The U.S. and the European Union should be able to “come to a convergence” on seven planks of reform of the appellate body at the World Trade Organization, said Ignacio Garcia Bercero, European Union Visiting Fellow, Oxford University and a chief negotiator at the European Commission. Garcia Bercero, who noted he was not speaking on behalf of the European Commission, was a panelist on a WTO Reform webinar hosted by the Washington International Trade Association July 23.
The European Commission recently announced it will allow more time for certain countries to comply with its registered export system, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a July 20 KPMG post said. Haiti, Madagascar, Senegal and Vietnam have faced “serious difficulties” meeting the June 30 deadline for the application of the system, the commission said. Those countries were granted an extension through Dec. 31. The system, used by European Union exporters in some free trade agreements, allows traders to self-certify the origin of goods.
A Lebanese national was sentenced to 42 months in prison for conspiring to illegally export U.S. drone parts and technology to Hezbollah, the Justice Department said July 20. Usama Darwich Hamade violated the international Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Export Administration Regulations, the Arms Export Controls Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations when he tried to illegally export a range of U.S.-origin items, including “inertial measurement units,” digital compasses, a jet engine, piston engines and recording binoculars. During an investigation, the Justice Department said the U.S. discovered Hezbollah was the “ultimate beneficiary” of the exports.
The Canada government issued the following trade-related notice as of July 20:
The Department of Justice charged a California electronics company, its president and an employee with trying to illegally export chemicals to a Chinese company on the U.S. Entity List. President Tao Jiang, employee Bohr Winn-Shih and the company, Broad Tech System Inc., ordered the chemicals from a Rhode Island company before trying to ship the items to China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 55th Research Institute (aka NEDI) (see 2006030032), the Justice Department said July 20. The shipment would have violated the Export Control Reform Act.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, one of the four players directing the shape of a USMCA technical corrections bill, said that the “language was a little different than the intent” when it came to the treatment of foreign-trade zones in USMCA's implementing bill. Brady and the leaders of the Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees see getting a technical corrections bill passed as “a high priority,” he said in a recent interview.
China and Cambodia concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement, China said in a July 20 notice, according to an unofficial translation. The two countries intend to sign and ratify the deal this year (see 2006190009), which would increase market access for a range of goods and services and improve regulatory alignment between the two governments. China also said the deal would improve rules of origin procedures and customs processes and remove a range of technical trade barriers.
Some new provisions within the USMCA seem to make claims of U.S. goods returned under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9801 for U.S. origin goods much less important than was the case under NAFTA. Kevin Riddell, director-trade and regulatory compliance at Tremco Group in Canada, highlighted the changes, which allow for USMCA claims on U.S. origin goods, in a recent LinkedIn post. While Riddell said he hadn't tried to enter U.S. goods under the new USMCA provisions, a CBP spokesperson confirmed that “a USMCA claim may be made on goods of U.S. origin, provided it satisfies its applicable rule of origin and all other requirements of the Agreement have been met.”
China announced a ban on certain animals and animal products from Rwanda due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, a July 13 notice said, according to an unofficial translation. The import ban applies to “cloven hoofed animals and their related products,” directly or indirectly from Rwanda, including products originating from those animals that have not been processed or are “still likely to spread disease although processed.” Customs authorities will return or destroy any imports, China said.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee Export Working Group issued draft recommendations this week ahead of the COAC’s July 15 meeting. The group recommends that CBP review, compare and eliminate any “duplicative and unnecessary” data elements between the Electronic Export Information and Air, Ocean, and Rail manifest. The group also recommended that the duplicative data elements only be required from the owner of the data “since it is the most timely and accurate source,” and recommended that CBP “provide a data-flow and process-flow map” for government agencies. The map would define where data originates, “such as the EEI, the Manifest, and Departure messages,” the group said.