The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs issued two guidance documents Sept. 16 highlighting special tariff classification and customs procedures that allow importers to delay or save on duty payments. One guidance lists situations wherein importers may pay a reduced rate of duty, such as re-importation of goods previously exported, importation for processing or repair, educational and cultural goods, medical goods, and printed and promotional goods, among other things. A second details ways in which importers can avoid immediately paying duties, such as through a duty deferment account, warehousing, temporary imports or moving through under union transit.

In the Sept. 13 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs recently posted a new webinar to help U.K. companies prepare for Brexit. The hourlong webinar covers five “key areas” that U.K. businesses must be aware of to keep trading goods when the U.K. leaves the EU: applying for an Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number, preparing to make customs declarations, transitional simplified procedures, entry summary declarations, and paying customs duty, VAT and excise duties.

The Czech Republic is preparing to amend its value-added tax law after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled against it in a case of a Czech taxpayer who avoided paying taxes on an export, according to a Sept. 12 post from KPMG. In the case, the taxpayer did not believe the transaction was subject to VAT “because the goods were exported,” the post said. Czech authorities challenged this assertion, saying the taxpayer did not satisfy the precondition for a VAT-exempt sale, which requires the export to be “released into a customs regime” to meet exemption status. The CJEU ruled that “entitlement to a VAT exemption cannot be conditioned upon releasing the goods into a certain customs regime, but instead it is sufficient that the taxpayer proved that the goods were actually delivered to a third country.” In response, the Czech Republic is preparing to include in its VAT laws “a measure that would allow for the possibility to prove entitlement to a VAT exemption on export by evidence other than a customs declaration.”

The United Kingdom recently updated several export control general licenses after a review of licensing of exports to Hong Kong, it said in a notice to exporters. The updated general licenses cover dual-use items to Hong Kong, transshipment of dual-use goods through Hong Kong, and the open general trade control license for category C goods. The updates became effective Sept. 13.

The European Union will require all authorized economic operator applications be submitted electronically through its EU trader portal beginning Oct. 1, EU customs said in a press release. AEO applications submitted together with self-assessment questionnaires on or before Sept. 30 may still be submitted on paper, and applications initiated on paper before Oct. 1 will continue to be processed via paper. But for electronic applications submitted on or after Oct. 1, processing will occur electronically, EU customs said. The Oct. 1 rollout marks phase 1 of the transition for AEO, consisting of the “application and the decision-taking process,” the release said. Phase 2, to be released Dec. 15, will include all “other subsequent processes,” it said.

In the Sept. 11 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom announced that on Sept. 10 that with formal talks concluded, it has initialed and is close to signing a trade continuity agreement that will continue current trade relations with the Southern African Customs Union and Mozambique after Brexit. The agreement will continue tariff treatment under the European Union economic partnership agreement with the countries after the U.K. is no longer subject to EU trade agreements, allowing U.K. businesses to continue trade on preferential terms with South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini and Mozambique. The agreement marks a leap of 10 percent in total trade currently covered by U.K. trade continuity agreements.

Phil Hogan, the next EU trade commissioner (see 1909100058), should examine potential regulatory changes "to allow us to use sanctions when others adopt illegal measures and simultaneously block the WTO dispute settlement process," Ursula von der Leyen, president-elect of the European Commission, said in a "mission letter." The U.S. has blocked new appointments to the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement appellate body in recent years, which has hindered the process. Hogan should also look at ways for the EU to better "protect itself from unfair trade practices" and "look at how we can strengthen our trade toolbox," she said in the letter. In addition to working with the U.S., China an Africa on improved trade relationships, Hogan "will lead the work on concluding ongoing negotiations, notably with Australia and New Zealand."

Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sept. 10 named Paul Hogan of Ireland the European Commissioner for trade for her 2019-24 term, a European Union press release said. Hogan, the current commissioner for agriculture, “is known as a hard and a fair negotiator,” von der Leyen said at a press conference introducing the new commission. The commission president-elect also named Paolo Gentiloni of Italy as commissioner for economy, where he will take over a portfolio that includes the EU Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union, according to a document on the EU website. The European Parliament must give its consent to the nominations, after holding a series of hearings within the relevant parliamentary committees, the EU press release said.