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EU Proposes Reforms to WTO Appellate Body
November 26, 2018 |International Sources

The EU and 11 other countries plan to present a proposal to reform the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body, the European Commission said in a news release. The U.S. has prevented appointments to the appellate body in recent years, leaving it without the required minimum of judges. "The appellate body function of the WTO dispute settlement system is moving towards a cliff's edge," EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom said. "Without this core function of the WTO, the world would lose a system that has ensured stability in global trade for decades. Now, together with a broad coalition of WTO members, we are presenting our most concrete proposals yet for WTO reform. I hope that this will contribute to breaking the current deadlock, and that all WTO members will take responsibility equally, engaging in good faith in the reform process." The proposal from the EU, Australia, Canada, China, Iceland, India, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland is scheduled to be presented at a Dec. 12 WTO meeting, it said. The proposal includes new rules for outgoing appellate judges and efficiency improvements, it said.

Topics:World Trade Organization (WTO)
EU Seeking Public Input on Development of Customs Single Window
November 26, 2018 |International Sources

The EU opened a "public consultation to inform a study for a possible new initiative to develop a single window environment for customs," it said in its newsletter dated Nov. 26. The effort is meant to "provide the stakeholders involved in the cross-border movement of goods and the wider public with the opportunity to express their views on all elements covered by the impact assessment: problem definition and respective drivers/root causes; the issue of subsidiarity and the added value of an EU level intervention; preliminary options for measures/policy packages; likely impacts of each option," the EU said on its survey page. The results will be used by the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union to help make decisions about the initiative, the EU said. The consultation is open until Jan. 17, it said.

Panels on Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, China Abuses to Assemble at WTO
November 21, 2018 by Mara Lee|International Sources

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body is establishing panels to review seven countries' complaints about Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as panels on Chinese, Canadian, Mexican and European retaliatory tariffs in response to those tariffs. The countries that requested a WTO verdict about the U.S. action include China, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Turkey and the European Union. All said that the tariffs, claimed as necessary to protect national security, are really safeguards, but the U.S. did not follow safeguard rules. The retaliatory tariffs, aimed to mirror the cost of the tariffs, are illegal, the U.S. argues. Countries hit by safeguard tariffs can raise tariffs in response, but only after a WTO panel says they can.

Topics:Section 232 Tariffs, World Trade Organization (WTO)
WCO Recommends Customs Regimes Take Closer Look at Invoicing Disparities
November 16, 2018 |International Sources

Customs regimes should make sure authority exists to allow for examinations for potential under- and over-invoiced transactions meant to evade customs duties or conceal profits, the World Customs Organization said in a report on illicit financial flows through misinvoicing. "The Report was endorsed by the WCO Council in June and subsequently presented to the G20 Development Working Group in July 2018, which had originally tasked the WCO with the composition of a report" during a 2016 summit, the WCO said in a Nov. 15 news release. In addition to duty evasion, misinvoicing can be used to "disguise capital flight as a form of trade payment" and "bring illicit proceeds into the domestic legal financial system," the WCO said.

Topics:Section 301 tariff exclusions, Entry Type 86 , Customs duty, Drawback, Manifest Confidentiality, Blockchain, World Trade Organization (WTO), Fighting Trade Cheats Act, Forced Labor