Similar content

The language of sustainable development legislation and the language of the legislation of origin are completely different; it is necessary to find a lingua franca for these areas to better understand … and implement the requirements. On the other hand, harmonisation of rules of origin at a global level is essential to address the challenges faced by importers - the need for harmonisation of these rules has never been greater. These and many other views were exchanged at the 20th Authors' Meeting. We invite you to read an overview.

The EU has concluded more than 40 free trade agreements (FTAs) with around 80 countries, which supposedly bring significant benefits for trade with partner countries. But is this really the case, … i.e. is the EU fully utilising these benefits? This article attempts to assess the application of EU FTAs by analysing the flow of goods in and out of the main trading partners. The author looks at how import and export volumes and geography depend on the existence of preferential agreements.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), approved in 2012 by the African Union’s (AU) 18th Ordinary Session of Assembly of Heads of State and Government, is one of the Flagship Projects … of the AU’s Agenda 2063. The Action Plan for Boosting intra-African trade has a strong focus on accelerating intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market, in particular through implementation of trade facilitation standards and tools. We provide a brief overview of AfCFTA rules of origin.

Editors' note: The recent 20th Authors' Meeting dealt with issues of origin for customs purposes. At this meeting, the author presented two Israeli court cases - one concerning an unauthorised … person signing the certificate of preferential origin and the other concerning whether pistachios originated in Iran or Turkey (non-preferential origin for the application of prohibitions). The cases are not necessarily new, but they deal with relevant questions: What happens if the proof of preferential origin is signed by an unauthorised person? Can the authorisation be granted retrospectively? Is the 'statistical and reasonableness check' sufficient for customs to reject the declared non-preferential origin of the goods?

In the European Union, customs penalties and their proportionality fall within the national competence of the Member States. In a recent judgment, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled … that the imposition of an administrative penalty of 50% of the amount of duty underpaid is justified "notwithstanding the good faith of and precautions taken by the operator concerned". What does this mean for EU importers who declare the non-preferential origin of goods on the basis of proofs issued by the authorities of third countries that turn out to be incorrect? We provide an overview of the case and consider what conclusions economic operators could draw from it.

The saying "Only those who don't work make no mistakes" aptly states that it is human to make mistakes and there is no way to change that - the mistakes will happen. But they need to be managed … - to be minimised and corrected as quickly as possible. The Union Customs Code provides for a three-year period during which it is possible to apply to the customs authorities for the correction of errors, the recovery of overpaid taxes or the payment of underpaid amounts. In Lithuania, however, the new national legislation no longer provides for the possibility of correcting certain data elements. Let's take a look at the challenges this poses for businesses, as well as practices in other countries and trends.

Siekiant gauti muitinės leidimus, naudotis supaprastinimais ir kitais muitinės formalumų tikslais, viena iš sąlygų yra įmonės finansinė „sveikata“. Antra vertus, ji visuomet svarbi siekiančiam … augti verslui. Tad atsakant į muitinės formalumų kontekste pateiktą skaitytojo klausimą (Kaip įvertinti savo verslo finansinę „sveikatą“?), kviečiame visų pirma pasigilinti į bendruosius principus ir kartu – į vieną dar pakankamai naują galimybę prireikus skolintis, ar skolinti. Pakalbinome sutelktinio finansavimo platformos „Savy“ vykdančiąją direktorę Silviją Kažukauskaitę.

In 2022, the WCO Secretariat sent a questionnaire to the Organization’s Members to gather information on certification of origin processes and the digitalization of the certificate of origin … (CO). Eighty-four Customs administrations responded, and a Study on the Digitalization of the Certificate of Origin, containing an analysis of the information received, was published in December 2023.

Bahrain Customs Affairs (BCA) is constantly developing its systems and infrastructure to support and improve Customs operations, thereby helping to build a safe, advanced, investment-friendly … business environment in the Kingdom. Bahrain, an active Member of the WCO, regularly examines the standards, recommendations and tools developed by the Organization and wishes to act as a leader to the Customs community by demonstrating excellence and creativity in Customs practices.

A new version of the WCO Strategic Trade Control Enforcement Implementation Guide was published in December 2023.

The Study provides a comparative analysis of origin provisions in a region which has the most numerous and complex overlapping trade regimes of the entire African continent.

Performing due diligence can be challenging for SMEs, and regulators should take this into account when designing trade compliance programmes and initiatives.

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.

Legal clarity and certainty are what compliant companies need in order to be able to concentrate on their core activities. Legislators are trying to fulfil this need by, for example, introducing … additional legislation such as binding information (BI) decisions. Frustratingly, the more legislation, the less clarity. BI decisions issued by customs authorities can be overturned by the European Commission (e.g. Harley-Davidson case), or the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) can rule in a dispute over a BI decision that the European Commission has exceeded its powers when adopting delegated legislation, which raises the question of how binding the rules laid down in the delegated regulations, e.g. the UCC Delegated Act, are. On the latter, we provide a brief overview of a recent CJEU judgement on the rules of non-preferential origin.

The fundamental premise of these notes is that the absence of any harmonization for rules of non-preferential rules of origin is increasingly and very rapidly creating additional discriminatory … opportunities to expand and extend the scope and impact of a wide range of trade policies and trade restrictions. A brief analysis will provide a few examples of this phenomena, including an examination of its probable causes, and possible approaches to mitigate related barriers to international trade. The final notes will examine potential information and data contradictions in the current efforts to control so-called 'negative externalities' by way of 'deep origin' requirements, such as forced labour and carbon measures, at the border.

The right to be heard is well known to practitioners from various customs decisions and the Art. 22(6) of the Union Customs Code: 'Before taking a decision which would adversely affect the applicant, … the customs authorities shall communicate the grounds on which they intend to base their decision to the applicant, who shall be given the opportunity to express his or her point of view'. This fundamental right of the EU legal order is not just a formality - the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) recently annulled a regulation because it found that the European Commission had violated the importer's right to be heard during the process of adopting that regulation. It is therefore worthwhile for importers, exporters and other parties involved to take a close look at the topic and be prepared to use the right to their own advantage at EU or national level if needed.

„Net ir vieno žmogaus įmonė, pavyzdžiui, teikianti muitinės tarpininko paslaugas, turi taikyti savo veiklos savikontrolės procedūras.“ - sako Žana Kraučenkienė, sertifikuota vidaus auditorė, … turinti daugiau nei 20 metų patirtį šioje srityje. Kokias veiklos sritis apima vidaus auditas? Kaip vidaus auditorius organizuoja savo veiklą? Kodėl apskritai tai svarbu kiekvienai įmonei? Atsakymus į šiuos ir kitus klausimus kviečiame sužinoti skaitant interviu.

Skaitytojo klausimas: Esame maža (20+ darbuotojų) keletą metų veikianti įmonė. Neturiu patirties atliekant vidinius įmonės muitinės formalumų patikrinimus. Ką patartumėte, nuo ko pradėti?