China is temporarily eliminating import tariffs on certain oil-meal products in an effort to find an alternative for soybean meal, according to a March 11 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 2019 tariff change was set for this, along with other selected commodities, at the end of 2018 “to encourage oil meal imports as a substitute,” USDA said, as a result of the sharp drop in soybean imports in 2018 because of the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. USDA defines the oil-related products as “plant-based oil meals,” which includes oil residue resulting from extractions of peanut oil, cotton seeds, sunflower seeds, linseeds, rapeseeds, coconuts and “other plant products used in animal feeding.” China has eliminated import tariffs on those products for 2019, starting Jan. 1, the report said.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control published updates to its Specially Designated Nationals List by listing nine people associated with Venezuela, according to two OFAC notices. Both notices, which will be published in the Federal Register, announce sanctions that were issued last month. The first notice lists four people with ties to Venezuela whose sanctions were first announced by OFAC on Feb. 25, and the second notice lists five people associated with Venezuela whose sanctions were announced Feb. 15.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control amended a general license related to U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, according to a March 14 OFAC notice. The license allows transactions with PDV Holding and CITGO Holding, two oil companies and subsidiaries of Petroleos de Venezuela, the U.S.-sanctioned and Venezuela state-owned oil company. The license also allows transactions with PDV Holding’s and CITGO Holding’s subsidiaries. The license changes the expiration date to automatically renew on the first day of each month, the notice said, and is “valid for a period of 18 months from the effective date” of the general license “or the date of any subsequent renewal of (the license), whichever is later.” The license, General License No. 7A, replaces General License No. 7, which was issued Jan. 28.
North Korea is using "increasingly advanced" ship-to-ship transfers to get around global sanctions on the country, the United Nations said in a recent report. Those techniques include "the disguising of vessels through ship identity theft and false Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmissions," the U.N. said. Other methods "include physical disguise of tankers of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the use of small, unregistered vessels, illegal name-changing and other forms of identity fraud, night transfers and the use of additional vessels for transshipment," the report said.
The U.S., the European Union and Canada announced additional Russian sanctions stemming from Russia's actions in Ukraine, according to media reports and a March 15 announcement by the U.S. Treasury Department. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control added six people and eight entities to its Specially Designated Nationals List, OFAC said in a notice, while Canada reportedly imposed sanctions on 114 people and 15 entities and the EU targeted eight security service officials and military commanders. Individuals or companies who trade with any of the blocked people or entities may be penalized under U.S. sanctions.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
Tunisia updated its list of items that are not allowed to be freely traded, according to a March 1 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The purpose of the list is to “control the trade of subsidized products and/or products subject to internal price controls,” the report said. Items on the list include livestock, honey, poultry, vegetables, fruit, grain, “fishery products” and wine, USDA said.
In the March 14 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue and Customs is delaying the effective date of a new policy interpretation that bars customs agents from using their own simplified procedure authorizations for customers that they directly represent. In a memo issued in August 2018, HMRC confirmed that authorization holders for certain simplified procedures -- including inward processing, outward processing relief, temporary admission and private customs warehousing -- must make declarations using these simplified procedures in their own name. “Where an agent wants to use their own simplified authorisation on behalf of a customer, they need to represent that customer indirectly, as the declaration must be made in the name of the person who holds the authorisation,” HMRC had said. The policy had been set to take effect April 1, at which point HMRC would have been set to “consider civil penalty action” for violations. But given that “there are multiple pressures on UK import and export business at this time,” HMRC will now allow until Oct. 1, 2019, for the change to take effect.
The European Union recently issued a guidance document on trade and customs procedures for the EU after the withdrawal of the United Kingdom if there is no deal between the EU and U.K, according to a posting on the Malta Customs website. The guidance includes information on country of origin status, entry requirements, special duty-free classification and special procedures including transit, warehousing and inward and outward processing.