On Sept. 30 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
The Canadian government announced the removal of 72 countries from Canada’s General Preferential Tariff (GPT) system, FedEx said in a Sept. 26 release. The removals are part of the 2013 Canadian federal budget. According to FedEx, the government said countries that had reached the World Bank’s threshold as middle-income countries should no longer benefit from the lower tariff treatment that GPT provides. China, Hong Kong, Brazil, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Russia, Turkey and India are among the countries that the Canadian government removed from GPT. The GPT will remain in effect for the countries that have not met the World Bank middle-income threshold. The Canadian government offers duty free or preferential market access to imports on more than 80 percent of products from 175 designated beneficiaries, said FedEx, saying the GPT is set to expire on June 30, 2014.
Federal authorities raided the corporate offices of Lumber Liquidators as part of an apparent investigation into the company's wood imports, Lumber Liquidators said in a Sept. 27 press release. ICE and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) executed a sealed search warrant on Sept. 26 at the company's Toana and Richmond, Va., corporate offices, the company said. The raid was reportedly related to potential Lacey Act violations, though no complaint has been filed.
The International Trade Administration issued its quarterly list of (i) completed antidumping and countervailing duty scope rulings and (ii) anticircumvention determinations. The following list covers completed scope and anticircumvention rulings for the period April 1, 2013, through June 30, 2013:
On Sept. 25 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The International Trade Commission published notices in the Sept. 25 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):
Russian customs authorities should find a solution to the on-going conflict on the TIR System on the Russian territory, said the European and international Freight Forwarders associations CLECAT and FIATA, citing possible disruption to trade with Russia.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Sept. 23, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
Two domestic steel companies and a labor union filed requests on Sept. 18 for new antidumping duties on grain oriented electrical steel (GOES) from China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Poland, and Russia. AK Steel Corporation, Allegheny Ludlum, and the United Steelworkers also requested the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission impose countervailing duties on GOES from China. According to the petitioners, underselling by exporters in the seven countries are causing U.S. companies a loss of domestic market share and falling sales and profits.
Russia joined the ranks of signatories to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA), the WTO said (here) on Sept. 13, becoming the 78th country to accede to the agreement. In order to join, Russia reduced tariffs on information technology products from 5.4 percent to zero. ITA signatories export 97 percent of global information technology products. “The ITA continues to be one of the most important trade agreements for the global ICT industry,” said the Telecommunications Industry Association in a press release (here), while applauding Russia’s entry.