Articles

In June 2022, the 6th Customs Practitioners‘ Conference took place in Lithuania. The importance of customs in the context of the war in Ukraine, challenges for business and the role of customs … professionals in helping top-level managers to make strategic decisions and ensure compliance with them, as well as related liability issues, were emphasised. We invite you to familiarise yourself with what was discussed and pointed out by several speakers.

The best way to consolidate knowledge is repetition. Especially when one day of the conference is so rich in knowledge that, as one participant in the conference joked, “it doesn't fit in your … head anymore.” So, we invite you to recall the topics and some of their aspects discussed at the 4th Customs Practitioners Conference in June. We also provide links to the conference records available for purchase (members of the Customs Practitioners Association are free of charge, see the benefits and conditions of membership) [1] and articles published by some speakers after the conference. Please note that the Customs Practitioners Association is preparing for the 5th Customs Practitioners Conference, which will take place on 2 December in Kaunas and online. We invite you to propose topics, raise questions and, of course, participate! More information will be published soon in www.lcpa.lt, contacts: info@lcpa.lt

Reader’s question. A customs brokerage firm acting as a direct representative must provide to customs the power of attorney for such representation (or a contract). What are the consequences … of not providing it? Is the power of attorney valid, if on the part of the client, it was signed not by the executive of the company but by, for instance, the logistics manager?

31 March 2021, online training courses for persons wishing to provide customs representation services are launching. About these courses, the profession of customs broker and studies in the field … of customs in general, we talk to the representatives of the partners organizing the courses: Prof. Dr. Astrida Miceikiene, Chancellor of the Academy of Agriculture of Vytautas Magnus University, Akvile Alauskaitė, Head of the Study Programs of the University of Applied Social Sciences, and Enrika Naujoke, Head of the Lithuanian Customs Practitioners Association.

Reader's question: Can anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties apply simultaneously to the same product? In response to this question, here we provide a practical example of importing electric … bicycles from China and review trade defence instruments - anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties.

The following European Commission initiatives in the field of customs are reviewed. COVID-19: Guidelines for border management measures to protect health and ensure the availability of goods … and essential services; European Commission decision on Duty-Free and VAT-Free import of goods needed to combat the consequences of COVID-19 outbreak in 2020; deferred payments of customs duties; the certificates of preferential origin of goods - presenting copies instead of the originals and other.

Earlier, in “Customs Law for Practitioners“ No. 63, we reviewed the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 20 June 2018 in Case C-108/17, to which Enteco Baltic UAB … and the Lithuanian customs authorities became participants. The dispute concerns the fulfillment of the requirements of 'Customs procedure 42' in relation to the supply of goods to another EU Member State. Let us review the interpretations of the ECJ and the relevant procedural decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SACL).

Let's take a look at the provisions of the Agreement, which settle ongoing customs procedures at the end of the transitional period on 31.12.2020: how we will prove the customs status of Union … goods, what are the deadlines for the completion of ongoing customs procedures, etc.

Customs valuation requires a broader approach to each individual import with a focus on details and circumstances. One of the aspects requiring the broader approach concerns royalties and license … fees, which at first glance may seem very distant and not related to imported goods.

Political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom is published (OJ C 34, 31.1.2020). One part of the declaration, which … we overview in this article, is dedicated to trade in goods.

The Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature is used for the uniform classification of goods traded internationally all over the world. HS codes are reviewed and updated once in 5 years. This month, … the seventh edition (HS 2022) of the HS nomenclature has been accepted. It shall come into force on 1 January 2022.

In the age of Industry 4.0 and IoT, correct export control in automation technology is not trivial. Medium-sized companies often do not have the necessary specialists to respond to the challenges. … An external compliance team with technical expertise in drive and automation technology is the solution.

As the AEO authorizations require a complex monitoring, with the necessary integration of a number of business departments, it makes sense to integrate this monitoring in the annual audits of … the company's internal quality management system, for example, under ISO certifications.

The Court of Justice addressed the question whether a tax authority can rebut company’s right to apply a 0% VAT rate on the transaction of goods' supply where the goods are exported to a destination … outside the territory of the EU, considering that there had been no supply because, after the goods were exported, the tax authorities found that the person acquiring those goods was not the person stated on the supplier's VAT invoice but another entity which has not been identified.

A relatively new and less known to business classification tool is the Committee classification statement/ conclusion. It is applied when Member States have different interpretation of the legislation … concerning the classification of goods, but after having discussions and deeper analysis agree on the uniform application of the legislation without the acceptance of additional legal measures.

Classification of goods in the Combined Nomenclature quite often becomes the subject of disputes between traders and customs, especially where the choice of a particular code entails a substantial … increase in the customs duty. The article looks at how some goods, which were subjects of such disputes, should be correctly classified: vitamins, palm wax and dog chews.