An antidumping duty on stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from China and Taiwan will be imposed, following an expiry review of the original duty order, the European Commission said in a Sept. 15 implementing regulation. The European Steel Association requested the review in May 2020, representing more than 25% of the total EU production of the subject merchandise. The dumping order specifically covers “flat-rolled products of stainless steel, not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced).”
Argentina recently announced new certification requirements for certain domestically produced and imported ceramic tiles and plates, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Sept. 17. The tiles and plates must disclose certain information on their “body or primary packaging,” regardless of their quality, HKTDC said. The new required information includes the name and unique tax identification code of the domestic producer or importer, the country of origin, the nominal content, the nature of the surface, information on any surface treatment applied after firing, and the manufacturer’s production identification or batch number, HKTDC said. Imported tiles and plates must comply with these and certain other requirements by Jan. 8, although some imports that fail to meet the requirements may be released to the importer as long as the goods enter into compliance within 30 days of their customs clearance date.
A day after the White House's primary spokesperson said that if there's an opportunity to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that's a discussion the U.S. could join, a former White House trade negotiator said the path to reentering the TPP is so steep that he doesn't think it's likely in the next few years.
The European Commission extended the antidumping duty order on imports of certain aluminum foil and foil in rolls originating from China to cover imports from Thailand, in two Sept. 15 implementing regulations, intending to address circumvention of the AD duties. The decision to extend the antidumping duties was made following an investigation into a spike in aluminum foil imports to the European Union from Thailand. Chinese companies evaded the up-to-35% antidumping duty by first shipping the goods to Thailand then sending them to the EU, the commission said in a press release.
The Biden administration is likely to increase export controls and sanctions enforcement in the next few years, Gibson Dunn lawyers said during a webinar this week. They also said the administration is likely to pursue enforcement in creative ways, including sometimes through disclosures with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
The United Kingdom has delayed until July 1, 2022, post-Brexit border checks on safety and security that had been scheduled to begin in January, Brexit minister David Frost said in a Sept. 14 statement. However, full customs declarations and controls will continue with their original Jan. 1 release date. The July 1 date will apply to Phytosanitary Certificates, physical checks on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) goods at Border Control Posts, and Safety and Security declarations on imports. The pre-notification requirements of SPS goods has been extended from Oct. 1 to Jan. 1, the statement said, and the new Export Health Certificate requirements extended from Oct. 1 to July 1.
Three former U.S. intelligence community or military members -- Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke -- entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, agreeing to pay more than $1.68 million to resolve export control violation charges, the Department of Justice said. The trio worked as senior managers at a United Arab Emirates-based company that carried out computer hacking operations to benefit the UAE government during 2016 to 2019, DOJ said. All three were told repeatedly that their work constituted a “defense service” under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, requiring a license from the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Nevertheless, all three continued their hacking without a license, court documents laid out.
The Census Bureau hopes to release its new online voluntary self-disclosure portal (see 2103100022) by the year's end or early January, said Kiesha Downs, chief of Census’ Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch. Downs, speaking during the Commerce Department’s Sept. 14 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting, said Census has been overwhelmed lately by a large number voluntary disclosures -- partly because the branch has lost some staff (see 2106080058) -- and hopes the new portal will help.
The European Commission opened a consulting period on amendments to its Blocking Statute, publishing an impact assessment on the regulation. The commission has received responses from the Italian Banking Association; Spectaris, the German Industrial Association for Optics, Photonics, Analytical and Medical Technology; the Medical Engineering Industry Association; and two anonymous sources. The consulting period will run for 12 weeks from the beginning of August. The impact assessment originally said that the blocking statute should be changed due to the increasing complexity and proliferation of extraterritorial sanctions and the European Union's exposure to certain third countries (see 2108110014). The blocking regulations are meant to protect EU businesses from extraterritorial sanctions, including those imposed by the U.S., which are increasingly leading to global sanctions compliance issues in Europe.
The United Kingdom published a list of reference documents for importers and exporters to view all of the U.K.'s preferential tariffs and Rule of Origin for the agreements within The Customs Tariff (preferential trade arrangements and tariff quotas). It's a list of the agreements maintained after Brexit. The list contains 73 documents, two for each party to an agreement, plus three for the Eastern and Southern African States.