The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced three settlements worth more than a combined $600 million with the German, Austrian and Italian branches of UniCredit Group banks, which violated multiple U.S. sanctions, OFAC said in an April 15 press release. The branches committed several violations of U.S.-imposed sanctions, including sanctions on Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria, OFAC said, and violated the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations. OFAC reached a roughly $550 million settlement with UniCredit Germany, a $20 million settlement with UniCredit Austria and a $37 million settlement with UniCredit Italy, an enforcement notice said.
Mexico will seek to crack down on corruption, triple duty collections and greatly reduce maritime port and Northern border wait times under a recently announced reform plan, General Administrator of Customs Ricardo Peralta Saucedo said in an interview with Mexican news agency Notimex posted by the Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations on April 15.
The White House announced on the evening of April 11 that it is nominating Nazak Nikakhtar, the current assistant secretary of Commerce for industry and analysis, to be under secretary of Commerce for industry and security.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
A new single market covering most of Africa is now set to take effect, but several roadblocks remain in the way before full implementation, according to an alert from the British law firm Freshfields. The Gambia became the 22nd country to ratify the agreement April 2, triggering the 22-country threshold for the agreement coming into force 30 days after all 22 ratifications are filed with the African Union. The planned single market and eventual customs union has been signed by 52 African countries, although the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria, declined to join. Despite some optimism surrounding the agreement, which reportedly could double trade within Africa if tariffs are eliminated and non-tariff barriers are reduced, there’s still some work to be done. A schedule of tariff concessions still needs to be developed, as do annexes on trade in services, among other parts of the agreement. The remaining portions are “expected to be concluded by 2020,” the alert said.
In the April 12 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Kingdom recently put up two new webpages to help businesses get ready for importing and exporting with the European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The checklists include guidance documents at each step with more detailed information on what new importers and exporters must do to keep trading with the EU after a no-deal Brexit. The EU and U.K. recently postponed the latter’s withdrawal from the EU until Oct. 31 (see 1904100077).
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade on April 12 posted details of its recently concluded trade continuity agreements with Norway and Iceland, as well as two letters on temporary treatment for Norwegian and Icelandic products after Brexit. The agreements, which take effect in the event the U.K. leaves the European Union with no transition deal in place, would keep tariffs at current levels rather than most-favored nation rates.
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 12 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations (CAAAREM) issued a circular April 12 correcting earlier information it disseminated on recent changes to the Mexican tariff schedule. The new circular says some tariff rate increases from 20 percent to 25 percent on goods of chapters 61, 62 and 63 will take effect May 6, not April 11 as it previously reported (see 1904110057), and remain in effect for 180 days. The circular was posted by the trade consultancy AJR Mexico.