Your trade and customs knowledge
go-to-place

On 14 May, U.S. President Joe Biden placed a 100% tariff duty rate on imports of Chinese Electric Vehicles (EVs). The reasoning was that the low cost of Chinese EVs needs to be counterbalanced … by tariffs so that domestic manufacturers can compete fairly against Chinese imports. Editors’ note: For developments in the EU, see ‘EU law news June 2024’.

Authors of the article speak about their personal experiences regarding the early days of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). David Savage, based in Ireland, discusses the challenges … encountered by importers in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, while Svitlana Siurik as a trade compliance professional, based in Belgium, recounts her experiences from the perspective of a large multinational company.

Every year since 2003, the European Commission has published its annual report on Safety Gate, the European Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products. The reports cover the alerts identified … during the year and the measures taken by countries to eliminate or minimise the risks. It is worth noting that this system covers not only EU Member States, but also Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. In March, the annual report was published for 2023, with a record number of notifications, which emphasises the need to further mobilise efforts and improve tools to improve the safety of goods entering the European market. An important new tool – The General Product Safety Regulation - is discussed in this article.

The first month of 2024 started with the publication of several European documents at common European and regional level (Baltic Republics), which present interesting facts and analyses on the … export and transit of prohibited, restricted or dual-use goods. These are: white paper on Export Control; Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/214 of 10 January 2024 on guidelines setting out the methodology for data gathering and processing for the preparation of the annual report on the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council; and 'Regional Approach to Ensure Uniform Customs Controls and Information Exchange for Implementation of the EU Restrictive Measures', adopted by the Baltic Republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Non-tariff measures are policy measures other than ordinary customs tariffs that can potentially have an economic impact on international trade in goods by changing the quantities traded, prices … or both.

REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. It is the main EU legislation for the regulation of chemicals in the EU. It is a single economic market … measure applying in the European Economic Area (EEA). EU REACH ceased to have effect in Great Britain from 1 January 2021. The Government has put in place a separate UK REACH regime that applies to businesses that import, make, sell or distribute chemicals in Great Britain, whether as raw materials or in their finished state. Northern Ireland stays within the jurisdiction of EU REACH.

EU Regulation provides a new legal framework to improve information sharing and digital cooperation between customs administrations and other government authorities in charge of enforcing non-customs … formalities at the EU border. What are these non-customs formalities?

Part of the EU’s trade rules enforcement arsenal, the Trade Barriers Regulation is a legal instrument that gives EU companies, industries, associations and Member States the right to lodge a … complaint with the Commission about trade barriers in third countries.