Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices for March 13 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
Natural Resources Canada released an updated list of Harmonized System tariff codes that will be affected by coming energy efficiency regulations, the Canada Border Services Agency said in an emailed message. The "list of HS codes for regulated energy-using products has been revised to reflect the Amendment 14 to the Energy Efficiency Regulations coming into force on April 30, 2019," it said in the notice. Import requirements will apply to the following regulated energy-using products: battery chargers; commercial pre-rinse spray valves; metal halide lamp ballasts; microwave-ovens; small electric motors; walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers; whole-home dehumidifiers. The list of codes includes "effective dates and expiry dates for each of the affected HS codes."
Pakistan is changing regulations surrounding food labels, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a March 7 report. The regulatory order, which was issued by Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce and took effect Feb. 19, requires label information to include “a minimum 66% shelf life at the time of clearance of goods” and “labeling of nutritional values and usage instructions in Urdu and English,” according to the report. The new regulations also requires “the Halal Certificate issuing authority to be a member of either IHAF [International Halal Accreditation Forum] or SMIIC [Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries].”
Japan revised its beef and pork safeguards to reflect the recent trade agreement signed between Japan and the European Union, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a March 8 report. The Japan-EU agreement, which took effect Feb. 1, revises Japanese safeguards on volumes of beef and pork imports for all EU countries, the report said. “The revision removes EU imports from the trigger conditions which count imports only from countries with which Japan does not have a free trade agreement,” according to the report. Japan made a similar revision to its safeguards as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership entered into force on Dec. 30, 2018.
The U.K. Parliament voted March 13 that the U.K. should not leave the European Union without a deal, paving the way for another vote that could seek to delay that departure beyond the March 29 deadline. Although the vote is not legally binding, it formally signaled Parliament’s opposition to a no-deal Brexit -- the possibility of the U.K. leaving the EU without an agreed framework for cross-border transactions. The measure passed 321-278. A March 14 vote on another amendment on whether to delay Brexit is expected, according to reports.
If the United Kingdom crashes out of the European Union in 17 days, it has a plan on what its tariff schedule will be, but John Dickerman, head of the Washington office of the Confederation of British Industries, said that there's no answer on who will be ready to take the manifest information from exporters the day after Brexit. "That's a huge challenge," he said.
The United Kingdom would temporarily set tariffs at zero for nearly 90 percent of imported goods should it leave the European Union with no transition deal in place, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a March 13 press release announcing a draft tariff and customs scheme in the run-up to a vote in Parliament on whether to leave with no deal.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
In the March 12 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: