China wants to import more fruit and other agricultural products from the Philippines, Chinese president Xi Jinping said during a meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, China’s State Council said in an Aug. 29 press release, according to an unofficial translation. Xi told Duterte that China wants to “implement major cooperation projects” with the Philippines and “is willing to import more high-quality fruits and agricultural products,” the press release said.
The Customs Department of Thailand will use TradeLens, a blockchain-based “shipment tracking and information sharing platform,” to improve customs procedures, according to an Aug. 29 report from the Bangkok Post. TradeLens, which is also used by Singapore, is an online trade platform that “enables efficient and accurate” tracking of cargo and information sharing, the report said. TradeLens will allow customs authorities to see shipping data when containers leave the port of origin, which will allow for more time to prepare for the shipments and speed up inspections, the report said. The blockchain technology may increase “trust among trading partners because the record of all transactions is shared within the network and permissioned parties can access the data in real time,” according to the report. TradeLens was developed by AP Moller-Maersk and IBM. Thailand Customs has been working on integrating TradeLens with IBM since October 2018, the report said. “The platform will be implemented at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri first and later at Bangkok port,” according to the report.
The Federal Maritime Commission would like to update the processes for revoking or denying ocean transportation intermediary (OTI) licenses, the agency said in a notice. While the FMC previously updated the processes in 2015, "the revised process, however, has proved to be imprecise in certain respects and has not led to the reduction in time and expense that was anticipated," it said. The agency's proposal would include a new hearing procedure that is "based on the procedure for formal small Shipping Act claims," it said. "The new hearing procedure would be overseen by an administrative law judge and would represent the type of expedient, low-burden process sought in the previous rulemaking while fulfilling the need for more detailed procedural requirements." Comments on the proposal are due Oct. 3.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments at regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2019-0012, on tariff and non-tariff barriers in 61 countries, the European Union and the countries of the Arab League (some of which are included in the list that follows). The topics stakeholders can comment on are wide-ranging -- from tariffs, customs practices, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures not based on science, to subsidies, intellectual property enforcement, data localization, discriminatory licensing or regulatory actions and investment restrictions. They also asked about Buy America-equivalent policies in other markets. The countries under review for the annual trade barriers report are: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and Vietnam. Comments are due by midnight Oct. 31.
The International Chamber of Commerce is expected to revise its incoterms to “clearly and accurately reflect current trade practices” when it releases its new set of the international commercial terms in September, according to an Aug. 29 post from Export Solutions.
Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign released a detailed trade agenda that talked about how he would undo some of what he called President Donald Trump's "disastrous trade war," and how he would advance trade liberalization, if he were elected.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated two people and three entities under its North Korean sanctions regulations and added a ship to its Specially Designated Nationals List, Treasury said in an Aug. 30 press release. OFAC designated Taiwan-based Huang Wang Ken and Chen Mei Hsiang and Taiwan-based companies Jui Pang Shipping Co Ltd (Jui Pang) and Jui Zong Ship Management Co Ltd (Jui Zong). OFAC also sanctioned Hong Kong-based Jui Cheng Shipping Company Limited and added Shang Yuan Bao, a ship, to its SDN List.
A federal court in Philadelphia sentenced an exporter of protected wildlife to six months in prison for smuggling terrapins to Canada in violation of the Lacey Act, the Justice Department said in an Aug. 29 press release. David Sommers of Levittown, Pennsylvania, had pleaded guilty in February to Lacey Act false labeling violations related to the misdeclaration of diamondback terrapins on a commercial invoice and international air waybill he submitted to a carrier for a shipment to Canada.
A recent Canada Border Service Agency policy update on how it administers antidumping normal value reviews seems to mark a notable shift away from a prospective system of trade remedies, lawyers at Borden Ladner said in a recent blog post. The new policy, which was announced (see 1907190017) in a July 19 memo, reduces predictability about whether a sales price "will be sufficient to avoid duty liability when goods are imported into the Canadian market," the firm said. CBSA disagreed with the characterization and said the policies "were informed by consultation with industry, workers, and other stakeholders."
In the Aug. 29 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: