Articles

Nobody likes to be penalised - whether you are an importer, a customs broker, or just a driver taking goods across the border. The penalty is a negative consequence for any person who has committed … the offence. It is clear when a person deliberately does something illegal to benefit from it. But what about those who do not intend to break the law but do so inadvertently? Do the negative consequences only affect the person who directly committed the offence? This article seeks to answer these and other questions about the penalties for customs offences in the EU.

"Happy New Year!" I started a conversation with an AI assistant on the Customs website. "Happy New Year! If you have any questions about customs rules or procedures, I will be happy to help" … it replied. On the last day of 2024, Lithuanian Customs in cooperation with CustomsClear, deployed the AI assistant solution for public use. It is now available to visitors of the Lithuanian Customs website at www.lrmuitine.lt. So far, it covers one topic relevant to the festive period: e-commerce. The number of topics will increase in the future.

News in brief: UK joins CPTPP; the General Product Safety Regulation and impact on Northern Ireland; Geographical indications for 39 British food and drink products in Japan; UK Tariff 2025; … countries eligible for approved exporter status; the Customs (Tariff and Miscellaneous Amendments) No. 3 and No. 4; preparations for the end of the safety and security declarations waiver; notice to exporters 2024/30; Belarus sanctions; trade remedies notices and tariff notices.

News in weeks 51 and 52: 15th package of restrictive measures against Russia and Belarus; Interim Agreement on trade between the EU and Chile; Georgia to join the Common Transit Convention; preparation … for the entry into force of the Revised PEM Convention on 1 January 2025; CBAM upcoming changes at the beginning of 2025; EUDR application postponed by 12 months; new EU rules on sustainable packaging; CJEU on the interpretation of the Article 15 and Article 42(1) and (2) of the UCC; classification of facial wipes packaged for retail sale, unfilled seating bag (so-called beanbag) and hard metal sticks made of cermets; suspension of the Common Customs Tariff duties on certain products; amendments to autonomous tariff quotas; review of steel safeguard to protect EU steel industry; safeguard investigation into imports of alloys; anti-dumping duty on seamless pipes and tubes; definitive anti-dumping duty on optical fibre cables; and more news!

In their recent report, the World Customs Organization (WCO) proposed a new methodology for classifying and comparing product-specific rules of origin between agreements. This new conceptual … tool: the "drafting complexity index" (DCI) was used to provide insights into rules for automotive and textile sectors.

Overpayment of customs duties or other import duties can be a major burden for importers. There can be various reasons for overpayments, e.g. disputes over classification, valuation, origin, … etc. Reclaiming these duties from customs authority can be a lengthy and expensive process. The outcome is, of course, unpredictable. In Israel, there is an additional obstacle between the importer and the refund, the so-called ‘passing-on’ condition. This is not unique to Israel, but does not exist in the EU.

Editor's note (by Enrika Naujoke). Want to have fun? Try explaining various aspects of product classification to programmers who are to integrate it into software. For example, the latest update … regarding tomatoes with “greatest diameter of less than 47 mm”. Yes, the tariff depends on classification based on “greatest of less” wording! Let us know how you get on. We hope that reading the Combined Nomenclature updates from the perspective of this exercise will be interesting and engaging.

International sanctions and export controls are critical tools for promoting global security and addressing geopolitical challenges. As these measures continue to evolve, businesses face increasing … complexity in ensuring compliance while maintaining operational efficiency. This overview presents the latest trends and challenges in export controls and sanctions from a range of countries. They were presented by experts and practitioners from the US, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Brazil at the 24th Author’s Meeting.

News in brief: safety and security declaration update; Single Trade Window postponed; TRA recommend duty on Chinese excavators; UK to join CPTPP updates; continental shelf declarations; negotiations … on the UK-South Korea FTA resume; ICS2 and NCTS5 update; Simplified Process for Internal Market Movements (SPIMM).

Article 34 (7)(ііі) of the Union Customs Code provides for that the customs authorities shall revoke BTI decisions where they are no longer compatible with the classification decisions, classification … opinions or amendments of the HS nomenclature Explanatory Notes. In such cases, the European Commission issues a Communication and publishes it in the 'C' series of the Official Journal of the European Union. This article provides an overview of the recent Communication C/2024/5990 and the classification opinions contained therein.

News in week 48: final decision by CJEU in 'Harley Davidson' case on relocating production to avoid retaliatory tariffs; the link of VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) with the EU Customs Reform; … expiry review of anti-dumping on sweetcorn in kernels; EU launches consultation on dispute with India over tariffs on ICT goods; Commission challenges China's anti-dumping tariffs on EU brandy at the WTO; updates of CBAM documents; changes to the import control requirements for certain organic products; Botswana to establish export certification point for rough diamonds; authorisation for the importation of cherry plants from the UK (phytosanitary measures); and more news!

News at a glance: Export security regime for certain types of agricultural products introduced; Ukrainian Customs Decision System pilot project launched; Automated processing of customs declarations … launched; Summary of 2-year journey of Ukraine's use of NTCS; Guidelines for implementation of Customs Code updates published

Dmitry Grozoubinski is a recognized authority on international trade policy and the author of “Why Politicians Lie About Trade”. The book is an accessible guide to how international trade really … works. It gives voters a peak behind the curtain, and equips them with the tools to ask the right questions of those in power promising miracles or warning of disasters. In an interview with CustomsClear’s Anna Jerzewska, Dmitry talks about his book and experience venturing into the world of customs.

The use of the ‘legislative purpose’ criterion in the classification of goods (i.e. whether the product should be taxed or not) leads to a lack of uniformity and undermines the principle underlying … the HS Convention. Therefore, it is proposed to minimize the use of the ‘legislative purpose’ criterion and to return to the traditional classification rules of the World Customs Organization Harmonized System Convention. The article below is a short version of the full article, which has been published in the World Customs Journal, 2024, Issue 18(2). Publication of the short version with a reference to the full version was approved by the WCJ.

Do EU rules have a retroactive effect? There is no clear answer to this question. It has been the subject of a number of rulings by the Court of Justice of the EU in relation to specific acts … and situations. This article reviews one of the recent CJEU's judgments on this issue. It concerns the retroactive application of anti-dumping duties when they have already been repealed.

New Commission guidelines for cyber-surveillance exporters were published on 16 October 2024. The new guidelines aim to make EU controls “more effective and consistent across Member States”. … The information provided by the Commission is not new but offers a clarification on how controls should be carried out by traders. They assist EU exporters in navigating export controls for cyber-surveillance items by providing a step-by-step approach to transaction screening.