The Dutch Senate approved legislation that requires companies to examine and prevent the use of child labor in supply chains, the Netherlands announced on May 14. According to an alert from the Akin Gump law firm, "the Dutch law requires companies doing business in the Netherlands or those who provide goods or services to Dutch consumers -- including only through online means, if there is explicit targeting of the Dutch market -- to assess their supply chains to identify any child labor risks and then develop diligence and action plans to address and mitigate any such risks they find."

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of May 22 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Importers of goods from Vietnam into Mexico cannot currently request preferential duty treatment under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations said in a May 21 circular posted by consultancy AJR Comercio Exterior. Though Vietnam has notified Mexico of the format of its certificate of origin to request preferential treatment, some doubts have surfaced about certificates that are being presented by importers, CAAAREM said.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will continue trade in swine products "in the event African swine fever (ASF) is reported in either country," the chief veterinary officers from both countries said in a joint statement. "For business continuity, Canada and the United States have worked to modify their export certificates to allow trade of live swine, swine semen, pet food and animal by-products and meat to continue trade in approved disease-free zones in the event of an ASF outbreak," the CVOs said. The two countries previously set out principles for trade and zoning to help slow the spread of diseases.

Turkey will reduce import tariffs on 22 U.S. products in response to the U.S.’s May 16 decision to cut tariffs on Turkish steel imports, Turkey’s Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan announced May 22 on Twitter. Pekcan said Turkey will reduce tariffs from $521.2 million to $260.6 million on certain U.S. imports after the U.S. announced it decreased tariffs on Turkish iron and steel from 50 percent to 25 percent. The U.S. also said in its announcement that it was terminating Turkey’s eligibility for benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences. “We’ll keep working on eradicating all obstacles to our bilateral trade and achieving 75 billion USD trade volume target set by our Presidents,” Pekcan said. The 22 U.S. products affected by Turkey's tariff reduction include passenger cars, alcohol, tobacco, cosmetics and polyvinyl chloride, Reuters reported May 21, saying that Turkey plans to cut in half the tariff rates on at least those five products and lower the rates on other goods. The new tariff rates will take effect this week, Reuters said.

The Census Bureau emailed some tips "on how to address the most frequent messages that were generated in [the Automated Export System] for this month." Response code 341, which is a warning that involves ultimate consignee information, occurs when "the Party Type is C for Ultimate Consignee and the ‘To Be Sold en Route’ indicator is reported as Yes," Census said. "Incomplete ultimate consignee information may be declared on an EEI when a ‘To Be Sold en Route’ declaration has been made," it said. "However, the actual ultimate consignee must be declared within 4 days of the Estimated Date of Export. Verify the ‘To Be Sold en Route’ indicator, correct the shipment and resubmit." Response code 505 is a fatal error that involves reporting values with non-numerics, Census said. "The Value of Goods must be declared on an EEI as numeric. Round to whole dollars, right justify and zero fill unused positions," the agency said. "Verify the Value of Goods, correct the shipment and resubmit."

The United Kingdom published its 2019 Cyber Attacks (Asset Freezing) Regulations, which will impose new European Union sanctions announced May 17. The sanctions regime, established by the EU Council, allows the EU to “impose targeted restrictive measures to deter and respond to cyber-attacks” that “constitute an external threat” to the EU, according to the announcement. The regime also allows the EU to sanction people or entities who provide “financial, technical or material” support for cyber-attacks or “who are involved in other ways.” Sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.

Foreign manufacturers need to be aware that their products may be covered by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security's listing of telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei on the Entity List, even if they aren't manufactured in the U.S., according to an alert by law firm Sheppard Mullin. U.S. export controls on Huawei and its affiliates may apply to a substantial scope of foreign goods that contain more than 25 percent U.S.-origin content. Under the BIS de minimis rule, products are subject to the Export Administration Regulations -- and consequently new license requirements for Huawei -- if more than one-fourth of the product is composed of U.S.-origin content that is also controlled under the EAR, except for “EAR99 items” or products that do not require a license, the alert said.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security said the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) scheduled a partially open meeting June 4 in Washington. The public session will include an export enforcement update, regulations update, working group reports, an Automated Export System (AES) update, and presentations of papers or comments by the public. The open session will be accessible via teleconference to 25 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. To join via teleconference, submit inquiries by May 29 to Yvette Springer at Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov. A limited number of seats will also be available for the public session.

China recently announced the repeal of labeling submission requirements for pre-packaged food, and added new functionalities to its online customs systems to facilitate value-added tax refunds. It also set new standards for electronically submitted documents, as well as new inspection procedures for auto parts at the Port of Shanghai. The following is an update on recent customs and trade-related actions by China: