The Public Health Agency of Canada said that workers who are essential for the movement of goods and people, such as truck drivers, railroaders, flight crews and mariners, will still be allowed to cross into Canada without having to self-isolate after arrival. “These workers are asked to closely self-monitor, and self-isolate immediately should they exhibit any symptoms. It is recommended that employers in these sectors conduct active daily monitoring of their staff for COVID-19 symptoms,” the Canadian government said.
The Canada Border Services Agency will allow a new grace period “to submit accounting declarations for imported goods released on minimum documentation,” the CBSA said in a notice. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic “the CBSA has decided to provide for a 45 business days grace period for late accounting penalties,” it said. “Clients will not have to submit an application to have late accounting penalties waived. This applies to transactions released from March 11, 2020, to May 14, 2020, inclusively.”
The Canada Border Services Agency will now allow 120 days to submit corrections “following a CBSA trade compliance verification where errors were found,” the CBSA said in a customs notice.
Indonesia plans to introduce a series of import and tax measures to help companies impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a March 19 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The measures, which take effect April 1, will allow certain companies to postpone payments of import duties for six months and will exempt all import duties for six months for 19 “selected” manufacturing sectors, the report said. Indonesia will also streamline its value-added tax refund procedure for exports and provide “expedited” export-import processing for traders “deemed to be in good standing.” The country also plans to relax import licensing rules for steel and certain food items, including sugar, flour and salt.
China is lowering transportation costs for importers and exporters in an effort to urge companies to resume production, according to a March 19 government notice and a March 16 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. China said it will waive “port construction fees” levied on traders from March 1 through June 30 and will offer refunds to companies that have already paid fees. In addition, certain companies will “see their oil pollution damage compensation halved” during that period.
Industry should expect delays in licensing processing and commodity jurisdiction requests due to reduced staffing amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said March 19. The DDTC is also urging industry to submit disclosures through email to DTCC-CaseStatus@state.gov. All “email material” should be submitted on company letterhead in a PDF format. DDTC is not requiring duplicate hard copies but will accept physical mail if a disclosure cannot be submitted through email.
The language of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement says that in order for the treaty to take effect on June 1 -- as U.S. officials have told Congress they want -- the countries would have to agree that they're ready 12 days from now. Kenneth Smith Ramos, a former top negotiator of the NAFTA rewrite, said the three countries cannot say they've completed their internal procedures by then. “#NotHappening,” he wrote in English at the end of a tweet in Spanish.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned five United Arab Emirates companies for buying Iranian oil, Treasury said in a March 19 press release. The companies bought “hundreds of thousands” of metric tons of petroleum products from the National Iranian Oil Company, which was sanctioned by OFAC in 2008. The companies include Petro Grand FZE, Alphabet International DMCC, Swissol Trade DMCC, Alam Althrwa General Trading LLC and Alwaneo LLC Co.
Agricultural exporters and shippers are losing “hundreds of millions of dollars” due to shipping uncertainty and cargo detention penalties caused by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. Friedmann was critical of the Federal Maritime Commission, which has yet to finalize a proposed rule issued last year that would provide guidance about how the FMC assesses the fairness of demurrage and detention practices. The rule’s public comment period ended in October.
As more local shelter-in-place orders are issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, brokers and forwarders should examine each order to determine whether their services are exempt, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an email. “However, based upon the Order to Shelter in Place issued by the Public Health Officer of Alameda County, California two days ago, it would seem that the activities of forwarders and customs brokers would fall within the exemption provided, as those activities are essential to keep goods moving in commerce,” it said. Exempted services include “shipping services, companies that supply other essential businesses with supplies necessary to operate or that ship goods or services to residences, and companies that are engaged in public transportation,” it said.