Starting this month, many countries will adjust new foreign trade regulations! Export to these countries must pay attention to change!

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and other four departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Business and Financial Coordination and Greater Support for the High-quality Development of Cross-border Trade and Investment", focusing on stabilizing foreign trade, stabilizing foreign investment, deepening the "Belt and Road" economic and trade cooperation and foreign investment Cooperation and other key areas, as well as key links such as financing promotion, risk prevention, and excellent services, 11 policy measures in 5 areas are proposed.
 

Full text of the opinion:

https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202407/content_6962725.htm

On July 9, the official website of the General Administration of Customs issued No. 81 of 2024 (Announcement on Adjusting the Requirements for Filling in "Deportation Date" of Imported Goods).
 

The requirement for "date of departure" was adjusted from "the date of departure of the means of transport carrying the inbound goods from the port of departure" to "the date of departure of the inbound goods from the first port of shipment abroad.

For goods that have no actual entry or exit, fill in the date of declaration to the customs. Among them, if the declaration is made in the form of an electronic data declaration, the date of transmission of the declaration data to the customs computer system shall be filled in. In the case of a paper declaration, the date of submission of the paper declaration to the Customs shall be filled in.

If a customs declaration contains goods corresponding to different departure dates, fill in the last departure date.

Original announcement:

http://www.customs.gov.cn/customs/302249/302266/302267/5978601/index.html

The State Immigration Administration issued an announcement on July 15 that from now on, the 144-hour transit visa-free policy will be implemented at Zhengzhou Air Port in Henan Province, and the scope of stay will be the administrative region of Henan Province; the 144-hour transit visa-free policy in Yunnan Province will be expanded from Kunming to 9 cities (prefectures) including Kunming, Lijiang, Yuxi, Pu'er, Chuxiong, Dali, Xishuangbanna, Honghe and Wenshan. Three new ports, including Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport and Mohan Railway Port, are applicable to the 144-hour visa-free transit policy.

It is understood that up to now, the State Immigration Administration has been in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Shijiazhuang, Qinhuangdao, Liaoning Shenyang, Dalian, Shanghai, Jiangsu Nanjing, Lianyungang, Zhejiang Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Zhoushan, Henan Zhengzhou, Guangdong Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jieyang, Shandong Qingdao, Chongqing, Sichuan Chengdu, Shaanxi Xi'an, Fujian Xiamen, Hubei Wuhan, yunnan Kunming, Lijiang, Xishuangbanna and other places of 37 ports to implement a 144-hour transit visa-free policy. Citizens of 54 countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom have valid international travel documents and connecting tickets with fixed dates and seats within 144 hours from the above ports to third countries (regions). They can stay in the specified area for no more than 144 hours without visas. During their stay, they can engage in short-term activities such as tourism, business, visits, and family visits (in line with the mutual visa exemption agreement signed with our country or our unilateral visa exemption policy, available from its provisions).

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued an announcement on the imposition of 301 tariffs on China on May 22, local time, stating that some of the measures to impose substantial tariffs on a series of Chinese imports such as electric vehicles and their batteries, computer chips and medical products will take effect on August 1.
 

Effective August 1:

The 301 tariff rate of steel and aluminum products will be increased from 0-7.5% to 25%, including iron and non-alloy steel ingots, stainless steel and aluminum alloys;

Tariffs on electric cars will rise from 25 percent to 100 percent;

the tariff rate for ship-to-shore gantry cranes will be raised from 0 percent to 25 percent;

The tariff rate on photovoltaic cells (whether assembled into modules or not) will increase from 25% to 50%;

The tariff rate on N95 masks, non-disposable textile masks and non-N95 respirators will be increased from 0-7.5% to 25%;

The tariff rate on lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries will increase from 7.5 percent to 25 percent;

The tariff rate on certain other key minerals will increase from 0% to 25%, including cobalt, aluminum, zinc, chromium, tungsten concentrates and iron-nickel alloys;

The tariff rate on syringes and needles will be increased from 0% to 50%.

The United States and Mexico announced new measures to crack down on China and other countries circumventing U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs by exporting products to Mexico. The White House said that under the new policy implemented by President Biden, steel products imported from Mexico will be subject to a 25% U.S. "232 clause" tariff unless there is documentation that the steel was melted and cast in Mexico, the United States or Canada. Similarly, aluminum products imported from Mexico to avoid the 10% "232 clause" tariff must not contain primary aluminum smelted or cast in China, Russia, Belarus or Iran.
 

On July 19, 2024, the European Commission issued a notice on erythritol (Erythritol) Make a preliminary anti-dumping ruling and impose a provisional anti-dumping duty of 31.9 to 235.6 per cent on the products involved. EU CN(Combined Nomenclature) codes for pure erythritol are ex 2905 49 00 and EU CN(Combined Nomenclature) codes for mixed erythritol are ex 2106 90 92 and ex 2106 90 98(TARIC codes 2905 49 00 15, 2106 90 92 65 and 2106 90 98 15). The measures take effect from the day following the announcement and are valid for six months.
 

