed for Export Oriented Units at the time of import by an EOU.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade extended the deadline for submitting applications under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). Traders who exported goods from Sept. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, can now submit MEIS applications until Aug. 31, 2022.

Singapore Customs arrested four individuals -- two Chinese nationals and two Singaporean nationals -- and seized 1,100 cartons of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid, the customs agency announced June 30. During the operation, Singapore Customs saw brown boxes being moved between a van and a car parked next to it. Officers conducted checks on the suspicion that the boxes had duty-unpaid cigarettes, ultimately discovering the 1,100 cartons and arresting the four individuals. Singapore Customs said the total duty and Goods and Services tax evaded were $93,940 and $7,470 (in Singapore dollars), respectively. "Investigations are ongoing," it said.

Teo Song Cheong, a Singaporean national, was sentenced by the State Courts to pay a $7,000 fine for failing to keep the bills of lading for exported goods in 2021, Singapore Customs announced June 28. Teo is the director of freight forwarding company Maple-Gold Pte. and local transportation service firm Akarui Pte. He pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to retain trade documents following Singapore Customs' investigations into his companies' Cargo Clearance Permits used for cigarettes shipped to Australia. Checks of the shipments in Australia discovered plastic film rolls instead of the cigarettes.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently launched a plan to expedite customs clearance among member countries, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 29. The plan will offer “a number of benefits” under a mutual recognition arrangement to companies that are validated as an authorized economic operator by an ASEAN nation, including less documentation and cargo inspection. The companies will also benefit from “priority treatment” if they are chosen for inspection. The plan is expected to be approved by all ASEAN members before year-end.