Paraguay designated Hizballah, al-Qaida, ISIS and Hamas as terrorist organizations, following similar sanctions levied by the U.S., the State Department said in an Aug. 21 press release. The State Department applauded the move and said it will help “cut off the ability of these groups … to raise money around the world.” Paraguay joins Argentina and the United Kingdom as countries that recently announced sanctions against Hizballah, which is "not a defender of Lebanon as it purports to be, but a terrorist organization dedicated to advancing Iran’s malicious agenda," the State Department said.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 21 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Canada will allow remission of customs duties paid on tires that qualify under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership treatment, it said in a notice in the Canada Gazette, Part II. Remission will be allowed for goods classified in subheading 4011.90.90, which covers certain types of tires. "The remission is granted on the condition that the importer makes a claim for remission to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness within two years after the date of importation," it said.

Canada updated its regulations under the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (CIFTA) for rules of origin for casual goods, the country said in an Aug. 21 Canada Gazette notice. The updated regulations "implement, in Canada, the rules of origin negotiated by Canada and Israel in the modernized CIFTA that will be used to determine when goods have undergone sufficient production to qualify for preferential tariff treatment," said Canada in another notice. "The rules of origin in the modernized CIFTA were simplified, liberalized, and brought up to date with Canada’s approach in more recent free trade agreements." The CIFTA tariff preference regulations were also updated.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 19 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 16 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Mexico is again allowing more time for importers to comply with new certificate of compliance requirements for some Mexican product standards at the time of entry, the Latin American Confederation of Customs Brokers said in a recent circular. An additional 15 days have been added to a grace period that ended Aug. 12 for importers to obtain a certificate of compliance from a recognized certification body. Until the time period expires, importers that have not yet obtained the certificate may continue their current operations unchanged, as long as they submitted their request to the certification body by May 31 and include a receipt number for the request in their entry documentation. Mexico is granting the extension because of the volume of requests that have been submitted and are still pending the conformity evaluation process, the circular said.

The Canada Border Services Agency is changing procedures for submitting post-arrival amendments in e-manifest, it said in an Aug. 14 customs notice. “Effective immediately, if post-arrival amendments need to be made to key data elements on primary cargos (all modes), house bills or conveyance transmissions; or, if a cargo and/or conveyance arrival message were sent in error prior to the actual arrival, warehouse operators, carriers, freight forwarders and/or their services providers will be required to present a completed Form BSF673 in duplicate to the local CBSA commercial office,” CBSA said. “Form BSF673 must be completed and signed by an authorized representative of the client before post-arrival corrections on key data elements are processed by the CBSA,” the agency said.

The Canada Border Services Agency issued a notice detailing duty eliminations and reductions in the Canadian Customs Tariff under the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Both sets of changes took effect Aug. 8. The notice says remission will be granted on goods imported under subheading 4011.90.90, which is now duty-free under CPTPP, for which CPTPP treatment is claimed and that were imported Dec. 30, 2018, through Aug. 7, 2018, “provided the importer makes a claim for remission within two years after the date of importation.”

Brazil is eliminating tariffs on 281 products under its Ex-Tarifario regime, which provides reduced-rate treatment on certain foreign capital and information technology and telecommunications goods, according to an Aug. 12 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The additions to the list of eligible products include 261 capital goods and 20 IT and telecom goods, the report said. The tariffs will be reduced to duty-free until Dec. 21, 2021, HKT said.