The Canada Border Services Agency issued a customs notice on the delayed sunset date for legacy release options as part of the Single Window Initiative and Integrated Import Declaration transition (see 1910040050). The agency pushed the sunset date to April 1, 2020.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade will increase checks on several online imports to limit counterfeit and illegally imported goods, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in an Oct. 21 report. Vietnam will place more scrutiny on cosmetics, jewelry, nutritional supplements, apparel, footwear and alcohol, the report said, and is expected to begin later this month and continue through 2020. The increased enforcement will include “spot checks” conducted at businesses running e-commerce platforms, the HKTDC said. Businesses that trade in illegal goods or violate intellectual property rights will “face further investigation and possible prosecution,” the report said.
China’s Changsha Customs recently introduced the country’s “two-step declaration” system in an effort to streamline cargo processing and expedite customs clearance, China’s General Administration of Customs said in an Oct. 23 notice, according to an unofficial translation. The system aims to “meet the needs of international trade” by allowing companies to avoid submitting paperwork “at one time,” allowing them to first submit “summary declarations” and later submit a “complete declaration” within two weeks. China plans to implement the two-step system, announced in August (see 1908150031), at 10 customs ports, and has already implemented it at Ningbo Customs (see 1908160016).
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Bahrain worth about $150 million, to refurbish an “Oliver Hazard Perry Class ship,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in an Oct. 23 press release. The principal contractor for the sale has not yet been chosen.
The U.S. is extending a national emergency to continue sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the White House said in an Oct. 22 message to Congress. The emergency is being extended due to the continued “widespread violence and atrocities” in the Congo that “pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the” U.S. foreign policy, the White House said. The sanctions, introduced in a 2006 executive order, block property and transactions with certain people and entities in the Congo.
The Trump administration removed sanctions against Turkey it had imposed just one week earlier, drawing criticism and warnings from some Congress members of future sanctions if Turkey does not end military operations in Syria.
Britain's Department for International Trade on Oct. 22 released an updated report on the country’s trade agreements continuity for after it leaves the European Union. The report provides key statistics about the trade agreements, including the overall value of trade with countries covered by the agreements in terms of goods, services, exports, imports and more. The report also contains a table on continuity of trade agreements that Britain is targeting but has not yet completed.
China’s Ministry of Commerce recently announced application procedures for sugar and wool import quotas for 2020, according to an Oct. 21 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Companies must submit applications for China’s “Application and Distribution Procedures for Sugar Import Tariff Quotas” by Oct. 30, the HKTDC said. In the wool and “animal hair” sector, companies will be allocated quotas on a “first come, first served” basis “until all available quotas have been exhausted,” the report said.
The U.S. will take ownership of a North Korean cargo ship after it violated U.S. sanctions and United Nations Security Council resolutions, the Justice Department said in an Oct. 21 press release. The U.S. originally seized the ship, the “Wise Honest,” after it transported coal and “heavy machinery” to and from North Korea and used U.S. banks for various transactions (see 1905090030). “This order of forfeiture sinks the Wise Honest’s career as one of North Korea’s largest sanctions-busting vessels,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement, adding that the agency “will continue to pursue other property used to violate U.S. and international sanctions.”
The Congressional Research Service released a report Oct. 18 on with updates on U.S. sanctions on Turkey, Turkey’s military purchases from Russia, the potential for new sanctions and other possible U.S. options as Turkey’s military occupies northern Syria. The report details possible outcomes as Congress tries to impose its own set of sanctions on Turkey after the administration said it would lift sanctions in exchange for a ceasefire in Syria (see 1910180060).