Articles

Late payment of taxes, including import taxes recalculated as a result of discrepancies detected by customs after clearance, is subject to late payment penalties and interest. The sums can be … huge, especially considering that tax reassessments can be made for three years or even longer (for example, if the dispute is in court). For an idea of how long this period can be, see the relevant Court of Justice of the EU judgement. Moreover, it is a significant Court's decision impacting the landscape of Value Added Tax (VAT) and customs law within the EU. This article delves into the Court's findings, emphasizing the principles of legal certainty and effectiveness in EU law, and exploring its implications for VAT legislation and practices.

Recognising the critical role that customs intermediaries play in enabling international trade for UK businesses, the government issued a consultation that sought feedback on the concept of introducing … a voluntary standard. The final phase of the consultation process concluded in August 2023. A significant consensus emerged among stakeholders on the idea of introducing a voluntary standard for customs intermediaries.

Case law tells us how importing and exporting SMEs, which do not have in-house customs expertise, understand their role and responsibilities, as well as those of a customs broker. Often, when … a dispute arises with customs over penalties imposed on an importer or exporter for an offence, the company claims that it was confident that it had properly fulfilled its obligations by entrusting customs clearance to a professional service provider - the customs broker. The company therefore learns the hard way about its customs-related responsibilities and obligations. What role does the customs broker play in preventing such situations? In this article, we argue that customs brokers need to take on the role of proactive educator and suggest a way to do this.

Forced labor is on the rise worldwide. The United States is one of the largest importers of merchandise at risk of being produced with forced labor and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) … is committed to identifying products made with forced labor and preventing them from entering the United States. From FY 2022 to date, CBP’s forced labor enforcement has impacted over $ 2 billion worth of shipments. Clearly, companies have a lot at stake, and compliance with anti-forced labor requirements is critical not only from a corporate responsibility standpoint but due to the impact it may have on a company’s financial position.

Exports of goods are an important driver of business productivity and economic growth (Mota et al., 2021). Nobody doubts the benefits of exporting today. The government aims to increase the competitiveness … of business and industry in international trade and to promote job creation and economic growth by creating a business-friendly environment. Exports are an important part of business, both for the national economy and for the growth and development of businesses themselves. Economic growth, especially in small countries, is driven by foreign trade, making the promotion of exports a crucial task for a country. The dynamics and development of export growth depend on the implementation of a targeted export policy by the government, and exports are a key factor of economic growth for various countries, including Lithuania.

The present research covers the interpretation of the concept of customs posts and the relationship with customs tax control. The analysis of the European Union (EU) regulations showed the essential … criteria for customs posts. The Maturity model was also reviewed in order to implement the EU regulations requirements for customs posts. In customs posts the Maturity model must be used in three areas – tax administration, customs administration, and information technology implementation. To assess the practical situation, it was chosen to analyse high-risk customs posts. The situation of the Suwalki corridor and the three-month data collected by two customs posts at the Kybartai Road and Raigardas Road posts were reviewed. The analysis revealed that there is a lack of available data for researchers to conduct analysis and determine the impact of selected customs posts on customs tax control.

Customs taxes are a form of taxation imposed on goods imported into a country. They are typically levied on the value of the goods, and are intended to protect domestic industries from foreign … competition. In the European Union (EU), customs duties are harmonized across all member states. This means that the same rate of duty is applied to the same goods, regardless of which EU country they are imported into, however, there are some exceptions to this rule. Also, not only Duties has to be paid before release to free circulation. E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services online. It has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it offers consumers a convenient and affordable way to shop. However, the growth of e-commerce has also led to an increase in the number of goods being imported into the EU. The influence of customs taxes on e-commerce imports can have a significant impact on private persons. For example, if a private person imports goods from a country outside of the EU, they may have to pay customs taxes on those goods. This can make imported goods more expensive, it can also take more time for delivery, and can discourage private persons from importing goods from outside of the EU. The following sections of this paper will explore this topic in more detail and will discuss the various factors that can influence the impact of customs taxes on e-commerce imports for private persons and propose a theoretical model of how customs taxes affect the e-commerce of private persons.

