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Additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the USA

Friday, 01 April 2011 09:43

On 16 January 2003, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the the american law known as "Byrd amendment" (Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act or “CDSOA”), approved on 2000, is inconsistent with the rules of the Organization. This law established the possibility for the US government to redistribute collected antidumping and countervailing duties to those US companies that were damaged by these practices. After the refusal, for a long time (the law has now been repealed, with effect from october 2007) of the US to repeal or amend this law, The European Union was authorized by the WTO to apply retaliatory measures against the USA on certain products of American origin. Accordingly, the EU has adopted the EC Regulation No 673/2005 of the Council of 25 April 2005, that introduces an additional ad valorem customs duty of 15% on imports of certain products priginating in the US, starting from the 1° May 2005 and listed in the Annex I of the Regulation. This list is yearly updated by the EU Commission. The new list is annexed to the Commission implementing Regulation (EU) No 311/2011 of 31 March 2011, that now reduces this goods to only 3 products.

Special conditions governing the import of food from Japan - update

Monday, 28 March 2011 15:33

After the first measures adopted by the Member States (see our article), in the Official Journal of the European Union n. 80 of 26 March 2011 the Implementing Regulation N. 297/2011 of the European Commission of 25 March 2011, establishes harmonized conditions governing the import of feed and food originating in or consigned from Japan following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear in Japan. The new Regulation applies to the food products referred to in art. 1, par. 2, of Regulation No 3954/87 (products which are intended for human consumption either immediately or after processing and products which are intended only for animal nutrition), originating in or consigned from Japan, with the exclusion of those products which left Japan before 28 March 2011 and of the ones which have been harvested and/or processed before 11 March 2011.

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AEO: guidelines for multimationals and large companies

Wednesday, 23 March 2011 11:05

The General Directorate TAXUD of the European Commission has recently published new Guidelines on eligibility conditions for an AEO and the procedure to be followed in case of multinational companies and large businesses. The guidelines remind to the operators that in order to obtain the AEO status the establishment within the customs territory of the EU is needed, except in the cases referred to in article 14g of the Implementing provisions to the Community Customs Code. A parent company established in a third Country, will be therefore admitted to submit a demand in the name of its branches if it is established within the UE by virtue of the presence of a stable organisation here.

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Controls on import of food and feed from Japan

Tuesday, 22 March 2011 16:01

Following up the nuclear accident to the Fukushima plant in Japan, the Italian Ministry of Health has adopted an order that urges BIPs (Border Inspection Posts) and USMAFs (Offices of Maritime, Air and Border Sanitation) to tighten controls at the frontiers with regard to the products of both animal and not animal origin originating from the areas located in proximity of the nuclear reactor. Such order establishes that these products can be imported only if accompanied by documents prooving that their production and packaging have been carried out before the 11 March 2011. If this condition is missing, or in the case of food products manufactured after the 11 March 2011, the above offices will temporary block the importation, taking a sample of the goods, to be sent to laboratory for analisys, whose results must certify that they do not exceed the minimal levels of radioactivity. Similar provisions have been adopted by other EU member States, like France and Belgium.

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Management of the system of veterinary checks for meat imports, special report of the EU Court of Auditors

Monday, 21 March 2011 16:48

With the Special report No 14/2010, the European Court of Auditors examines the changes introduced in the Community legislation in the hygiene sector starting from the year 2004, in particular analysing the efficiency of the veterinary checks on imports of meet and meet products conducted by the EU Commission.

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News

Additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the USA

Special conditions governing the import of food from Japan - update

AEO: guidelines for multimationals and large companies

Controls on import of food and feed from Japan

Management of the system of veterinary checks for meat imports, special report of the EU Court of Auditors

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