Category

European Union

Category

Introduction Yesterday Commissioner MaroĆĄ Ć efčovič at the Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) held a press conference following the recent developments following Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Announcement (see our blog post on that topic here). Commissioner Ć efčovič addressed the current trade landscape between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), highlighting both the challenges and opportunities for strategic collaboration. The Impact of Tariffs on EU Exports Approximately €380 billion worth of EU exports to the US,…

As reported in our earlier blog here, on Monday 10 February 2025, President Trump announced that 25% tariffs will be imposed on all steel and aluminum products imported into the United States (“US”), including from the EU and the UK which were previously subject to exclusions. These tariffs are due to come into effect on 12 March 2025. The key question now is how other jurisdictions such as the EU and the UK will retaliate. …

On 12 December 2024, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered a judgment in the case C‑781/23, which has implications for businesses importing goods under temporary admission. The case arose from a request for a preliminary ruling from the Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen (Supreme Administrative Court, Sweden) and involved Malmö Motorrenovering AB and AllmĂ€nna ombudet hos Tullverket. Background of the Case The central issue in this case was the interpretation of Article 251 of the Union Customs Code (UCC).…

On 12 December, the EU Forced Labour Regulation (“Regulation”) was published in the EU Official Journal. The publication is following the EU Council’s approval of the Regulation on 19 November 2024. The text of the Regulation was approved by qualified majority with 25 EU Member States voting in favour and 2 EU Member States abstaining from voting. The Regulation was signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the EU Council…

In a landmark ruling on 21 November 2024, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed an appeal, upholding the General Court of the European Union’s original decision that relocation of production from the US to Thailand with the dominant purpose of avoiding EU retaliatory tariffs on US-origin goods could not be “economically justified” and as such falls foul of the EU’s “anti-circumvention” rules. This decision could have wide-ranging impacts, including a significant impact on companies’…

Companies engaged in continuous production processes may face challenges when using the EU inward processing procedure. For background, inward processing allows an EU company to import materials without having to pay import duties and other charges like anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, if the product made with these imported materials is exported. First, EU customs law allows companies to use inward processing if the imported non-EU materials used in the production can be identified in the…

Under EU customs law, storing and warehousing EU and non-EU goods is possible if certain conditions are met. However, since 2020, non-EU goods subject to anti-dumping, countervailing, or safeguard measures, can no longer be stored together with EU goods. This is because EU customs law now states that non-EU goods subject to anti-dumping measures do not have the same commercial quality as EU goods, and goods that do not have the same commercial quality cannot…

The rules (Statute) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have recently changed. The changes aim to enhance the EU judicial process and reduce the workload of the CJEU. The number of requests for preliminary rulings have increased significantly over the years. In cases concerning preliminary rulings, EU member state courts ask for the opinion of the CJEU on issues of EU law to help give a judgment in a national case.…

On 24 September, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that, as a general policy measure, it would start automatically registering imports of products subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, including in ongoing investigations. Until now, complainants had to request the Commission to register imports based on evidence of stockpiling (i.e., of increased imports during the investigation). On 24 October, the Commission published a several regulations in fact registering imports in all ongoing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.…

On 4 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered judgments in Front Polisario (joined cases C‑778/21 P and C-798/21 P and joined cases C‑779/21 P and C-799/21 P). These judgments concern appeals brought by the European Commission and the Council of the EU against judgments of the General Court of the EU annulling EU decisions related to agreements between the EU and Morocco involving the Western Sahara territory. The EU…