Customs and Trade News
Claudia Stroe
Certified Customs Practitioner | Export and Import Customs Procedures | Customs Compliance | Open to Exciting Opportunities to enhance my skills and stay updated on industry trends.
Welcome to the newest edition of my weekly newsletter, your go-to resource for all things customs and trade!
The WCO has published a "Handbook on Performance Measurement", specifically tailored for Customs administrations, to address the need for a comprehensive guide for evaluating performance.
The Handbook examines a wide range of topics related to organisational performance measurement, looking at issues such as performance measurement models, performance information roles, KPI selection, data collection and storage, performance dashboard and reporting.
The World Customs Organization announced a new e-learning course on blended learning, which is now accessible on the CLiKC! platform. Blended learning is a dynamic educational approach which combines traditional classroom methods with modern e-learning techniques to enhance the learning experience.
This course is tailored for Customs experts and trainers to help them design and implement their own blended learning courses.
Global goods trade is expected to pick up gradually this year following a contraction in 2023 WTO economists said in a new forecast on 10 April. The volume of world merchandise trade should increase by 2.6% in 2024 and 3.3% in 2025 after falling 1.2% in 2023. However, regional conflicts, geopolitical tensions and economic policy uncertainty pose substantial downside risks to the forecast.
HMRC has published the Customs Importer and Exporter Population official statistics for 2023. The article reports on the number of importers and exporters in the calendar year 2023, who were named on a Customs declaration. This covers the movement of goods between Great Britain and the European Union, or United Kingdom and non-EU countries.
The total importer and exporter customs population decreased by 6,452 (2%) compared with the 2022 population of 356,559.
The population of businesses importing goods during 2023 decreased by 6,680 (2%) compared with the 2022 population of 319,235.
The population of businesses exporting goods during 2023 decreased by 1,204 (1%) compared with the 2022 population of 143,888.
Full report can be read here.
From Thursday 11 April, the UK suspended the Global Tariff for cut flowers to increase trade and provide better value for consumers.
The suspension of 8% duty for cut flowers applies across the world but will be a big win for major flower growing regions in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The duty suspension will remain in place for two years, until 30 June 2026.
The move aims to increase trade and further strengthen the economic relationship between the UK and the region.
The TRA published its three-year strategy aimed at defending the UK from unfair trading practices and strengthening Britain’s position on the global stage.
The TRA’s 2024-2027 plan lays the foundations for the TRA to handle a potentially significant increase in the number and complexity of cases in the coming years.
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The European Commission has published an updated report on significant state-induced distortions in the economy of the People’s Republic of China.
This report provides relevant factual information for ongoing and future EU trade defence investigations related to anti-dumping. If during the investigation and on the basis of all evidence available – including the report – it is found that Chinese prices and costs in particular sector are distorted, they will be replaced with prices and costs from another third country with undistorted market conditions in the same sector, to calculate eventual dumping. This would be done on a case-by-case basis, building on the evidence available. During each investigation, all parties concerned, can comment on findings in the report.
EU Council adopted a law covering EU-wide minimum rules for the prosecution of violation or circumvention of EU sanctions in member states.
Certain actions will now be considered criminal offences in all member states, for example helping to bypass a travel ban, trading in sanctioned goods or performing prohibited financial activities.
Parliament and Council reached a new provisional agreement on extending temporary trade measures for Ukraine, suspending import duties and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU for another year, until 5 June 2025.
As part of reinforced safeguard measures to protect EU farmers, an emergency brake can be triggered for particularly sensitive agricultural products, namely poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, groats, maize, and honey. If imports of these products surpass the average of import volumes recorded in the second half of 2021, and all of 2022 and 2023, tariffs would be re-imposed. In addition, the Commission commits to step up its monitoring of imports of grain, in particular wheat.
On 8 and 9 April 2024, the European Union and the Republic of Tajikistan held the third round of negotiations of a new comprehensive framework.
During the third round of negotiations substantial progress was achieved. The future EPCA will replace the current EU-Tajikistan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, in force since 2010.
EU Council adopted a decision to conclude the agreement establishing an association between the European Union and Central America.
The agreement aims to strengthen and consolidate the relations between the parties through an association based on three parts: political dialogue, cooperation and trade.
The European Union Delegation hosted a high-profile EU Private Sector Dialogue Seminar in Harare, highlighting the key opportunities for trade and investment between Zimbabwe and the EU and EU's ambitious Global Gateway initiative, a plan designed to unlock €150 billion in public and private investments in Africa.
The participants gained a deeper understanding of the duty-free access it offers to the vast EU market, alongside EU support for regional integration and capacity building for export readiness.
This week (9 April), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Paris carried out searches and arrested four suspects in western France, in a probe into an alleged VAT fraud of around €60 million.
It is alleged that the suspects set up a VAT fraud scheme involving the export of goods from France to countries outside the EU. The suspects presumably created false documents and statements in the name of shell companies, which they established for the sole purpose of benefitting from VAT reimbursements.
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