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CBAM Finland
The Finnish customs authority is the competent office for the management of the obligations related to the carbon border adjustment mechanism. Moreover the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has appointed a working group with a term from 23 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. The group will deal with the organisation of the necessary administration and the needs to amend legislation, as well as any detailed regulations on the matter from the EU.
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CBAM guide provided by French Department of Ecology
The French Department of Ecology released and interesting and complete guide of CBAM compliance. The CBAM (in French: MACF mécanisme d’ajustement carbone aux frontières ) is a new form of trade compliance to be encompassed within the AEO approach.
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CBAM Sweden Tax Customs Department
The Swedish Tax and Customs Department in its presentation of July 2023 undelined that the CBAM (carbon border adjsutment mechanism) will be enforced with “…Secondary legislation – supplement framework Adopted by EU Commission based on empowerments in CBAM Regulation, prepared by CBAM Committee (Member States Representatives) and stakeholder views; 12 implementing acts, to ensure detailed uniform application One on methods for reporting during transitional period; as soon as possible (July 2023); 11 others (sufficiently prior to 1 January 2026) 4 delegated acts – reflect certain developments E.g. circumvention, adding countries to list of countries excluded from CBAM fulfilling certain criteria, such as linking to EU ETS…”
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Excises, environmental taxation, power generation
The environmental taxation of electricity (power generation) and energy products has received another interesting contribution from the Court of Justice of the EU which, with its Section V in the judgment C-833/21 of 23 June 2023 stated that: “… national legislation providing for the taxation of coal used for the production of electricity satisfies the condition contained in that provision, according to which the tax must be introduced for reasons of environmental policy“, where there is a direct link between the use of the revenue of the taxation and its purpose or if such a tax, “…without pursuing a purely budgetary purpose, is designed, as regards its structure, in particular…
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EU, New Zealand: another step done for the entry into force
The agreement between the European Union and the New Zealand has been signed. Now, it needs to be sent to the European Parliament for its consent. After the ratification process in both the EU and New Zealand, the deal enters into force.
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Customs classification, AEO and audit for compliance
Customs classification is one of the fundamental pillar for the determination of the customs debt and represents a process of a technical nature and judges aimed at identifying a good in a customs heading of the combined nomenclature system (CN). Section X of the Court of Justice of the European Union with judgment of 15 June 2023 C-292/22 stated that: “…The explanatory notes of the HS (harmonised system) and of the CN, although they do not have binding effect, they constitute important tools to ensure uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff and, as such, provide useful elements for the interpretation of the same…” ; “… even when a method…
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New GSP framework, sustainable development and good governance: a check of the principles.
The ProposalCOM(2021)579 will set up a new framework of the European generalized system of preference which is: part of EU common commercial policy (unilateral preferential origin treatment for goods originating from the eligibile countries): sustainable development and good goverance; consistent with with the analysis and perspective of the Commission Communication Trade Policy Review: An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy of 18 February 2021; consistent with EU green agenda and UN suistainable goals; The key stone of GSP is the “conditionality”: a country should not benefit from preferential trade arrangements if it is acting in a way that is contrary to international standards and principles and thereby also to its…
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New GSP framework, sustainable development and good governance: a short check
The new GSP regulation -to be adopted within the 2027- mantains: the three group of beneficary countries: “…The scheme provides for the following tariff preference arrangements: (a) a standard arrangement (‘Standard GSP’); (b) a special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance (‘GSP+’); (c) a special arrangement for the least-developed countries (Everything But Arms (‘EBA’))…”; The difference between the sensitive and non sensitive goods; The nature of unilateral preferential treatment for goods originating from eligible countries; The list of commodities (HS codes); The need of formalities. The import operations from GSP countries can impact on the AEO internal monitoring.
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New EU GSP: proposal for postponement to 2027
The current European generalized system of preferences (GSP) should be extended to 2027 according to proposal of regulation of EU Parliament and Council. In particular, this proposal ( 4 July 2023- COM 426 2023/0252 COD ) lays down that: “…the period of application of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 should be extended until 31 December 2027…”; “…If the publication takes place after 31 December 2023, this Regulation shall apply retroactively from 1 January 2024…”; “…in case the Regulation based on Commission Proposal COM(2021)579 becomes applicable before that date, the extension of the period of application of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 should be correspondingly shortened…”. For sake of completness, the Commission Proposal COM(2021)579 provides…
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EU, Kenya negotiations for a free trade agreement
According to a press release of EU Parliament: On 19 June 2023, the EU and Kenya concluded negotiations on an economic partnership agreement (EPA); The text of the EPA or FTA (free trade agreement-preferential origin) includes binding provisions on trade and sustainable development; This text must be: a) gone through legal revision; b) submitted for signature and conclusion to the Council; c) signed by EU and Kenya; d) accepted by the EU Parliament; e) ratified by Kenya and the EU Member states. Futhermore, after the consent by the European Parliament, the parties may decide to provisionally apply parts of the agreement