The High Court of Australia ruled against the country’s customs agency when it said gummy vitamins are deemed “medicaments” and are not subject to import duties, according to a Feb. 7 KPMG post. The ruling, made Feb. 5, stemmed from a dispute over the correct customs classification of the vitamin gummies, which were imported into Australia and classified as “medicaments” by the importer. The country’s customs authority argued that the imports were “sugar confectionary” or “other food preparations,” which are subject to duties worth about 5 percent of the customs value.

India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade recently issued notices advising traders to indicate the “prescribed harmonized system” codes of items instead of using the “others” category for bills of entry and shipping bills, KPMG said in a Feb. 7 post. Some importers were not indicating the correct eight-digit HS code when filing a bill of entry, which led to errors in determining India’s import data, KPMG said. If the misclassification continues, India may introduce a licensing regime for items in the “others” category by “shifting items from a ‘free’ to ‘restricted’ category,” which will lead to higher customs duties.

India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs made changes to its customs clearance process to speed up clearance times for imports, India said in a Feb. 6 notice. The country is introducing “machine based automated clearance” for imported goods, which will allow customs officers to inspect the goods before the importer pays duties, allowing the goods to be cleared as soon as all fees are paid. Previously, customs officers could only inspect imports after the duties were paid, which led to delays in clearance. The system launched Feb. 6 as pilot programs at the Chennai and Nhava ports, and will “soon be rolled out to all ports across India,” the notice said, including inland container depots and airports. “This new initiative will fasten the Customs processes by not waiting for the duty payment and ... it will give additional time to importer who will now be able to pay the duties even while the goods are being verified by the Customs officer,” India said.

China recently banned the production and sale of “ultra-thin” plastic bags with thickness less than .025 mm and “polyethylene agricultural mulch” with thickness less than .01 mm, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in a Feb. 10 report. China also plans to ban sales of single-use “foam plastic tableware” and cotton swabs, the report said. China wants to promote recyclable materials, especially in plastics, and also has plans to substantially ban plastic waste imports by 2025 (see 2001210024).

The State Department approved a potential $1.867 billion military sale to India involving an air defense weapon system, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 10. The sale includes five radar systems and more than 200 missiles. The prime contractors are Raytheon and Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace.

The Department of Energy is seeking comments on a proposal to extend the 20-year term for authorizations of natural gas exports to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement, the agency said in a notice. The proposal would cover exports of domestically produced liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas and compressed gas liquid, and allow for exports to countries with which the U.S. does not have an agreement “requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas,” the Energy Department said. Under the proposal, existing non-FTA “authorization holders” could apply to extend their export terms through Dec. 21, 2050, on a “voluntary opt-in basis,” and the agency would issue future non-FTA export authorizations with a “standard export term” lasting through 2050, unless the applicant requests a shorter term. Comments are due by 4:30 p.m. EDT March 12.

Customs duties are estimated at $72 billion in the current fiscal year, and the White House projects that number will climb to $92 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. It projects that duties then will fall to $54 billion the following year.

U.S.-China Business Council members are in “crisis mode” as China continues to battle the coronavirus outbreak, which has caused disruptions in supply chains and hurt earnings, a USCBC spokesman said. While it is too early to predict how much of a sustained impact the virus will have on global trade, the USCBC is confident trade and business with China will normalize. “Everyone I’ve spoken with fully expects life to return to normal,” USCBC spokesman Doug Barry said in an email, “but for now are taking one day at a time.”

The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​​

Kenya recently introduced a bill that would require all customs agents and freight forwarders to undergo professional customs training, according to a Feb. 4 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The bill, introduced Jan. 21, aims to improve professionalism within the trade industry, increase compliance with the country’s customs regulations, reduce cargo delays at ports, improve revenue collection and lower costs of business, the report said. The HKTDC said the “lack of expertise in customs clearance” has become a “growing problem for the country,” and the bill is likely to become law before 2021. The U.S. and Kenya recently agreed to begin trade negotiations, and the Kenyan president said the country is committed to ending corruption and providing a more efficient trading environment for U.S. companies (see 2002060071).