New foreign trade regulations in May, you must know to expand your foreign trade business!

Starting May 1, 60 Nicaraguan products will be subject to zero tariffs

Recently, the Tariff Commission of the State Council issued an announcement that from May 1, some imported goods originating from Nicaragua will be subject to the agreed tariff rate in accordance with the "Arrangement on Early Harvest of the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua", that is, zero tariff will be imposed on the import of 60 commodities such as beef and sea cucumbers.

Airlines no longer require nucleic acid test certificates from passengers arriving in China before boarding

At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held on April 25, spokesman Mao Ning announced that in order to further facilitate personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries, in accordance with the principles of scientific, precise, safe and orderly, China will further optimize remote testing arrangements.
Starting from April 29, all people coming to China can use antigen testing instead of nucleic acid testing within 48 hours before boarding, and airlines will no longer check pre-boarding test certificates.

The State Council issued a new round of measures to support foreign trade development

On April 25, the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Promoting the Stabilization of Foreign Trade Scale and Optimization of Foreign Trade Structure (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions). The Opinions proposed 18 measures in five aspects: strengthening trade promotion and expanding markets, stabilizing and expanding the import and export scale of key products, increasing financial and fiscal support, accelerating the innovative development of foreign trade, and optimizing the development environment of foreign trade.

The main contents include:

First, we will strengthen trade promotion and expand the market. We will promote the full resumption of domestic offline exhibitions. We will further increase support for foreign trade enterprises to participate in various overseas exhibitions, continue to cultivate overseas self-organized exhibitions, and expand the scale of exhibitions. We will continue to facilitate overseas merchants in applying for visas to China. We will promote the steady and orderly resumption of international passenger flights, especially international passenger flights at key domestic aviation hubs, as soon as possible.

Second, stabilize and expand the scale of import and export of key products. Organize direct customer connection between automobile enterprises and shipping enterprises, and guide automobile enterprises and shipping enterprises to sign medium- and long-term agreements. Ensure reasonable funding needs for large-scale complete equipment projects. Encourage local governments to ensure the employment needs of enterprises through recruitment services and other means. Accelerate the revision of the catalogue of technologies and products encouraged for import.

Third, increase fiscal and financial support. Study the establishment of the second phase of the service trade innovation and development guidance fund. Commercial financial institutions will further enhance the service capabilities of branches in central and western regions in trade financing, settlement and other businesses. Encourage government financing guarantee institutions to provide financing and credit enhancement support to qualified small and micro foreign trade enterprises. Further expand the scale and coverage of export credit insurance. Encourage financial institutions to innovate and improve foreign exchange derivatives and cross-border RMB business, and further expand the scale of cross-border trade RMB settlement.

Fourth, accelerate the innovation and development of foreign trade. Organize the China Processing Trade Products Expo and support the exchange and docking of industries in the east, middle and west. Accelerate the implementation of a number of key bonded maintenance pilot projects with "two ends abroad". Revise and issue the management measures for border trade. Support large foreign trade enterprises to use new technologies to build digital platforms and cultivate third-party comprehensive digital solution providers serving small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises. Support foreign trade enterprises to expand sales channels and cultivate independent brands through new formats and models such as cross-border e-commerce.

Fifth, optimize the environment for foreign trade development. Deepen the construction of the "single window", expand the scope of application of measures such as "linked loading and unloading" and "direct lifting at the ship's side", and improve the efficiency of cargo circulation. Improve the efficiency of customs clearance at ports, strengthen diversion and diversion, make up for the shortcomings of channels, and improve the cargo handling capacity of ports. Encourage and guide local organizations to organize trade promotion activities for free trade partners such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).

Original text of the Opinion:

http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2023-04/25/content_5753130.html

Europe passes world's first "carbon import tax"

The European Parliament voted in April to pass legislation to tax imported products based on the greenhouse gas emissions they emit during production, clearing the last hurdle before the plan became law. The regulation will take effect in 2026 and will initially cover imports of steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen. From October this year, companies must begin reporting the emissions of their imported goods, including indirect emissions from power plants that power overseas factories. At the same time, the EU is phasing out free quotas provided to European manufacturers under the emissions trading system.

Argentina to use RMB to settle Chinese imports

On April 26, local time, Argentine Economy Minister Massa held a press conference and announced that Argentina would stop using US dollars to pay for goods imported from China and instead use RMB for settlement. Massa said that after reaching an agreement with different companies, Argentina will use RMB to pay for Chinese imports worth about US$1.04 billion this month. Using RMB can speed up Argentina's imports of Chinese goods in the coming months, and the efficiency of related authorizations will be higher. It is expected that from May, Argentina will also use RMB to pay for Chinese imports worth US$790 million to US$1 billion.

