State Courts of Singapore sentenced Tan Tong Meng, a Singaporean national, to 18 months in prison for storing cigarettes for which duties had not been paid and for evading duty and Goods and Services Tax, Singapore Customs said. Tan submitted false export quantity data of the amount of cigarettes in his export permits, leading to the duty evasion, the agency said May 18.

The Singapore Trade Classification, Customs and Excise Duties (STCCED) 2022 will replace the 2018 version on June 19, Singapore Customs announced May 18. The STCCED 2022 uses the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature 2022 in which the HS codes are harmonized at the eight-digit level to be used by all ASEAN countries. The tariff amendments also include the creation, deletion and merging of various subheadings. For example, new codes now exist for chassis fitted with engine for vehicles specially designed for traveling on snow and for bodies for vehicles specially designed for traveling on snow. Singapore Customs advises traders and declaring agents to check the units of quantity under the ASEAN tariff nomenclature and declare them in their permit applications.

Pakistan will lift its antidumping duties on certain polyester filament yarn imports from China and Malaysia, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported May 16. The duties will be lifted Aug. 25 unless a sunset review is conducted before then, HKTDC said. Imports of the yarn produced in or exported from either China or Malaysia are currently subject to duties of “from 2.87% to 6.82% of cost and freight value,” the report said.

Singapore State Courts sentenced Foong Zhong Wen, a Singaporean national, to pay $63,834.90 (in Singapore dollars) for evading Goods and Services Tax on shipments of miscellaneous goods in 2019, Singapore Customs said May 14. Foong was the manager of a freight forwarding company, Swiftfox Pte, and pleaded guilty to 15 charges of GST evasion. Singapore Customs started an investigation into Swiftfox under suspicions stemming from discrepancies in its Cargo Clearance Permits (CCPs) that the company was under-declaring the value of goods.

Vietnam customs seized 4,000 packs of cigarettes that were allegedly being smuggled to the Thuong Thoi Hau A commune in the Hong Ngu district, the state-run CustomsNews e-magazine reported. The Customs Enforcement Team discovered the shipment while monitoring the river route and inland area bordering Thuong Lac and Thuong Thoi Hau A, ultimately finding 16 plastic bags containing the packs of cigarettes. The e-magazine said transported smuggled cigarettes is on the increase (see 2204200016).

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed imposing a value-added tax on fertilizer products with the goal of boosting domestic production, the state-run CustomsNews e-magazine reported May 11. No VAT currently exists for fertilizer products. Fertilizer prices have continuously increased from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2022, driven by higher oil prices, a major production input for inorganic fertilizers, CustomsNews said. Taking the action would help drive down the increased fertilizer costs for agricultural production and, potentially, assist in a move toward green production.

Singapore Customs on May 9 arrested a man and seized over 1,500 cartons of cigarettes that were allegedly skirting customs duties on the shipments, Singapore Customs announced. Customs officers observed a transaction at a construction site where "a suspicious consignment of goods was delivered earlier," the customs agency said. A man later arrived to receive the consignment. The officers, after checking out the goods, found 1,586 cartons and 18 packets of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid hidden in the consignment of two electrical panels. The duty and Goods and Services tax evaded totaled $135,590 and $10,790, respectively, the release said. The man already is involved in an ongoing court proceeding for dealing in duty-unpaid cigarettes in December 2020, and was convicted for the same offense in 2011.

Indonesia recently imposed an export ban on palm oil products, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported May 10. The ban, which applies to refined products and crude palm oil, will remain until the domestic price of bulk cooking oil is reduced, the report said. HKTDC said the ban is likely to “cause major supply chain disruption” across Asia and in other regions, partly because Indonesia accounts for a majority of the world’s palm oil production. Malaysia, the second-biggest palm oil producer, is “unlikely” to fill the loss of supply from Indonesia in the short term, the report said. HKTDC said the cooking oil market is already facing pressure due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has hurt sunflower oil production.

Vietnam Customs handled over 1,000 customs violations in April, the state-run CustomsNews e-magazine reported May 10. The cases led to seizures of sugar, cigarettes, beer, powdered milk, medicines, cosmetics, electronics and poultry, the report said. Vietnam Customs "presided over and worked with other authorities" to handle 1,061 cases of customs violations, tackling shipments that had not been declared with customs and allegedly were smuggled into Vietnam. Two cases were taken to court and four were transferred to other agencies, CustomsNews said.

The Singapore Customs TradeNet will undergo extended system maintenance May 22 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, it said May 6. Singapore Customs advises users to avoid submitting applications during this time. This is in addition to the usual 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday maintenance.