President Donald Trump said he doesn’t think China will retaliate for the U.S.’s planned 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods scheduled to take effect in December, Trump told reporters Aug. 15.
A trade credit insurer will settle for about $345,000 after it violated the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in an Aug. 16 enforcement notice. The company, Maryland-based Atradius Trade Credit Insurance, allegedly completed transactions with sanctioned entities.
The Bureau of Industry and Security renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and added 46 more of Huawei’s non-U.S. affiliates to the Entity List. The changes, which take effect Aug. 19, extend the general license’s expiration date from Aug. 19 to Nov. 18 and make several other technical changes to entries on the Entity List, including adding new aliases and addresses.
The Canada Border Services Agency is changing procedures for submitting post-arrival amendments in e-manifest, it said in an Aug. 14 customs notice. “Effective immediately, if post-arrival amendments need to be made to key data elements on primary cargos (all modes), house bills or conveyance transmissions; or, if a cargo and/or conveyance arrival message were sent in error prior to the actual arrival, warehouse operators, carriers, freight forwarders and/or their services providers will be required to present a completed Form BSF673 in duplicate to the local CBSA commercial office,” CBSA said. “Form BSF673 must be completed and signed by an authorized representative of the client before post-arrival corrections on key data elements are processed by the CBSA,” the agency said.
Mexico is again allowing more time for importers to comply with new certificate of compliance requirements for some Mexican product standards at the time of entry, the Latin American Confederation of Customs Brokers said in a recent circular. An additional 15 days have been added to a grace period that ended Aug. 12 for importers to obtain a certificate of compliance from a recognized certification body. Until the time period expires, importers that have not yet obtained the certificate may continue their current operations unchanged, as long as they submitted their request to the certification body by May 31 and include a receipt number for the request in their entry documentation. Mexico is granting the extension because of the volume of requests that have been submitted and are still pending the conformity evaluation process, the circular said.
Singapore’s TradeNet, the country’s trade facilitation system, will undergo maintenance on Aug. 18 from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m local time, Singapore Customs said in an Aug. 14 notice. Singapore is advising companies to not use the system during that time.
Singapore Customs issued updated requirements and duty treatment for the blending of petroleum by refineries and licensed warehouses, according to an Aug. 13 notice. Singapore said “petroleum licensees” are exempt from paying duties on gasoline and diesel if they “undertake blending activities” that involve the gasoline and diesel in licensed premises. Singapore said duties are paid “on the final blended product if it is dutiable and is removed from the licensed premises for local consumption.” The notice also details which specific “blending activities” are exempt from duties and when licensees are required to keep a “blending schedule for Customs’ audit purposes.”
China is banning imports of pigs and pig-related products from Slovakia, China’s General Administration of Customs said in an Aug. 6 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The ban is in response to the recent outbreak of African swine fever in Slovakia, the press release said.
China approved two locations as “quarantine assessment and acceptance centres” for imports of “chilled aquatic products,” according to an Aug. 15 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The locations are Sunan Shuofang International Airport (Jiangsu) and Yiwu (Zhejiang), the report said. HKTDC said both will operate under China’s General Administration of Customs.
China’s General Administration of Customs announced 17 measures to improve Qingdao Customs, including port upgrades, “a long-term service docking mechanism” and other updates to create a “smart customs” port, China said in an Aug. 15 press release, according to an unofficial translation. Changes include improvements to Qingdao’s customs clearance process for “bonded and delivered goods” and a reform of customs tax “collection and management.” The changes will also expand the port’s “capacity … and shipping” and is aimed at “promoting the transformation and upgrading of the port,” the press release said.