Brazil added 141 items to its list of foreign capital goods and information technology and telecommunications goods subject to duty-free treatment under the country’s Ex-Tarifario regime, said a June 9 Hong Kong Trade Development Council report. Among the additions, 129 items are capital goods and 12 are IT and telecom goods, the report said. The goods will benefit from duty-free treatment though Dec. 31, 2021. Brazil also renewed tariff-rate quotas on imports for five products: aluminum phosphide insecticides, polyester yarn, nickel cathodes, black printing ink and other printing ink.
Global Affairs Canada posted a list of returned tariff rate quota amounts that are now available for reallocation under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Panama Maritime Authority will impose sanctions on Panamanian flagged ships that “deliberately deactivate, tamper or alter” their Long Range Identification and Tracking System or Automatic Identification System, the authority said in a May notice. Sanctions may include up to a $10,000 fine. Panamanian maritime officials are “monitoring all our fleet 24/7” and will receive an automatic alert if a vessel’s LRIT or AIS is not reporting, the notice said. If there is “no technical support that justifies the missing report,” authorities may impose “sanctions that will be deemed appropriate,” including fines, de-flagging of vessels or deletions from the registry. The U.S. has published guidance on common sanctions evasions practices by ships, which include tampering with AIS signals (see 2005140039).
Even as COVID-19 delays some advances in trade facilitation -- such as being able to use a single window to export into Canada -- the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement has good news for it, panelists said during a Dickinson Wright webinar May 28.