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The WTO's Harmonised System (HS) convention is probably one of the most successful international conventions and aims to harmonise tariff codes for goods worldwide. The WTO also has successful … conventions, including the 1996 Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which aims to improve trade in technology products by eliminating customs duties on selected and defined products. The interests of the HS and the ITA are not identical. While the HS aims to establish rules for a unified classification, regardless of whether the result leads to duty-free treatment or not, the ITA's objective is duty-free treatment for technological products.

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?

The language of the Harmonised System (HS) Convention contains many formulas linking goods and their use, such as 'primary', 'principal', 'intended', etc. The HS seems to contain too many of … these connection formulae, and the difference between them is not always clear. It is therefore suggested that the World Customs Organisation (WCO) eliminate the undefined terms and look for a method that is as simple as possible. The article below is a short version of the full article, which has been published in the World Customs Journal, 2023, Issue 17(2).

Brazil is on the cusp of a groundbreaking transformation, with the rollout of an upgraded version 2.0 of its Foreign Trade Single Window, the Portal Único Siscomex. A core innovation within the … Portal is the introduction of a catalogue describing products using pre-defined attributes. The new system has been made possible thanks to an exceptional partnership between private and public entities who worked hand in hand to redefine the way products are identified for cross-border trade.

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.

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.

Customs value and transfer pricing could be likened to Siamese twins - that's how closely linked they are. Let's discuss some practical questions related to the year-end transfer pricing adjustments: … If the price is revised upwards, does the importer have to go to customs and pay additional duties? If the price is revised downwards, is the importer entitled to a refund of duties? If the goods are duty-free and there is no excise duty, but only import VAT (which is deductible in any case)?

The Israel Customs Authority does not seem to be a fan of discounts. It appealed against the judgement of the District Court, in which the court clarified that the Customs Authority cannot, on … the one hand, rely on the fact that the price is subject to a condition (discount) that cannot be assessed and the transaction price is therefore invalid, and, on the other hand, base the assessment on the transaction price but without the condition. Let's take a look at what the Supreme Court had to say in this dispute. The disputed amount is about ILS 5 million (~1.3 million Eur).

Praėjusius metus Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas baigė ir naujus 2024 m. pradėjo priimdamas 3 nutartis susijusias su prekių tarifiniu klasifikavimu. Tačiau visos šiose bylose galima … rasti skirtingas žinutes, kurias verta įsidėmėti diskutuojant su muitine dėl tinkamo prekių tarifinio klasifikavimo.

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.

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.

Editors’ note: In this second part of the article, the author highlights the similarities and differences between customs valuation and transfer pricing and emphasises that the requirements may … differ for the same goods. He also outlines the solutions used by customs in different countries. For example, the Canada Border Services Agency considers the transfer price to be the ‘uninfluenced’ price paid or payable for imported goods if a written transfer price agreement exists between a vendor and a related purchaser and is in effect at the time of importation.

Editors' note: In November, the European Commission published the news 'New transfer pricing rules to make life easier for businesses in the EU'. The new rules are necessary to address several … challenges, including the competing objectives of customs and tax authorities, which lead to double compliance requirements. The problem is global. According to the Corporate Tax Association of Australia (CTAA), 'it is unacceptable for a business to be required to satisfy two arms of the same government, one demanding a higher price and the other a lower price in respect of the same transaction'. In this first part of the article, the author provides an overview of the rules and methods of customs valuation and transfer pricing.

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.