Your trade and customs knowledge
go-to-place

Editorial note: Sanctions are one of the examples of growing number of border restrictions and prohibitions. This is impacting a number of companies involved in global trade. The nature of sanctions … is becoming more diverse and the list of sanctioned persons is growing. As a result, importers, exporters and other actors have no choice but to be more careful in choosing who they work with. Especially in light of the recent updates by the Council of the European Union on the understanding of who is a sanctioned person.

The import of furs of wildlife into the State of Israel is under a strict supervision of the Nature and Parks Authority, which is department of the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection. … This is part of a larger issue of importing animals or parts of them, but in this article we will focus on the import of furs into Israel. It’s an interesting example, which we believe is not common elsewhere, due to a very specific piece of Israeli law. This law forbids importing wildlife fur, unless they meet the conditions of one of a very few exceptions. One of the key exceptions is fur for religious purposes. The Israeli Customs Authority, which is authorized to supervise imports, serves as the Nature Authority long arm to check the compliance of imports when a shipment containing animal fur arrives in Israel.

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation is the EU’s main instrument to protect human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed … by chemicals. The legislation places a registration obligation on the importer. However, the definitions of the importer and import under the REACH legislation do not align with the customs terminology. The article demonstrates what happens when discrepancies arise.

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’.

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.