Britain plans to extract itself from EU Customs Union obligations that limit trade agreement negotiations as part of its exit from the EU, British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a Jan. 17 speech in London (here). There was some question as to whether the United Kingdom would fully cut off involvement in the EU Customs Union as a result of the "Brexit" vote in June (see 1606240041). "I know my emphasis on striking trade agreements with countries outside Europe has led to questions about whether Britain seeks to remain a member of the EU’s Customs Union," she said. "And it is true that full Customs Union membership prevents us from negotiating our own comprehensive trade deals." Therefore, "I do not want Britain to be part of the Common Commercial Policy and I do not want us to be bound by the Common External Tariff," she said. "These are the elements of the Customs Union that prevent us from striking our own comprehensive trade agreements with other countries."
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
Perfectus Aluminum is suing the federal government and customs officials over what the company sees as an improper seizure and detention of aluminum goods that were seized in September, according to a court document filed by Perfectus in late December. Perfectus filed the lawsuit in a federal district court in California in pursuit of "equitable relief for the return of property unlawfully detained by CBP," it said in a filing. The seizures and court case were first reported by The Wall Street Journal (here), which has published a series of stories about possibly illegal efforts to avoid antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum products from China.
The Commerce Department is ending a requirement that importers of organic pasta from Italy submit an organic certification with their entry summary to qualify for an exemption from antidumping and countervailing duties, it said in the final results of a changed circumstances review on AD/CV duties on pasta from Italy (A-475-818/C-475-819) (here). Effective Jan. 13, importers only have to maintain the organic certificates in their records and provide them to CBP and Commerce to prove their eligibility upon request, Commerce said.
The European Union recently issued the following trade-related release (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):
The International Trade Commission on Jan. 1 posted the Preliminary Edition of the 2017 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (here). The new HTS implements a wide range of changes to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff nomenclature, which forms the basis for the HTS, that took effect at the beginning of 2017. This is the sixth and final part of International Trade Today's multipart summary, covering vehicles, precision instruments, manufactured articles and special tariff provisions under chapters 87-99. This part also includes a list of subheadings that were assigned the special program indicator (SPI) "NP" to denote eligibility for the Nepal Preference Program.
The International Trade Commission on Jan. 1 posted the Preliminary Edition of the 2017 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (here). The new HTS implements a wide range of changes to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff nomenclature, which forms the basis for the HTS, that took effect at the beginning of 2017. This is the fifth part of International Trade Today's multipart summary, covering machinery and electrical equipment of chapters 84 and 85.
The International Trade Commission on Jan. 1 posted the Preliminary Edition of the 2017 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (here). The new HTS implements a wide range of changes to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff nomenclature, which forms the basis for the HTS, that took effect at the beginning of 2017. This is the fourth part of International Trade Today's multipart summary, covering textiles, ceramics, metals and metal products of chapters 54 through 83.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2016 in case they were missed.
The International Trade Commission on Jan. 1 posted the Preliminary Edition of the 2017 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (here). The new HTS implements a wide range of changes to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff nomenclature, which forms the basis for the HTS, that took effect Jan. 1. The Preliminary Edition also includes changes to rules of origin and eligibility for preferences programs and to statistical suffixes in the HTS.
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notice was posted (here):