Singapore Customs’ TradeNet will undergo system maintenance from 4 a.m. to noon on Nov. 3, Singapore said in an Oct. 18 notice. Singapore asked users to avoid submitting applications during the maintenance period.

China’s Guangdong province plans to prioritize imports of a “wide range of equipment, components and technological processes” that are “essential” to its key commercial sectors, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in an Oct. 18 report. The priority imports include 575 components, 103 equipment goods and 519 advanced technological processes, the report said. The components include “high-speed high precision robotic arms" and sewage treatment systems. The equipment goods include “precision forging, multistage forging and vehicle part casting systems," "new-energy vehicle components production facilities” and other specialized electronic equipment. The advanced technological processes include agricultural technologies for “improving the sugar content, yield and pest-resistance of sugar cane” and certain pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment technology, the HKTDC said.

Singapore signed a free trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union that will reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers while increasing customs cooperation, “respect for intellectual property rights and e-commerce protocols,” according to an Oct. 17 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The agreement will eliminate or reduce duties on 90 percent of Singapore’s exports to the EAEU -- which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia -- and will increase to 97 percent “over a 10-year period,” the report said. Duties will be reduced on “mineral fuels, oils and their distillates, prepared foodstuffs, machinery and mechanical equipment, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and precision instruments,” the HKTDC said. The deal will also eliminate tariffs on nearly all exports from EAEU to Singapore, the report said. The two sides also agreed to improved customs procedures, including “24 hours customs clearances, with priority items approved within four hours,” the report said.

China will impose “stringent new requirements” on export licenses for automobiles and motorcycles in 2020, according to an Oct. 14 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Manufacturers will be required to provide China with a list of “appointed overseas after-sales repair centres, details of the services provided and general details of their overseas after-sales repair service networks and overseas workshops,” the HKTDC said. Manufacturers of “all-terrain vehicles” will need to submit certain “quality management certificates” and copies of “any relevant international certification relating to the importing jurisdiction,” the report said. The documents will be verified by China’s commerce ministry, which may ban certain manufacturers from exporting autos/motorcycles if they submit false or misleading information, the HKTDC said.

China and Mauritius signed a trade deal that will eliminate or reduce tariffs on a range of products and increase “economic cooperation,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an Oct. 17 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The deal will eliminate certain tariffs, reduce others below 15 percent and will include agreements on rules of origin, trade remedies, technical barriers to trade and "sanitary and phytosanitary issues," China said. The agreement will also expand Chinese exports of steel, tariffs and other “light industrial products” while allowing more sugar imports from Mauritius.

A group of 15 southwest regional customs agencies in China signed a memorandum of cooperation to improve customs clearance, “improve supervision and crack down on smuggling,” according to an Oct. 14 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The memorandum will support the “New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor construction,” a “trade and logistics passage” built by Singapore and China, the report said.

India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has “revamped and streamlined” a program to strengthen domestic manufacturing through customs bonded warehouses, the agency said in an Oct. 15 press release. The program includes a single application form for “uniformity of practice” and no “geographical limitation on where such units can be set up,” the press release said. “Units” can also import goods under a customs deferment program in which the “duties are fully remitted if the processed goods are exported,” the agency said.

China and Singapore will soon implement a system to electronically transmit preferential certificates of origin and certificates of non-manipulation when the two countries trade, according to an Oct. 15 notice from Singapore Customs. The system, which will take effect Nov. 1, will no longer require companies to send hard copies of the certificates overseas, saving “cost and time,” Singapore said. The notice contains details on how to apply for and send the electronic certificates as well as how importers can claim preferential treatment on Chinese imports.

Japan’s trade minister said there are still “some issues” that need to be worked out during negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership despite progress being made, according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 11 press conference.

Japan’s Industrial Standards Committee revoked a certification for a manufacturing company, which may affect its ability to sell certain products, according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 11 press release. Japan said the company’s factory, belonging to Takako Co., did not meet standards because it “has not properly conducted some tests specified in the Japanese Industrial Standards” that were “deemed critical.”