|
Greetings!
November has certainly been a busy month in the World of Customs Law and Practice. The European Union has finally published the new Rules of Origin for importing under preference which comes into force on 1 January 2011 and our feature article looks at the new rules and how they can result in increased opportunities for importers to benefit from preference.
As well as the GSP Regulation, the 2011 Customs Tariff has been published. Importers wishing to download it should follow the link in the article. We continue our coverage of the WTO Ruling on High Tech Goods and the ongoing fallout from it as well as reporting on the latest developments in the continued "currency-wars". Finally, we look at the introduction of anti dumping duty on Chinese fine paper imports, the latest ECJ case regarding classification of food products and the decision by HMRC to delay the rollout of the Import Control System until December. |
|
New Origin Rules
Increase Opportunities for Importing Under Preference |
|
The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) rules of origin are finally being simplified. According to HMRC in 2009, circa £635m of customs duty was saved by UK importers who imported goods under the GSP system. However, consistent European Commission research has suggested that the present system of rules requires a radical overhaul. Finally, after seven years of negotiations new provisions will come into force on 01/01/2011.
Why are the rules changing and what are the main changes?
The current rules of origin are overly complex and restrictive. This has in some cases hindered rather than helped developing countries from accessing the world economy. As well as being overly complex to understand and apply, the European Commission suggests that the bar has been set too high for goods to qualify for preferential treatment and so accordingly have lowered some of the requirements.
Sector-by-Sector approach
The rules are now based on a sector-by-sector approach rather than a product-by-product basis. The aim of this is to simplify the rules and in some cases to relax them. The main changes are concerned with agricultural and industrial products:
Agricultural Products
Read the full article..................... |
