The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:​​

Tunisia updated its list of items that are not allowed to be freely traded, according to a March 1 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The purpose of the list is to “control the trade of subsidized products and/or products subject to internal price controls,” the report said. Items on the list include livestock, honey, poultry, vegetables, fruit, grain, “fishery products” and wine, USDA said.

In the March 14 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue and Customs is delaying the effective date of a new policy interpretation that bars customs agents from using their own simplified procedure authorizations for customers that they directly represent. In a memo issued in August 2018, HMRC confirmed that authorization holders for certain simplified procedures -- including inward processing, outward processing relief, temporary admission and private customs warehousing -- must make declarations using these simplified procedures in their own name. “Where an agent wants to use their own simplified authorisation on behalf of a customer, they need to represent that customer indirectly, as the declaration must be made in the name of the person who holds the authorisation,” HMRC had said. The policy had been set to take effect April 1, at which point HMRC would have been set to “consider civil penalty action” for violations. But given that “there are multiple pressures on UK import and export business at this time,” HMRC will now allow until Oct. 1, 2019, for the change to take effect.

The European Union recently issued a guidance document on trade and customs procedures for the EU after the withdrawal of the United Kingdom if there is no deal between the EU and U.K, according to a posting on the Malta Customs website. The guidance includes information on country of origin status, entry requirements, special duty-free classification and special procedures including transit, warehousing and inward and outward processing.

Mexico’s secretary of economy hopes to publish a decree later this week that will increase duties to 15 percent on 186 tariff lines, according to a report in El Universal. The tariff increase will apply to the steel, textile and apparel and footwear sectors, the report said. The steel tariff is being imposed to “avoid injury to domestic industry by worldwide steel overproduction" and the illicit means by which metals are imported into Mexico, it said.

A “major” Hong Kong retail chain is requiring local suppliers to notify the chain 12 weeks before they make price increases, prompting suppliers to allege a breach of competition law, according to a March 13 U.S. Department of Agriculture report. The 12-week advance notice would allow the retailer to obtain “sensitive commercial data” that would likely be beneficial, the report said, because the retailer also buys direct from overseas suppliers and carries its own branded products. “The information requested from suppliers is conducive to the pricing of the retailer’s own products,” USDA said. The report does not name the chain, but calls it a “major supermarket.”

China recently issued a national food safety standard for vegetable oil, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The standard, which was implemented in late 2018, provides standards for “crude vegetable oil, edible vegetable oil, edible vegetable blend oil and various edible vegetable oils used in frying food,” USDA said. The standard does not apply to “edible oil products, such as edible hydrogenated oil, margarine, shortening, cocoa butter substitute, whipped cream, and powdered oil,” USDA said. The standard includes certain requirements for the physical and chemical makeups of the oils.

Indonesia and Australia signed a trade agreement that provides tariff benefits for Australia and eases restrictions on import licenses on certain agricultural products, according to a notice from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The agreement, called the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, provides Australia with lowered tariffs and “import license advantages” on “live cattle, frozen beef, sheep meat, feed grains, citrus products, carrots, and potatoes,” according to a March 8 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a report reminding U.S. exporters that Hong Kong’s policy regarding bans of U.S. poultry and eggs that may have been subject to an avian influenza outbreak defines the effective date as the date of departure from the U.S. The practice ensures U.S. poultry products on their way to Hong Kong can access the Chinese market when an outbreak occurs, even if the goods were produced during the avian influenza “incubation period.” Products produced before the incubation period will be accepted from the “affected country,” as long as they were shipped before the ban took effect, USDA said. “However, once the ban is imposed,” the report said, “products originating from or processed in the AI infected county well before the AI incubation period are not allowed entry to Hong Kong.”