The European Union is setting to almost zero its long-standing retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. products for U.S. distributions of antidumping and countervailing duties to affected U.S. industries, it said in a notice. With distributions amounting to only a few thousand this year, the tariff, which applies to corn of EU subheading 0710.40.00, jeans of EU subheading 6204.62.31, mobile cranes of heading 8705.10.00 and eyeglasses frames of former subheading 9003.19.00, will fall to 0.001%, down from 4.3% last year. The new tariff rates take effect May 1.

The European Court of Justice on April 30 upheld a controversial provision of the recent trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, clearing the way for full ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The court ruled that the investment court system set out in CETA does not conflict with EU treaties. “The decision by the Court means that no changes have to be made to the text of the EU-Canada agreement and Member States' ratifications can proceed,” the European Commission said in a press release. “Equally, no change will be required in the ICS provisions included in the agreements with Singapore, Mexico and Vietnam. The Commission will continue to negotiate the Investment Court System in bilateral agreements with other partners,” the release said. “The agreement with Canada is under provisional application since September 2017 and can only enter fully into force once ratified by all Member States and concluded by the Council.”

Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 30 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Global Affairs Canada issued a notice to importers on April 29 to "inform importers of the procedures governing the administration of provisional safeguards, in the form of tariff rate quotas (TRQ)." Canada recently released some of its plans for implementing the two categories of safeguards (see 1904290207). "The TRQs will be administered by way of shipment-specific import permits," Global Affairs Canada said. "From April 29, 2019 until the end of the provisional safeguard period on May 12, 2019 there are two provisional TRQs that remain in force. The commodity goods (HS Codes) covered by each TRQ are in Commodity Codes handbook."

The Canada Revenue Agency released information on cannabis oils excise duty rates, which will be available in the Customs Commercial System starting May 1, the Canada Border Services Agency said in an April 30 update to Customs Notice 18-19. The CBSA also sent an April 30 notice with updated information for completion of the CADEX formatted records.

The Canada Border Services Agency will revisit the changes it recently made to the Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document (ECCRD) for Integrated Import Declaration (see 1904240052), the agency said in an April 30 email. "As a result of the concerns raised by trade chain partners, the Canada Border Services Agency will be reviewing the coding changes that are included in the Single Window Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document, Addendum 1.0 to v4 to develop a way forward that is practical and achieves our shared objectives," it said. More information will be sent when available, it said.

Beginning May 1, all containerized goods imported into Vietnam or exported to the U.S. through the Cat Lai Port will be scanned for radiation, according to a report from the General Department of Vietnam Customs’ mouthpiece CustomsNews website. Vietnam customs is scanning for “illegal transport of nuclear materials and radioactive materials” in any containers moving through the port, the report said.

Vietnam Customs detained five containers after discovering the number of goods inside was greater than the number declared by the company on its customs forms, according to an April 29 report from its CustomsNews website. The company, K.L Import Export Trading Production Company Limited, wrote in its customs declaration that it was importing about 3,000 stainless steel sinks from China, but the report said customs officers found more than 5,000 sinks in the containers. The products also did not have a brand label, which also violated Vietnam customs laws, the report said.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation supports President Donald Trump's plans to withdraw from the Arms Trade Treaty (see 1904260063), the group said in a news release. "The treaty was intended to control the international trade in firearms under the guise of protecting human rights," the group said. "The National Shooting Sports Foundation strongly opposed the treaty as it would have exposed the firearms and ammunition industry to a confusing web of international regulations that would not have contributed to curbing illegal arms trafficking, protecting human rights or guaranteeing the rights of United States citizens." The international sales of arms are still "highly regulated by U.S. law and this action has no effect upon these stringent export controls," the group said.