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As is well known, the war started by Russia in Ukraine affects a wide range of areas, both security and economic. It may also affect aspects related to imports and exports between Israel and … Ukraine, which have signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in 2019. The reminder on that comes from the European Commission, which on February 23rd, 2022 released a notice to importers regarding imports from the non-government controlled territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts of Ukraine.

A year ago, we published an interview with Prof Dr Borys Kormych, with whom we have the honour of cooperating on the editorial board of the CCRM journal. We then discussed the 'Lex Portus' journal, … which was started in Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea, to address, among other topics, the resulting legal challenges in transport, customs and border formalities. The war started by Russia in Ukraine sheds new light on many of the topics covered in the interview: the annexation of Crimea, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, work done in Ukraine to join the Convention on Common Transit Procedure, and more. We invite you to read the interview.

The article analyses EU policies on the extension of Common Transit and the New Computerized Transit System (NCTS) to associated countries given the case of Ukraine. The decision on accepting … Ukraine to join the Convention on Common Transit may be expected in 2022. Otherwise, considering the EU plans to complete the transition to the NCTS Phase 6 in the second quarter of 2025, the accession may be delayed until the end of 2025.

News in international trade at a glance: the duty-free limit for parcels has been raised to 150 Eur; the government announced an ambitious plan - five new FTAs; imports of some kinds of cheese … subject to safeguard investigation; anti-dumping duty on imports of potato starch, wood panels and thermal insulation materials; abolition of excise stamps on certain types of alcoholic beverages.

Customs agents (brokers) play a significant role as intermediaries between importers/ exporters and customs. Dr. Momchil Antov wrote a book on the topic of customs representation. We talk to … Mr. Antov about the book, customs developments in Bulgaria and what aspects should traders consider when hiring a customs broker.

News in international trade at a glance: IT platform Trade Defense of Ukraine; the possible changes in customs valuation; Ukraine is about to join Сommon Transit Convention; new safeguard investigation … on imports of rock and/ or earth drilling tools regardless of country of origin; revision of the anti-dumping measures on imports of cement originating in Moldova and rods of carbon and other alloy steels originating in Belarus.

Many importers assume that once they hire a broker, they do not need to take time to understand customs and trade concepts. That can be a risky approach. In this article, we discuss how customs … brokers operate in Canada and the EU; and why importers should care to provide quality information to their brokers.

Collection of import taxes is one of the main tasks of customs. What are the import taxes in various countries? What is the basis of their calculation? In this article, we overview the taxes … in Brazil, the EU, and Ukraine. The provided examples of imported goods reveal that, in some cases, the amount of import taxes might exceed the value of the goods themselves. Therefore, the advice for importers is to check the amounts of import duties payable before purchasing goods abroad.

Is it possible for the business to consider all the possible customs-related risks? The answer to the poll question was unambiguous. All participants of the 8th Authors' Meeting on 21.10.2021 … said… NO! And shared various examples of unexpected customs-related risk, talked about sources of the risk and its management.

This article discusses features of customs representation in the EU and focuses on its application in Bulgaria. Do economic operators rely on customs representatives in their dealings with the … customs authorities?

There are often situations where goods exported from a country are returned for various reasons. Therefore, countries have special regulations on returned goods which provide for relief from … duties and possibly other import taxes. In this article, we overview regulations in the European Union, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Mexico and the United States.

News in international trade in September at a glance: 2022 duty rates on imports from the EU; new safeguard and anti-dumping measures were established on imports of cement, wires and cables; … new safeguard and anti-dumping investigations on imports of PVC profile and PVC windowsill boards, aluminum ladders, seamless cold-drawn and cold-rolled pipes; e-service for submitting an application for AEO authorization.

News at a glance: registration of non-residents at the customs office of Ukraine; criminalization of smuggling: the first step done for adoption; the government regulated the monitoring procedure … of the compliance of AEO in Ukraine; safeguard regarding import of the ceramic tiles was terminated.

When goods cross a border, customs formalities need to be completed. The trader has the option to complete the formalities themselves, or engage someone else to do this for them. Generally, traders … find someone, such as a customs agent, to complete the formalities for them. In this case, the customs agent would act as either a direct or an indirect representative. This article explains the difference between these two types of representations and what the responsibilities and liabilities are for both the trader and the customs agent.

It often happens that customs declarations are incorrectly filled out. Such errors are not necessarily intentional and are often nothing more than carelessness. The question in such cases is … whether it is possible to amend the customs declaration retrospectively and how. Whereas it is accepted it is possible to go back and correct particulars about the goods and their value, the customs administration has generally not allowed the customs declarant to be amended in this way. Among the reasons cited is that the relevant court judgements have also rejected such an amendment. We now have two recent judgements which deal with this question of the retrospective amendment of the customs declarant. How helpful are these judgements in practice?

Customs valuation of goods imported into Ukraine is one of the most challenging stages of cross-border trade operations. It is relatively easy to determine the customs value of goods; however, … it is almost impossible to convince the customs that the value is accurate and based on the actual price. Hence, there are many court appeals against customs decisions to adjust the customs value. The statistics of court proceedings on such cases are not in favour of customs. Thus, in cases involving Ukrainian customs, 80% (2330 out of 2917 considered over 11 months of 2020) of court decisions were made in favour of plaintiffs (importers, declarants, etc.).

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?

One of the conditions of a trade agreement is that goods must travel directly between the signatory countries. How is the direct transport rule enforced in practice? This article provides an … overview of the answers based on the experience of local practitioners from Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ukraine, Mexico, and Vietnam.