The European Council approved a negotiating mandate for trade talks with the U.S., but says it will not finish a free-trade agreement until the steel and aluminum tariffs on its member countries are lifted. The mandate, which was approved April 15, excludes agricultural trade from the talks.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade on April 12 posted details of its recently concluded trade continuity agreements with Norway and Iceland, as well as two letters on temporary treatment for Norwegian and Icelandic products after Brexit. The agreements, which take effect in the event the U.K. leaves the European Union with no transition deal in place, would keep tariffs at current levels rather than most-favored nation rates.

In the April 12 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom recently put up two new webpages to help businesses get ready for importing and exporting with the European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The checklists include guidance documents at each step with more detailed information on what new importers and exporters must do to keep trading with the EU after a no-deal Brexit. The EU and U.K. recently postponed the latter’s withdrawal from the EU until Oct. 31 (see 1904100077).

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs issued a policy paper April 11 intended to clarify the claiming of “input tax” value-added tax deductions for imported goods. “HMRC is aware of incorrect treatment by businesses whereby import VAT has been incorrectly deducted as input tax by non-owners of the goods,” the agency said. One situation in which this has presented itself is when businesses sell goods before importing them into the U.K. and pass title on to the new owner, but still act as importer of record and pay the import VAT. “The correct procedure is for the new owner of the goods to be the importer of record and reclaim the import VAT on the [import VAT certificate] C79 and not the previous owner,” HMRC said. Beginning July 15, HMRC will only allow claims for the “input tax” using the correct procedures, it said. As previous guidance was not clear on the correct procedure, HMRC “will not pursue historical VAT deduction where the VAT could have been recovered in full by the owner of the goods at the time of importation as long as there is no risk of duplicated claims,” it said.

In the April 10 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

In the April 9 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The EU is starting preparations on a list of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that would take effect after a World Trade Organization arbitrator rules in a dispute over U.S. subsidies for Boeing civil aircraft, a European Commission spokesman said. That arbitrator will tell the EU how much it is allowed to retaliate for the subsidies, the spokesman said, speaking after the U.S. released its own list of proposed retaliatory tariffs on EU goods in a similar WTO dispute on EU subsidies for Airbus (see 1904090057). The EU is open to discussing both disputes with the U.S., he said.

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs is extending until May 31 the deadline for applications for grants available to fund training and information technology improvements in preparation for the U.K.’s planned withdrawal from the European Union. Available to importers, customs brokers, freight forwarders and couriers that are either established or have a branch in the U.K., the funding “will support customs intermediaries and traders completing customs declarations,” HMRC said. Out of a total $8 million available, $2 million is available to fund up to 50 percent of the cost of training for staff completing customs declarations, another $3 million is available to fund IT improvements related to customs declarations for small and medium intermediaries, and $3 million was invested in training courses that will be available “over the coming months to support customs broker training,” HMRC said.

In the April 8 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: