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Jaap Huenges Wajer (Netherlands)

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The Netherlands and EU: Reform of the Dutch Customs Penalty Regime

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Considering the major (positive) impact the reform of the Dutch Customs Penalty Regime will have on the activities of operators active in the Netherlands, we wanted, as the date of implementation is nearing, draw your attention on the latter. As of 1 July 2024, the new Dutch customs legislation regarding customs penalties will apply. Under the reformed legislation, operators that unintentionally submit an incorrect or incomplete customs declaration or provide incorrect or incomplete information to…

EU and China: European Commission imposes provisional countervailing duties on electric vehicle imports from China

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On 12 June 2024, the European Commission proposed provisional countervailing duties for imports into the European Union (“EU”) of new battery electric vehicles designed for the transport of persons (“EVs”) originating from the People’s Republic of China. The pre-disclosure of the European Commission’s proposal is published here. This pre-disclosure follows from the anti-subsidy investigation concerning EVs from the People’s Republic of China. Find our previous blogpost on that investigation here. The products in the scope…

EU: The European Commission published the updated Combined Nomenclature for 2024 on Tuesday 31 October 2023

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The most significant updates to the Combined Nomenclature (“CN”) relate to – amongst others: The declaration of goods upon import, export, or when subject to intra-Community trade statistics between EU Member States is based on the CN. This sets the customs duty rate that is applicable as well as determines how the products are handled for statistical purposes. Therefore, the CN is an essential working instrument for industry and the customs departments of the EU…

EU Court of Justice concludes that the European Commission has exceeded its powers when adopting delegated legislation concerning non-preferential rules of origin

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On 21 September 2023, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) gave its judgment in a case concerning the non-preferential rules of origin (“ROO”) as laid down in the European Commission’s Union Customs Code Delegated Act (“UCC DA”), which supplements the Union Customs Code (“UCC”). The ECJ concluded in this case that the ‘Change of Tariff Heading’ (“CTH”) ROO laid down in the UCC DA can be deemed invalid in the light of the Treaty of…

The Combined Nomenclature has been updated by the European Commission and is applicable as of 1 January 2023

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On Monday 31 October 2022 the European Commission published the updated Combined Nomenclature (CN) for 2023. The publication of the 2023 CN can be found here: EUR-Lex – 32022R1998 – EN – EUR-Lex (europa.eu). The most significant updates to the CN relate to – amongst others: Addition of new subheadings to better monitor particular items and account for changes in requirements related to statistics, commercial policy, and technological and commercial developments (e.g. ‘critical raw materials’…

Window opened to single EU customs system

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Update to the UCC The European Union made the decision to establish a single window for customs (or its official designation: “EU Single Window Environment for Customs”) in order to facilitate international trade, speed up the customs clearance process, and lower the likelihood of fraud. On 24 October 2022, the Council of the European Union enacted a new regulation that establishes the necessary framework for digital cooperation between customs and associated competent authorities (link to…

The Hamamatsu TP/customs valuation case comes to a surprising conclusion

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Retroactive TP-adjustments – whether upwards or downwards – Highest German Court rules that they do not have an impact on the customs value. On 17 May 2022 (published end of September 2022) the German Federal Fiscal Court (or: Bundesfinanzhof. “BFH”) – which is the Highest court for tax related matters in Germany – gave its final judgement in the (in)famous Hamamatsu case. This proceeding is part of the referral to the European Court of Justice…

European Commission updates “Guidance on non-preferential rules of origin”

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Recently the EC has published an update to its “Guidance on non-preferential rules of origin” (available here). The prior version dates back to December 2018. Except where preferred tariff measures are involved, the non-preferential rules of origin apply to products declared for release for free circulation in the EU for the purposes of implementing the Common Customs Tariff. They are also used to implement additional anti-dumping and origin-marking procedures (i.e. “made in…”-marking) created by Union…