Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in a June 29 white paper on international economy and trade identified four global goals emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic era. It cited a larger economic role for governments, strengthened economic security across the globe, increased interest in common values such as the environment and human rights, and the digitalization of business. The U.S. and the European Union focus on supply chain resiliency was and will continue to be a large emphasis for global economies, the report said. Risk management methods must change and digital technologies must be used to foster supply chain resilience moving forward, the white paper said.
Hong Kong this month updated its export control lists for certain chemical weapons and strategic commodities to align its regulations with multilateral export control groups. The revisions reflect control changes recently made by the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australia Group and the Chemical Weapons Convention, Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department said June 11. Hong Kong said it added controls on four sets of “toxic chemicals” and newly developed technologies such as “read-out integrated circuits” used for “night vision capability.” It also “relaxed controls” on some dual-use items, including “signal analysers, supercomputer, [and] radio equipment having quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) techniques.”
Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department on June 28 issued an updated list of officers authorized to sign delivery verification certificates and trade licenses for imports and exports of “strategic commodities.”
China banned the import of cattle and related products from Cambodia amid an outbreak of bovine nodular skin disease, China's General Administration of Customs said in a June 25 announcement, according to an unofficial translation. The disease was detected in a village in Preah Vihear, Cambodia.
India will allow 50,000 metric tons of the legume tur to be imported from Malawi, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a June 24 public notice. India will evaluate annually in January the total quantity of tur (pigeon pea) imports from Malawi. Should any shortfall exist, the remaining quantity will be released for import from any other country.
China’s General Administration of Customs issued updated customs inspection regulations for imported recycled iron and steel raw materials, according to an unofficial translation of a June 18 notice. The notice also includes other updated industry standards.
China's General Administration of Customs issued new procedures for handling administrative penalties, according to an unofficial translation of a June 15 notice. The notice details the agency's procedures for investigating penalties, holding penalty hearings and more.
India recently “slashed” its sugar export subsidy by just over $27 per metric ton under its Maximum Admissible Export Quota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a June 22 report. The reduction -- from $81.96/metric ton to $54.64/metric ton on May 20, 2021 -- in the assistance program, which facilitates sugar exports and subsidizes production costs for domestic sugar mills, is aimed at accelerating the “diversion of sugar toward ethanol production,” the USDA said. India also hopes the measure helps it in “gradually reining in subsidized exports of Indian sugar in the global markets.”
Beginning July 26, exporters of duty and goods and services tax-unpaid liquor or "tobacco sea stores" on a vessel outside Singapore must be registered with Singapore Customs before an export permit can be obtained, the customs agency said in a June 22 notice. Registration can be initiated via the “Application for Registration as an Exporter of Duty and GST-Unpaid Liquor and/or Tobacco Sea Stores” form on the Singapore Customs website as of June 22. Applications must be approved before an applicant is considered registered. Once approved, registration is valid for three years.
The Philippines recently issued a new 12% value-added tax on previously zero-rated goods and services, including sales of certain raw and packaging materials to Philippines companies, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 22. Effective June 26, the VATs will apply when a sale is made to a Philippines “export‑oriented enterprise” for the purpose of “manufacturing, processing, packing or repacking the buyer’s goods in the Philippines.” In addition, a 12% VAT will apply to sales of raw or packaging items to a Philippines exporting business “whose export sales account for more than 70% of its total annual production.” VATs will also apply to “services such as the processing, manufacturing or repacking of goods for export purposes.”