The Canada Border Services Agency recently updated its list of tariff classification verification priorities. "All goods on the list for a verification of tariff classification have been on previous verification lists," according to a July 26 blog post from Farrow. "However, for Parts of Machines and Mechanical Appliances and Other Chemical Products, the verification priority was released in December 2018 and results are not yet available."
The French National Assembly recently ratified the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the CBC reported. France's Senate must also approve the deal, but it can't overturn the National Assembly, according to the CBC. That brings the number of approvals of EU countries party to the agreement to about half, said Cyndee Todgham Cherniak, a lawyer at LexSage, in a blog post.
Canada is seeking public input on "economies that have publicly announced their own consultations or studies on potential [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership] accession," Global Affairs Canada said in a notice. Those countries include South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom, it said. "The Government also welcomes views on the potential accession of any other Asia-Pacific economy. The Government may opt to launch further public consultations on specific economies that formally apply to accede to the Agreement." Submissions are due Aug. 25.
Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT) issued 262 seizure orders for undervaluation in the first quarter of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 60.7%, according to a report on the Mexican business news site Opportimes. That’s even though SAT carried out only 625 value analyses during the first quarter, 60.1% fewer than the same period the previous year, the report said.
Portugal is gaining more access to Chinese agricultural markets and signed a “protocol” with China in June that allows Portugal to export “swine offals” to China, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a Foreign Agricultural Service report released July 23. That move comes after a May agreement in which China agreed “to facilitate Portuguese agricultural exports,” USDA said. Portugal expects the Chinese market to “open for all Portuguese swine offals” by 2020, the report said. The agreements are expected to “transform the structure of Portuguese pork industry” and will bring challenges to “slaughterhouses without their own pork production and without export strategies,” the report said. In addition, Portugal’s pork industry plans to increase hog production “to satisfy the domestic and increasing international pork demand,” USDA said.
Brazil is establishing tariff rate quotas on a range of imports and reducing import tariffs “to correct a lack of supply in the Brazilian market,” according to a July 19 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Certain products -- including insecticides, “monochloroacetic acid,” polyester yarn, acrylic filament tow and certain vaccines -- will have their tariff rates reduced to 2 percent for one year, the report said. The reduced rates for each item will take effect at different times, ranging from July to December.