Mexico is renewing temporary tariff increases on steel products under 186 tariff subheadings, according to a notice in the March 25 Diario Oficial. The across-the-board 15 percent tariff had originally been imposed on the same 186 tariff subheadings in June 2018, before apparently expiring on Jan. 31, 2019. The renewed tariff increases take effect March 26, and will remain in place for six months, the notice said.

Brunei Darussalam will on April 1 join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ system for exchanging electronic certificates of origin through the ASEAN Single Window (ASW), Singapore Customs said in a March 25 circular. "Brunei Darussalam will join Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam to commence live operation of the ASW for the electronic exchange of Form D under the [ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement],” the circular said. Use of the system by the original countries began Jan. 1, 2018, according to an earlier Singapore Customs circular.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued several counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and Iran-related designations, OFAC said in a March 26 notice. The designations include nine people and 14 entities linked to Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, according to the notice. OFAC also updated two Iran-related listings on the Specially Designated Nationals List.

The Department of Justice updated its policy manual provisions on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement to reflect changes in the requirements for retention of business records, according to the department. The new guidance, which took effect March 8, lifts a ban on the use of third-party messaging apps, including WeChat, WhatsApp and Snapchat, according to a report from Skadden Arps. The changes were made in light of “certain fast-growing economies, such as China and India, where WeChat and similar messaging apps are used extensively for legitimate business communications,” the report said.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 18-22 in case they were missed.

The Canada Border Services Agency plans to again push back the sunset date for legacy release options as part of the Single Window Initiative and Integrated Import Declaration transition, a CBSA spokesman said by email on March 26. Other Government Departments (OGD) service options pre-arrival review system (PARS), or SO 463, and release on minimum documentation (RMD), or SO 471, were set for decommissioning on April 1, 2019, CBSA announced last year. CBSA recently told members of the trade that the sunset date for OGD PARS (SO 463) and OGD RMD (SO 471) will now be in October.

It is unclear if Treasury's most recent North Korean sanctions will be enforced after reports surfaced on March 26 detailing opposing positions among the president, the White House administration and the Treasury Department.

In the March 25 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom reached a deal to maintain trade relationships with several countries in the Caribbean after it leaves the EU, the U.K. said in a news release. The agreement involves Barbados, Belize, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, The Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the U.K. said. The trade continuity agreement will allow for trade in rum and other goods "without any additional barriers or tariffs," the U.K. said. "The UK is seeking to provide continuity for existing EU trade agreements covering more than 70 countries that account for 11% of total UK trade and we are making good progress having recently signed agreements with Switzerland and Israel," it said.

An agreement to create a new European Union tariff-rate quota for poultry mostly from China will take effect April 1, according to a notice in the March 25 Official Journal. The agreement resolves a World Trade Organization dispute between the EU and China that was the subject of a WTO panel report issued in 2017. Under the agreement, the EU will set a TRQ of 6,060 tons for goods of tariff line 1602.3929 with an in-quota rate of 10.9%, allocating 6,000 tons of that quantity to China; and a TRQ of 660 tons for goods of tariff line 1602.3985 with an in-quota rate of 10.9%, allocating 600 tons to China. It will also set a first-come, first-served quota of 5,000 tons for tariff line 1602.3219, with an in-quota duty rate of 8 percent.