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Trade Policy

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The Indonesian government is currently trying to tighten the flow of imported goods into Indonesia. As part of that effort, the government aims to further amend Minister of Trade Regulation No. 25 of 2022 on Amendment of Minister of Trade Regulation No. 20 of 2021 on Policy and Arrangements of Import (“MOT Regulation No.25/2022”). The revision involves changing the import trading system for several types of commodities from “post-border” to “border”. The difference between the…

In brief The new EU Deforestation Regulation (2023/1115/EU) will impose due diligence obligations from 30 December 2024 aimed at tackling deforestation and forest degradation. The Regulation will require companies dealing in in-scope products to undertake due diligence into the source of a wide range of commodities, including cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, rubber, soya and wood, to ensure that they have not been obtained as a result of deforestation. You can access a recording of our recent webinar…

Next to the CBAM implementing regulation adopted by the European Commission on 17 August 2023 regarding the reporting rules applicable during the transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) (please find a previous alert by our team here), the European Commission released a set of new CBAM documents in October.  These are in chronological order: In addition, note that the national authority designation process still is inconclusive for a number of Member States,…

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 UK government has released its final plans for the new Border Target Operating Model (“the Model”). The Model was initially set for implementation from October this year and has now been delayed to January 2024. The UK Government has agreed to this delay of three months following input from public consultation from the private sector and stakeholders. The Model which introduces the remaining sanitary and phytosanitary controls, as well as full customs controls for…

Following the re-tabling of the Malaysian Budget 2023 on 24 February 2023, the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) have reintroduced the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) 2.0 and the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) which apply to direct taxes and indirect taxes respectively. A similar programme was previously implemented in 2022 for indirect taxes and in 2019 for direct taxes, although there are some key differences in respect of the…

The ratification of two of the world’s mega-regional free trade agreements, namely the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), marks a significant milestone for Malaysia in its pursuit of bolstering foreign investments and expanding its trade horizons. Malaysia has successfully ratified the RCEP on 17 January 2022, followed by the ratification of the CPTPP on 30 September 2022. Subsequently, the RCEP came into force on 18…

On June 27, 2023, Japan’s Cabinet determined amendment to Export Trade Control Order, an supplemental regulations of Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, to add South Korea into the List No.3. Japan designates preferred trade countries (Group A Countries, formerly known as “White Countries”) in the List No.3 and provides preferential treatment for export of items from Japan to the listed countries, including granting general export license and exemption from catch-all controls. New Export Trade…