Argentina makes preliminary anti-dumping ruling on Chinese heaters

On April 5, the Argentine Ministry of Economy issued Announcement No. 401 of 2023, making a preliminary anti-dumping ruling on heaters originating in China, and preliminarily decided to set a minimum offshore price of US$44.46 per unit for the products involved. For products involved whose export prices are lower than the minimum offshore price, the difference between the minimum offshore price and the export price will be levied as anti-dumping duties. The measures will take effect from the date of the announcement and will be valid for 4 months. The products involved are liquefied gas tank heaters with a power greater than 2500 kcal/h and not more than 4300 kcal/h and without external ventilation devices, involving products under Mercosur tariff number 7321.81.00.

Brazil adds solar panels to tax exemptions

The Brazilian government announced in the official gazette on March 29 that the production of solar panels will be included in the "Industrial Technology Development Plan" (PADIS) until December 31, 2026. Therefore, relevant dealers can enjoy exemptions from import duties, industrial product taxes (IPI) and income taxes (PIS and COFINS). In addition, the tax exemption plan also includes machines, equipment, instruments, raw materials and software purchased for the production of semiconductor electronic components or equipment.

Evergreen and Yang Ming increase GRI on Far East-North America routes

Major container ships around the world are still implementing strategies of reducing cabin capacity and speeding up. As global cargo volume begins to pick up, major shipping companies have announced that they will start charging GRI surcharges from April 15 (the original plan was to increase freight rates by US$1,000, but ultimately only by US$600). Evergreen and Yang Ming recently notified logistics practitioners and customers again that they will charge GRI again from May 1.
According to the notice, Evergreen and Yang Ming will increase GRI (General Rate Surcharge) charges on the Far East - North America route from May 1. It is expected that the price of a 20-foot container will increase by US$900 and the price of a 40-foot container will increase by US$1,000, which is equivalent to a 60% increase on the current freight rate.

CMA CGM imposes new dangerous goods surcharge from Asia to Northern Europe

CMA CGM (CMA CGM) has announced that it will impose new surcharges on the transport of dangerous goods from Asian ports to Northern European destinations. In particular, the French ocean carrier will impose a "dangerous goods surcharge" of $150/TEU on containers shipped from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions to Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic and European ports. The surcharge will take effect from May 1, 2023 (loading date), and CMA CGM has not yet announced the implementation period of the surcharge.

US CPSC releases latest regulatory requirements for cabinet products

On November 25, 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued new regulatory requirements 16 CFR Parts 1112 and 1261, which will implement mandatory requirements for clothing storage cabinet products entering the U.S. market, and will take effect on May 24, 2023.

In recent years, child injuries and deaths caused by the tipping over of clothing storage cabinets have occurred frequently in the U.S. market. The CPSC investigated and studied typical cases in the past 20 years and issued this latest regulatory requirement.

16 CFR Parts 1112 and 1261 clearly define clothing storage units, and their control scope includes but is not limited to the following categories of cabinet products:

(1) Bedside table;
(2) Chest of drawers;
(3) Dressing table;
(4) Wardrobes and kitchen cabinets;
(5) Modular wardrobe;
(6) Other storage cabinet products.

The regulations provide for the following:

(1) Requirements for interlocking mechanisms of cabinet products;
(2) The stability requirements for cabinet products have added a new concept of stability level;
(3) Requirements on the content and posting location of permanent warning labels for cabinet products;
(4) Requirements for labeling performance and technical parameters of cabinet products.

European Parliament passes cryptocurrency regulations

On April 20, local time, the European Parliament passed the first EU-wide cryptocurrency regulation MiCA with 517 votes in favor and 38 votes against. This is also the world's first rule to comprehensively regulate the crypto asset market. MiCA identifies and covers three types of crypto assets, namely asset reference tokens, electronic currency tokens, and utility tokens.

Amazon Brazil officially opens trial operation to Chinese sellers

Amazon Global Store released an important notice that Amazon Brazil officially opened its trial operation to Chinese sellers, becoming the 18th overseas site opened by Amazon to Chinese sellers. Official news shows that during the trial operation of the Brazilian site, Amazon will provide official resource support to Chinese sellers. According to Amazon's official statistics, the four fastest growing categories in the Brazilian site are consumer goods, consumer electronics, home life and fashion.

Content source: Focus Vision, network compilation

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