Customs brokers are an important part of the customs ecosystem. Both parties - traders and customs - can benefit greatly from working with these professional intermediaries. Customs brokers take … on the complex tasks related to customs clearance, protect and serve the interests of the parties involved while balancing their different needs (e.g. fast delivery vs. thorough control) and save them a lot of time so they can focus on their core activities. This topic is not new, and one might think that these areas of operation should already be established and standardised. However, discussions at the 19th Authors' Meeting showed that there are still more questions than answers in the countries of Europe and America.

EU importers of cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen are preparing to submit their first report under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), based … on emissions data from their third-country suppliers. What about other countries? Will they also introduce such climate measures, so that EU and other countries' suppliers (exporters) should be getting ready to prepare their emissions data? Indeed, there are similar initiatives in other countries, for example, the proposed U.S. Foreign Pollution Fee Act.

Despite officially leaving the EU’s single market in January 2021, the UK has delayed introducing full border controls several times due to concerns over cost and disruption. However, we now … know that these post-Brexit checks on plant and animal goods coming into the UK from EU countries will begin at the end of January 2024. What does this mean for businesses importing these goods into the UK? We provide a summary of the changes coming into effect and how the trader can prepare for these stricter border controls.

Editors' note: Many economic operators in the EU and other UK trading partners are and will be affected by the ongoing customs changes in the UK. We start with a monthly overview of some important … news from the UK. Many thanks to Mark Rowbotham, who recently joined the CCRM Editorial Board, for preparing the updates on the Border Target Operating Model (that will be progressively introduced from the end of January 2024) and the Customs Declaration Service (from 30 March 2024, the CDS will be the UK’s single Customs platform). Related developments are also interesting to follow for those who are not directly involved in trade with the UK but are interested in effective border management as the UK aims to create the most effective border in the world.

Israel has been in a state of war for the past three months. This war has had an impact on international trade, particularly on customs valuation, including for importers in other countries such … as the EU, as explained in more detail in this article.

Note from the CCRM editors: The first part of the article provided an overview of the history, objectives and scope of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) introduced by the EU. It also … examined the issue of whether the Paris Agreement on climate change foresees border adjustment measures by countries with high climate ambitions, and posed the following question: Is the CBAM fair towards developing countries? In this second part, the author provides an overview of the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which could justify the CBAM, his assessment of the CBAM Regulation, and shares a practical list of questions that companies can use in order to find out whether they are affected, and if so, how they can prepare to meet the CBAM requirements, in particular for the transitional period.

News in week 52: Changes to import duties on certain products from 2024.01.01; changes to tariff quotas (reduced import duties) from 2024.01.01; EU-UK trade - transitional rules of preferential … origin for electric accumulators and electrified vehicles; Anti-Coercion Instrument enters into force - possible new tariffs and trade restrictions in the EU; farewell event for WCO Secretary General Dr. Kunio Mikuriya.

The remaining electronic systems provided for in the Union Customs Code (UCC) will be implemented in 2024 and 2025. The introduction of a new customs system can have various implications for … a company, depending on its specific activity: time savings when paper documents become electronic (e.g. T2L), significant financial savings thanks to new simplification possibilities (e.g. centralised clearance), the need to adapt company processes and software to the transition to the new systems, or simply the potential for disruption during implementation (for example, the introduction of new services of the Intelligent Customs Declaration System (iMDAS) this month in Lithuania has led to a sad joke in business community that the only Christmas wish is a working iMDAS), etc. On 15 December, the European Commission adopted a new work programme to replace the previous one. Let's take a look at the updated implementation deadlines for the systems planned for the coming years. If you work with these systems, you should think about how they will or might affect your organisation and prepare accordingly.

The World Customs Organization has published a comprehensive study on the digitalisation of the Certificate of Origin (CO). This article provides a short summary of the existing CO issues and … suggests some solutions that could help achieve the long-term digitalisation goals – such as the framework for trusted digital signatures currently used in the EU.