Singapore Customs’ TradeNet will undergo system maintenance from 4 a.m. to noon local time on Sunday, June 14, it said in a May 28 notice. The agency is advising users to avoid submitting applications “involving amendment, cancellation, refund and stock related permit applications” during this time. This is in addition to usual maintenance on Sundays from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.
India lifted export restrictions on the painkiller paracetamol, the country’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a May 28 notice, effective immediately. India previously lifted export restrictions on formulations made of paracetamol but kept restrictions on the paracetamol active ingredient (see 2004200021).
China will ban imports of Indian pigs, wild boars and their products due to a recent outbreak of African swine fever in India, China’s General Administration of Customs said May 27, according to an unofficial translation. China said it will destroy all imported Indian pigs, boars and pig products, and if incoming ships or aircrafts have pigs or boars from India on board, they will be “sealed up” and not opened “without customs permission” during the cargo’s time in China. Violators of the ban will face customs penalties, China said.
The Directorate of Defense Controls’ Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025) will be unavailable from 11 p.m. EDT on May 29 through 8 a.m. EDT on June 1 for system maintenance, DDTC said in a May 28 notice. Users should save work in progress before the scheduled downtime, DDTC said.
A Texas man pleaded guilty to involvement in a scheme to illegally export 17 million cigarettes to Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said May 26. The cigarettes originated from a warehouse controlled and operated by Jose Francisco Guerra, who authorities later discovered owned a second warehouse with contraband cigarettes. The warehouses contained nearly 423 million contraband cigarettes destined for export to Mexico, ICE said. Authorities uncovered the scheme when they stopped a tractor trailer heading to Mexico with the cigarettes and a falsified shipping manifest, ICE said. The cigarettes on the truck also did not have “the applicable tax stamp” required by Texas law. As part of his plea, Guerra agreed to forfeit his customs broker license and various equipment and assets. The total value of the seized equipment and assets was about $88 million, ICE said. Guerra faces up to 10 years in prison and a potential $250,000 fine.
The House of Representatives passed a bill on May 27 that would authorize U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials for abuses of the country’s Uighur population. The sanctions included in the bill, which passed 413-1 in the House and cleared the Senate on May 14, have been criticized by China and will likely lead to heightened U.S.-China trade tensions (see 1912040046). The bill now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.
Mexico's Economy Minister Luz de la Mora said that the uniform regulations that pertain to issues outside the auto industry will be ready by July 1 -- but strongly suggested that the uniform regulations will not be ready by the date of entry into force of the U.S.‐Mexico‐Canada Agreement. “There has been great progress on non-auto URs, and they will be ready by July 1, as for the auto rules of origin, we expect to advance substantially in coming weeks,” she said during a Cato Institute interview May 27. She said that Mexico wants “to make sure the transition to the new regime is effective, efficient.”
The Trump administration is ending sanctions waivers for certain activities with nuclear projects in Iran, the State Department said May 27. The move will end waivers covering “all remaining” Iranian nuclear projects that originated under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which allowed Chinese, Russian and European companies to work on Iranian nuclear sites.
President Donald Trump said that the administration will begin the process of revoking Hong Kong's differential treatment from China, including its more lenient "export controls on dual-use technologies, with few exceptions."
Wassenaar Arrangement members have begun virtual negotiations on export controls, in observance of mitigation measures recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Heidi Grant, the director of the Defense Department’s Defense Technology Security Administration. The virtual negotiations, which Grant believes have never been done before, started after the pandemic forced the group to cancel in-person meetings for the 2020 cycle, including an April Experts Group meeting (see 2004290044). Grant said the group has submitted 90 export control proposals for negotiations this year, although it remains unclear whether members will be able to vote remotely.