Plans to reorganize International Traffic in Arms Regulations are ongoing despite what has been a lengthy legal review of the draft rules, a Directorate of Defense Trade Controls official said while speaking July 9 at the Bureau of Industry and Security annual export controls conference. Through a "series of rules we are trying to make the content of the ITAR more linear and more discernable," said Rob Hart, regulatory and multilateral affairs division chief in the Office of Defense Trade Controls Policy.
Wayne Wagner, senior manager for Brokerage Services at FedEx Logistics, died unexpectedly on July 8, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an email. Wagner was heavily involved in numerous industry groups and was a current board member of the NCBFAA. The NCBFAA said it will send out information about services for Wagner once finalized.
Instex, the European payment system designed to allow countries to trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, is mostly symbolic, several trade lawyers said. The system is a potentially useful tool to appease Iran’s demands for greater cooperation with Europe, lawyers said, but likely an insignificant mechanism in brokering major trade.
Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy will stop issuing certificates of origin for exports under free trade agreements with the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and Japan, and exporters must instead obtain authorized exporter status to obtain benefits under the agreements, according to a circular from the Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations. Exporters with existing authorizations on the Registry of Eligible Products for Tariff Preferences for Obtaining Certificates of Origin under the agreements will be given an authorized exporter number. Exporters that want to export more types of goods must file new requests in the registry and certify compliance with origin requirements in the Mexican single window, said the circular, which was posted by Mexican consultancy AJR Comercio Exterior. The new scheme will not apply for merchandise subject to some export quotas and some goods listed in an annex to the Mexico-Japan FTA.
Laos recently set new certificate requirements for non-resident importers and exporters that were set to take effect June 27, according to an alert from the law firm Tilleke & Gibbons. Under the new regulation, importers and exporters in Laos that have no registered business in the country will require a Trading Rights Certificate from the Department of Import and Export in order to sell and purchase goods. The goods can’t be sold directly to consumers in Laos, and must be sold through authorized distributors. To be eligible for a certificate, the importer or exporter must operate in accordance with the laws of their country of origin, have not committed an offense or be involved in criminal proceedings related to trade or financial matters, and must come from a World Trade Organization member country.
Mexico’s Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit recently issued its General Foreign Trade Regulations for 2019. Published in three separate parts in the June 24 Diario Oficial, the new 2019 version includes changes to provisions on suspension of import and export permits, and requires from Dec. 1 that importers transmit value declarations electronically through the Mexican single window, according to a summary of the changes from the Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations (CAAAREM) posted by trade consultancy AJR Comercio. The Mexican agency published Annexes 1-A and 22 to the new regulations the following day. Among new provisions of the annexes are changes to guidelines on how to fill out Mexican import and export declarations (i.e., pedimentos) related to a field for declared value, according to another CAAAREM circular.
Canada issued multiple new regulations related to Canada’s accession to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in the Canada Gazette, Part II. Among those is the new permit for the export of Arms Trade Treaty items to the U.S. meant to "provide a streamlined permitting process for the export of most ATT items." The regulations also include a brokering control list, brokering permit regulations, and regulations specifying activities that do not constitute brokering. The regulations will take effect on Sept. 1, according to another notice. The regulations were proposed in March (see 1904150033).
Mexico is extending a grace period for new requirements that took effect June 3 for importers to submit proof of compliance with certain Mexican product standards at the time of entry, the Confederation of Mexican Customs Broker Associations said on its website. Importers that have not yet obtained a certificate from a recognized certification body may nonetheless continue their current operations unchanged, as long as they submit their request for certification to the certification body by June 30 and include a receipt number for the request in their entry documentation. The grace period will last until Aug. 12. Mexico had previously announced that requests had to be submitted by May 31 to qualify (see 1905230061).
India customs will introduce paperless processing of exports in its Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) at the port of Visakhapatnam “along with other facilities across the country,” according to a report in the New Indian Express. The decision follows the successful implementation of electronic filing of supporting documents for exports under a pilot project in New Delhi and Chennai, the report said. The “shipping bill” and supporting documents such as the invoice, purchase order, license, certificate of analysis are to be submitted online by the exporter or customs broker, and the India customs officer will be able to view the documents for processing, the report said. "It is now mandatory to upload digitally signed supporting documents on ESANCHIT at the time of filing of shipping bills," Visakhapatnam customs said in a May 27 circular. "The exports/Customs Brokers should not be allowed to submit the supporting documents in hard copies, henceforth."
Thailand’s recently passed Weapons of Mass Destruction Related Items Act will take effect Jan. 1, 2020, according to a June 4 notice from Baker McKenzie, regulating all goods related to the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Products include “armaments,” dual-use items and “tangible and intangible items that could have commercial interest, technology or even software,” the notice said. The act would control exports, re-exports, transshipments, transits, brokering and other actions related to the weapons.