Articles

What is an Internal Compliance Programme (ICP) and what are its core elements? What if the ICP is not required by law, should companies still use it? The answer is definitely yes. Even if your … company does not fall under the criteria for a mandatory ICP, it is important to have one in place if you deal with export-controlled items.

Through several years as a customs auditor, I saw many companies with numerous approaches and attempts to get a grip on the management of the customs requirements. Despite big efforts (financially, … personally, technically), organizations often do not succeed in establishing the desired effect and corresponding success in the area of customs compliance. Instead of this, customs compliance or customs management frequently is not sufficiently managed (especially strategically, but also operationally as a result of this weakness). This even leads to blind spots in the organisation, particularly in the structural field, which has in the meantime become increasingly apparent due to the changed audit approach by the authorities.

What aspects should be taken into account in the context of customs knowledge management within a company? During the 15th Authors' Meeting, experts from the UK, Israel, France, Colombia, Brazil … and Lithuania shared many tips and practices on how to acquire, update and manage knowledge to be successful in customs processes. The main insights – on the role of a customs manager, exchanging information internally, ensuring awareness of all the involved persons, manuals, peer learning, etc. - shared are summarised in the following overview.

In the European Union customs law, it is possible for an economic operator to obtain binding tariff or origin information decisions, which provide assurance about the tariff classification or … origin of goods. However, does such a customs decision always guarantee legal security just because national customs has issued a favorable decision to the trader?

In the era of digital technologies, electronic customs clearance of goods has become a standard for many countries across the globe. Ukraine is no exception. However, unfortunately, even in the … modern system, problems can arise that can significantly complicate and slow down customs clearance. One such problem is the provision of paper documents. In this context, it is crucial to clarify some issues that regulate the procedure for providing paper documents and the form of customs control during electronic customs clearance of goods in Ukraine. In this article, we present a real case that happened to us at the end of March 2023 in Odesa.

The Windsor Framework possibly places Northern Ireland in a very enviable position. Importers and exporters from Northern Ireland uniquely have free access to both the UK and EU markets – which … should surely attract considerable foreign investment and transform it into a prosperous trading hub. How did the journey to Windsor go?

How are customs issues managed within companies? What is it that people in charge of meeting Customs’ expectations do? This article highlights the role of the key players in customs compliance … - customs managers. The findings presented are based on interviews with key informants in nine multinational companies from a cross-section of industries.

An unassembled good must be classified as a complete good. For example, if you import disassembled bicycles, you still have to declare them as bicycles and pay the import duties due on the bicycles. … But maybe you could be smarter and save the import duties by declaring half of the bicycles’ parts in your name and the other half in a friend's name? In addition, perhaps it would help to place the parts under different customs procedures before releasing them for free circulation?

We are talking to Barbara Scott, the Chair of the CPG about the period of time ranging from 1988, when CPG was established, to today: When and how was the idea to establish CPG born? What was … the customs environment then? What was the environment of similar groups? What about today and the future?

There is often a perception that laws are the domain of lawyers, taxes are the domain of accountants and financiers, profits are the domain of salespeople, and so on. Is this the right approach? … The purpose of this article is to examine why knowledge of customs and tax regulations is important not only for lawyers and financial experts, but also for other employees, especially directors, managers and other supervisors. The article is based on a presentation given on the occasion of the launch of the MBA programme ‘Customs Process Management’ at Vytautas Magnus University.

Most people that work in the worldwide import/export industry are familiar with the Rules of Origin and with terms such as “substantial transformation” and “double substantial transformation”. … However, the concept put forth to prevent importation of Uyghur goods is totally alien to the community in that an importer who is the focus of an allegation must prove that no part of his importation(s) has either originated or been furthered in value in the Uyghur Region. In other words, the importer must prove a negative.

Can the net for making pockets in the rear part of seats and the protection for the inside of seats be classified under subheading 9401 90 80 of the Combined Nomenclature (CN) as parts of seats? … The "value" of the answer to the importer is EUR 300 000! The Court of Justice of the European Union has provided clarification on this point.

News in week 13: communication on decisions relating to binding tariff information; conclusion of the 71st Session of the Harmonized System Committee; CJEU judgements in two tariff classification … cases; updates related to anti-dumping; creation of certain tariff rate quotas under the steel safeguard measure; and more news!

News at a glance: Common transit - list of goods exempted from guarantee; extended suspension of import duties, quotas and trade defence measures for Ukrainian exports to the EU and the UK; pilot … project for the transport of goods between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova using the TIR electronic procedure; and more news!

This is not a scientific paper claiming to be absolutely complete - it is rather a short examination (born out of the practitioner’s view) of the complexity of classification based on a simple … article (with minor variations) and a pointing out of the (often, usually) missing information to classify an article completely (automated?) based on existing (tabular?) data. Let us now consider the complexity of classification in the EU nomenclature using a simple example. Let's take as an example a screw, more precisely a hexagon head screw.

The Israeli customs authority has, as I believe, invented an original tool to gain more information about specific goods valuation process, even before officially starting an audit. The tool … is called the "importer's affidavit". As far as I know, there is no similar requirement in other jurisdictions.