Colombia's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism issued Announcement No. 204 in the Official Gazette on July 19, making a preliminary anti-dumping ruling on galvanized and aluminized zinc alloy coils originating in China (Spanish: Lámina lisa galvanizada y galvalume y teja galvanizada y galvalume), initially ruling to impose a 29.9 per cent temporary anti-dumping duty on the products involved. The measures will take effect from the day after the announcement in the Official Gazette and are valid for six months. The Colombian tax numbers of the products involved are 7210.49.00.00, 7210.61.00.00 (galvanized and aluminized ordinary plates only), 7210.69.00.00, 7225.92.00.90, 7225.99.00.90 and 7210.41.00.00. The above anti-dumping duties are not applicable to galvanized corrugated coils and aluminized corrugated coils under tax numbers 7210.41.00.00 and 7210.61.00.00.
 

The Argentine State Secretariat for Industry and Trade reported on July 16 that the Argentine government issued Resolutions No. 156/2024 and No. 159/2024 in the Official Gazette on the 16th, announcing the cancellation of the labeling of imported textiles and footwear products in the import process. Regulatory requirements, and the Deputy State Secretariat for Consumer Protection will carry out post-event supervision to ensure that related products have corresponding product labels before they go on the market. Up to now, before any imported product enters Argentina and flows into marketing channels, it must be affixed in the country of origin of the product or apply to the State Secretariat of Industry and Trade for re-labeling. This adjustment will effectively shorten the import process of textiles and footwear products and save imports. Cost and improvement of import efficiency are one of the important measures taken by the Argentine government to promote trade development.
 

Previously, according to the regulations of the Brazilian government, starting from 0:00 (local time) on August 1, 2024, an import tax of 20% will be imposed on orders imported into Brazil with a value not exceeding US $50.
 

On July 11, the Brazilian government promulgated Law No. 2024, announcing the adjustment of the tax policy on cross-border purchases from August 1, 2024. According to the new regulations, consumers will be able to enjoy the preferential import tax on goods purchased through the "Conforme Remessa" program if the value exceeds US $50. Although the tax rate remains at 60%, the new policy introduces a $20 tax deduction that will significantly reduce the tax burden on consumers.

The change is intended to encourage cross-border shopping and bring the final tax rate on goods above $50 into line with the tax rate on goods below $50. However, for goods worth more than $100, the tax rate remains close to 60 percent. The new law requires cross-border shopping platforms to clearly show the details of taxes and fees to buyers to ensure the transparency of transactions.

The presidential decision published in the official gazette of the Turkish government on July 5 shows that Turkey has softened its recent decision to impose tariffs on imported Chinese cars to encourage automakers to invest. According to the communique, the decision amends a decree issued in June that stipulates that no additional taxes and fees will be levied on automobile imports within the scope of the investment incentive policy. Earlier on June 8, Turkey announced an additional 40% import tariff on fuel and hybrid passenger cars originating in China.
 

Recently, the Ministry of Chemistry and Petrochemical of India issued an announcement after consultation with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and decided to postpone the implementation date of the quality control order for 4 types of polymer products. The relevant quality control order was originally issued on December 6, 2023 and was originally scheduled to enter into force on June 3, 2024. The following table shows the effective dates and corresponding standard requirements for these 4 types of polymer products.

After the formal entry into force of the quality control order, the above-mentioned products must meet Indian standards and be certified by the Indian Bureau of Standards and affixed with certification marks, otherwise they shall not be produced, sold, traded, imported or stored.

Thailand's VAT Fair Act came into effect on July 5. This means that goods sold on cross-border e-commerce platforms priced below 1500 baht will no longer enjoy duty-free treatment, and all priced goods sold by low-priced imports and Thai merchants will be fairly subject to 7% VAT. The new regulations will be valid until December 31, 2024. They are temporary measures and are intended to be implemented on a trial basis before further evaluating the results.
 

In order to establish local solar panel manufacturing capacity in South Africa, South African Finance Minister Goton Guana recently announced that it will impose a 10% import tariff on solar photovoltaic panels, batteries and components.
 

Import tariffs on PV products are one of the measures mentioned in the renewable energy master plan, which aims to create 25000 jobs by 2030 and attract 15 billion rand of new investment through the green energy plan. The renewable energy master plan lists 49 possible market interventions to promote local manufacturing of solar, wind, lithium-ion and vanadium battery storage technologies.

The official website of Liberia's "New Dawn" reported on July 19 that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently issued guidelines for the management of imported electronic and electrical equipment to promote innovation and productivity in the electronic and electrical fields, improve the level of modernization, and contribute to economic and technological progress. It is reported that the management guidance will enter into force on August 1, 2024.
 

The contents include requiring importers to comply with business registration, tax, labor and immigration laws, obtaining import licenses and ensuring compliance with international standards and ENERGY STAR ratings before importing goods, providing at least one-year warranty and extending warranty for all products, importers must establish customer service centers in Libya, product retail stores must unify prices, and must participate in or establish electronic waste recycling programs, etc.