The European Commission recently added Mongolia to its list of countries under the European Union’s registered exporter system, according to a Jan. 3 KPMG post. The change allows Mongolia to participate in the EU’s system of certification of origin of goods that applies in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, according to the commission.
Country of origin cases
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru recently agreed to unified labeling requirements for certain apparel, textiles, footwear, leather and travel goods to ease compliance with labeling regulations for exporters in Hong Kong, China and elsewhere, according to a Dec. 31 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The new labeling requirements will take effect for footwear, leather and travel goods in November and for apparel in May 2021, the report said. The apparel labeling regulations require “product composition, care instructions and country of origin” to be placed on a “permanent label.” The labels for footwear, leather and travel goods must also contain certain materials disclosures, the report said.
An upgraded economic partnership between Singapore and New Zealand takes effect Jan. 1, changing rules-of-origin procedures, updating documentation for preferential tariff treatment and more, Singapore Customs said in a notice released Dec. 31. The updated agreement changes the requirement that all manufactured goods have to contain at least 40 percent content originating from Singapore or New Zealand and introduces a new formula to determine whether a good qualifies as originating. And while companies can continue to “operate on a self-certification basis” to qualify for preferential tariffs, the agreement adds new entities that can issue certifications “attesting to the origin of the good besides the manufacturer,” Singapore said. The notice also contains a table describing each of the deal’s changes and which members of the supply chain they will impact.
In the Dec. 30 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
More than half of the sanctions-related enforcement actions issued by the Treasury Department in 2019 involved supply chain violations, signaling that supply chain compliance is one of the most important factors in avoiding violations, according to a December report released by Kharon, a sanctions advisory firm. The penalties are mostly due to deficiencies in three main areas of supply chain compliance, Kharon said: companies that operated in “heightened-risk jurisdictions,” companies that operated “existing and newly acquired” foreign subsidiaries, and companies that showed deficiencies while monitoring actors in its supply chain.
In the Dec. 23 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The U.S. delegation to the World Trade Organization rejected a proposal from countries on how to reform the appellate body (see 1912090031), saying that without understanding how the appellate body's overreach problem developed, there's no reason to believe that restating the constraints on the appellate body's authority will work. In December, when the appellate body ceased to exist because of U.S. refusal to allow new appointees, the National Foreign Trade Council hired Tailwinds Global Strategy's Bruce Hirsh to put forward ideas of how to resolve the impasse
The United Kingdom on Dec. 20 released summaries of its trade agreements with Morocco, Kosovo and Jordan to take effect after Great Britain leaves the European Union. The summaries contain information on provisions on intellectual property, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, rules of origin, preferential tariffs and quotas, and more.
A “new collection format” for the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls’ Commodity Jurisdiction form DS-4076 is now available on the Defense Export Control and Compliance System portal, DDTC said in a Dec. 23 notice. The changes “address additional sources of jurisdiction considerations and refinements to the supporting information,” the notice said. Previous submissions are available through the DECCS CJ Launching Pad, the agency said. DDTC is urging users with existing forms in “Draft” status to review the form before submitting to “verify accuracy of the entire form.” For completed forms, the agency said, the original submission’s documentation is available as a PDF, which “ensures the historical accuracy of the submissions, while keeping the system in line with the current version of the form.”
The European Union plans to finish rolling out its electronic licensing regime for dual-use exports by 2021, said Gabriela Stoica, a lead analyst of digital trade policy at the European Commission. The regime is being tested by four member states -- Latvia, Italy, Romania and Greece -- and the commission plans to add Belgium as a pilot tester soon, Stoica said. In the program’s next step, the commission plans to launch an e-licensing platform for steel and aluminum imports under the EU’s prior surveillance licensing regime. Stoica said those e-licenses will be “fully live with all member states” by Dec. 31.