The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) released an updated list of Harmonized Schedule codes that are subject to the agency's requirements, the Canada Border Services Agency said in a March 25 email. The only updates, which are effective April 1, provide a new range of codes -- 2914.11.0000 to 2914.19.0000 -- instead of only 2914.19.0000, according to the revised list.
Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng said China is looking to expand imports, lower tariffs and “facilitate customs clearance to better share the opportunities” with the rest of the world, according to a March 24 report by Xinhua, a state-run news agency. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum in Beijing, Han also said China will strengthen intellectual property rights protections while also allowing “foreign companies to achieve better development in fair competition” in China, Xinhua’s report said. "We will continue to relax controls over foreign investment access, reduce the negative list for foreign investment, and allow wholly foreign-invested enterprises in more areas," Han said, according to the report. The report also said China will add a new section to the “Shanghai pilot free trade zone” and introduce policies to build a “Hainan free trade port.”
Chinese Customs seized more than 300,000 tons of smuggled imported trash in a scheme that involved at least 115 suspects and 22 smuggling groups, according to a report by state-run news agency Xinhua. China imports solid waste as a source of raw materials, the report said, but will “phase out and completely halt such imports” by the end of 2019 “except for those containing resources that are not substitutable.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, told fair trade and health activists in Oregon that he's not comfortable advancing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement the way it's written now. Blumenauer, D-Ore., held a town hall March 21, which was attended by members of Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, health care unions and other liberal groups, according to a blog post by the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security said the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) scheduled a partially open meeting April 2 in Washington. The public session will include an export enforcement update, regulations update, working group reports, an Automated Export System (AES) update, and presentations of papers or comments by the public. The open session will be accessible via teleconference to 20 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. To join via teleconference, submit inquiries by March 26 to Yvette Springer at Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov. A limited number of seats will also be available for the public session.
The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs is expanding the access and breadth of Transitional Simplified Procedures that will be put into place if the U.K. leaves the European Union with no transition deal, as is currently set to happen April 11. TSP will now be available at all U.K. ports if the U.K. leaves without a deal (instead of just roll-on, roll-off ports), and will give importers a longer grace period before they have to begin filing customs declarations and paying duties for goods from the EU, HMRC said in a March 22 press release.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the State Department and the U.S. Coast Guard issued an update to its maritime petroleum shipping advisory to warn of deceptive shipping practices by Syria and highlight sanctions risks U.S. companies may face if trading with Syria or Iran. The update, a 10-page report that includes lists of ships that have “engaged in sanctionable conduct,” is aimed at “shipping companies, vessel owners, managers, operators, insurers, and financial institutions” who may face “significant U.S. sanctions risks.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Venezuelan state-run bank and five related entities, OFAC said in a March 22 notice, increasing pressure on the Nicolas Maduro-led regime in potentially the most impactful move against the country since January, when the U.S. sanctioned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A, the country's state-run oil company.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
In the March 22 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: