The list of dual-use items is updated regularly to ensure compliance with international obligations.

Background

The original EU dual-use regulation had entered into force on September 9, 2021.

Here we would like to briefly explain three essential aspects regarding the customs clearance of goods.

1) Third country: The USA is a third country for Germany. In terms of customs and foreign trade law, exports from Germany to the USA are therefore equivalent to any other export to a third country.

2) Tariff level: The tariff level is basically low. Exemption from customs duties is provided in the customs tariff for some products from the agricultural sector. In the commercial sector, many goods are also duty-free, for example in the areas of machinery and apparatus and electrical goods.

3) Responsible customs authority in the U.S.: Responsibilities for the regulation and monitoring of international trade in the U.S. are divided among several federal agencies. There may also be different ancillary costs depending on the state.

Conclusion:

Taking into account all the rules and regulations, it is therefore important to submit all the required documents correctly and in detail, as well as to comply with the requirements. To ensure a smooth and time-saving process, it is recommended to hire a good and experienced customs service provider like Gerlach.

Do you have any further questions? We at Gerlach will be happy to support you!

The product concerned is aluminum motor vehicle wheels falling within CN headings 8701 to 8705, whether or not fitted with accessories, including tires, originating in Morocco.

The product is currently classifiable within CN codes ex 8708 70 10 and ex 8708 70 50 (TARIC codes: 8708 70 10 15, 8708 70 10 50, 8708 70 50 15 and 8708 70 50 50). A provisional anti-dumping duty of 16.5 percent applies (TARIC additional code C999).

In addition, there is a company-specific duty rate for HANDS 8 S.A.. This rate is 8 percent (TARIC additional code C873). In order to benefit from the company-specific duty rate, a valid commercial invoice must be presented to Member States’ customs authorities. This must contain a declaration dated and signed by a person in charge, identified by name and function, of the invoicing company, which reads as follows:

“I, the undersigned, certify that the [volume] [product concerned] sold for export to the European Union covered by this invoice was manufactured by [company name and address] ([TARIC additional code]) in Morocco and that the information provided in this invoice is complete and correct.”

If no such commercial invoice is presented, the 16.5 percent duty rate applicable to all other companies shall apply.

A security equivalent to the amount of the provisional duty shall be required for release for free circulation.

Incidentally, no anti-dumping duties are due retroactively for the period of the anti-dumping investigation in 2020/2021 because no customs registration was carried out by the customs authorities.

The Supply Chain Act at a glance

The Supply Chain Act obliges companies to observe human rights and certain environmental due diligence obligations in their supply chains in an appropriate manner. The obligations to be fulfilled are graded according to the actual scope of influence, depending on whether the company is dealing with its own business unit, a direct contractual partner or a more indirect supplier.

The law will apply from January 1, 2023 to companies with at least 3,000 employees. From January 1, 2024, companies with at least 1,000 employees will be affected.

The due diligence obligations of companies include:

• Establishment of a risk management system and performance of a risk analysis
• Adoption of a policy statement of the corporate human rights strategy
• Anchoring of prevention measures
• Immediately take corrective action when violations are identified.
• Establishment of a complaints procedure
• Documentation and reporting requirements for the fulfillment of due diligence obligations

Basic requirements for risk analysis

Risk analysis is the basis of appropriate and effective risk management. Only after assessing their risk profile are companies in a position to implement rules and procedures to effectively mitigate the identified risks. The LkSG requires companies to gather information about human rights and environmental risks not only within their own organization, but also in the supply chain. Based on the information gathered, companies must prioritize the risks identified and address the most significant risks first. The LkSG grants some discretion in the design and choice of methods for identifying, assessing and prioritizing risks – provided that the approach chosen is appropriate and systematic.

Regular risk analysis and ad hoc risk analysis

The LkSG distinguishes between two forms of risk analysis: a regular risk analysis and a risk analysis on an ad hoc basis. According to the law, the subject of the regular, annual risk analysis is all risks within the company’s own organization and at its direct suppliers. Risks at the level of indirect suppliers, on the other hand, are not to be included in the regular risk analysis.

In addition to the regular, annual risk analysis, the law requires companies to conduct an ad hoc risk analysis with respect to indirect suppliers if they have reasonable knowledge of a violation of a human or environmental obligation. Evidence of such a violation may arise from a variety of sources: Reports to grievance bodies, information in the media or reports from civil society, and discussions among industry representatives. It is worth noting that BAFA recommends going beyond the requirements of the LkSG in this regard. The authority considers it more effective to preventively monitor expected high risks than to have to take far-reaching measures when a human rights violation is imminent or has already occurred. The handout therefore suggests proactively involving the relevant parts of the supply chain in the annual regular risk analysis as soon as a company is aware of certain high risks.

In addition, all risks along the entire supply chain (i.e., own organization, direct and indirect suppliers) are subject to an ad hoc assessment if these risks have changed significantly or have arisen due to new circumstances. Such an ad hoc risk analysis may be triggered by a change in business activity, e.g. entry into a new sourcing country.

How is the risk analysis performed?

According to the BAFA manual, the assessment should be carried out in three steps:

1. First, a company needs to get a general picture of its business activities and the relationships in its supply chain.
2. After collecting the above information, the company must perform an abstract risk analysis.
3. Finally, the risk analysis must be completed by a specific analysis including the evaluation and prioritization of risks.

Companies should strive to gain an overview of their own procurement processes and make their supply chains transparent as a starting point for risk analysis. A suitable method can be risk mapping by business unit, location, product, raw material or country of origin.

To this end, companies should compile information on:

• its corporate structure, including the names, sectors and basic information of all Group companies,
• its procurement structure, including procurement categories, procurement countries, order volume and the number of direct suppliers per category,
• the nature and scope of its business activities.

In a second step, publicly available sources such as indices, rankings, UN or OECD guidelines and NGO reports are taken into account to identify subsidiaries, sites and suppliers with an elevated risk profile.

Based on the results of this abstract risk assessment, companies must identify the specific risks along their supply chains in a third step. They must then decide which risks they want to address first. Relevant criteria for this prioritization are:

• Nature and scope of business activities,
• Probability of occurrence,
• Severity of the violation,
• the ability to influence,
• the causal contribution of the company to the occurrence of a risk.

The risks identified in the specific risk assessment must be systematically documented, for example in a risk inventory.

The legislation recognizes that companies cannot conduct a fully comprehensive risk analysis from the outset. Therefore, the BAFA handout suggests a risk-based approach. Companies can initially rely on an abstract risk analysis and perform the specific risk analysis only for prioritized industries, locations and supplier relationships. If a company is already aware of high-risk subsidiaries or suppliers, it should initially focus its data collection on the corporate and sourcing structures of these entities. However, companies are required to gradually improve the transparency of their supply chains and thus extend the specific risk analysis process to all subsidiaries, sites and direct suppliers.

When developing preventive measures, companies can build on and refer to the results of regular and ad hoc risk analyses.

Background

The GSP scheme is a trade policy instrument of the European Union (EU). It grants tariff preferences to developing countries when importing goods into the EU.

The GSP system consists of a

– general arrangement

– special arrangement in favor of least developed countries [so-called Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative] and

– Special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance [GSP+].

The list of GSP beneficiary countries is reviewed annually. GSP Regulation (EU) No. 978/2012 also contains provisions on the removal of tariff preferences for groups of products (so-called graduation) and safeguard measures in case of excessive imports into the EU. This is the case when the average value of these products imported into the EU from the GSP beneficiary country exceeds the thresholds listed in Annex VI of the said Regulation for three consecutive years. The thresholds are calculated as a percentage of the total value of imports of the same products into the Union from all GSP beneficiary countries.

Not least due to many new EU member states and the shifting of third country borders, it is necessary to transport goods quickly and flexibly to their final destination, even without many formalities of import customs clearance.

With the transit system, a procedure has been created which enables the final customs clearance to be carried out at a specific destination and not directly at the point of entry into the EU (port/airport/EU border).

The goods are transported from the customs office of departure to the customs office of destination under the so-called customs supervision, and within the procedure the goods always have the status of customs goods as non-Union goods T1, and in case of transport of Union goods to EFTA countries the status T2.

All EU member states, EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), Turkey, the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Serbia and the United Kingdom are connected to the common transit procedure.

With an experienced and reliable customs service provider like Gerlach, customs clearance is as easy as can be. We will show you how in this article.

T1/T2 Customs clearance electronically via NCTS

The T-transit procedure is opened by customs at the point of departure. For the required electronic declaration in NCTS, data and information on the route, means of transport, identification, consignor and consignee, number of packages, total weight and the customs tariff number are required. The customs office of departure sets a presentation period within which the goods must arrive at the customs office of destination in order for the T procedure to be considered duly completed. Likewise, at the customs office of departure and also at the customs office of destination, an identity check of the goods is carried out; this is done by means of customs seals (seals/package seals) or identification features such as description noted in the transit declaration and physically attached to the means of transport/packages. In order to open a transit procedure, a security deposit must be lodged with customs in the country of opening to cover the duties likely to be incurred during customs clearance. The security can be cash, securities or a guarantee.

At the customs clearance at the place of receipt, the transit procedure is closed. After the goods have been presented and checked for identity, the conforming or possibly non-conforming completion of the transit document takes place, the security is released again and the goods are assigned to a new customs-approved destination. (Customs clearance, storage in bonded warehouse, new transit procedure, temporary storage, etc.).

Your advantages with Gerlach Customs Services and the “authorized consignor” permit

For most companies, both the creation in NCTS, the provision of security at customs and the presentation of the goods is a problem, which you can easily solve with Gerlach Zolldienste.

Gerlach Customs Services provides you with the necessary customs system NCTS as well as the best customs know-how to quickly and easily assist in the preparation of shipping documents.

A great advantage is also that Gerlach has the customs authorization “authorized consignor”, which allows to open the transit documents in many locations without the involvement of customs authorities. This makes the whole process much easier for you.

Gerlach offers:

• Issuing of transit declarations in the NCTS electronic procedure with and without authorization
• No communication with customs authorities in opening of transit declaration as “Authorized Consignor”.
• Using the Gerlach customs permit “Authorized Consignor” you can transport the goods without any action by the customs office, so in many places it is not necessary to present the goods at the customs office.
• This enables you to save costs and flexibility in the transport chain, also in case of multimodal transports, and you save waiting times at border or inland customs offices.
• Gerlach has sufficient guarantees and securities for the opening of transit procedures, which makes it possible to carry out the procedure even in the case of very high values of goods or sensitive goods.

Contact us today to speed up your customs clearance processes.

Whether in transit or any other customs service, Gerlach is always ready to assist you with advice and support. Feel free to contact us!

This might also be of interest to you: Download our free Post Brexit Guidelines!

In addition, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on supply chains and rising energy costs were factors in the decision to delay the measure, it said. Also to be suspended is the requirement for security declarations when importing goods into the United Kingdom.

The customs controls, which originally were to have taken effect July 1, 2022, include:

• The requirement for further Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks on EU imports currently at destination to be moved to Border Control Post (BCP).
• The requirement for safety and security declarations on EU imports.
• The requirement for further health certification and SPS checks for EU imports.
• Prohibitions and restrictions on the import of chilled meats from the EU.

The ministerial statement goes on to say that “businesses can now stop their preparations for July and a target operating model will be published in the autumn setting out the new import controls at borders, now planned for the end of 2023.”

It is important to note in this context that import controls already in place since January 1, 2022 will remain in place.

Always keep track of current Brexit developments with a competent partner at your side. Contact your local Gerlach office now – we will be happy to support you with your customs matters.

Registration for GVMS is mandatory

GVMS went live on January 1, 2022. It is a new border IT system that links declaration references to the haulier, allowing it to present a single reference, the goods movement reference (GMR), at the border as proof of pre-lodged declarations.

This might also be of interest to you: Download our free Post Brexit Guidelines!

Some hauliers have faced delays bringing goods into Britain due to issues with the new border IT system – the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) – that was introduced at the start of this year.

All transport companies moving goods through ports that use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) must register for the GVMS (Goods Vehicle Movement Service) and obtain a Goods Movement Reference (GMR) number to move goods within the UK. On the GOV.UK Website you find the full list of ports using the GVMS system: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/list-of-ports-using-the-goods-vehicle-movement-service

For food importers to UK – pre notification via IPAFFS system needed.

IPAFFS is a web-based service for the application for, and issuing of, Common Health Entry Documents (CHEDs) for imports from outside the EU and EEA of live animals, their products and germplasm. IPAFFS is the system used for notifying GB authorities of movements of live animals, their products and germplasm into to GB from countries outside the EU and EEA.

The notification needs to be done one working day before arrival of the goods.

For further details please check the GOV.UK Website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/import-of-products-animals-food-and-feed-system

We will continue our efforts to update to support companies with customs matters. It is important to keep ourselves up to date on the newest regulations and assess those implications on time. For further assistance on UK side, please reach out to the Gerlach UK team.

However, there are now some important changes as of 1 January 2022, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. Some of these changes have significant effects, so we ask you to prepare yourself sufficiently here.

We would like to draw your attention in particular to these two points:

1. for shipments to other EU Member States, the country of origin of the exported goods must be declared as of the reporting month January 2022.
2. for shipments to another member state of the European Union, the VAT identification number (VAT ID) of the recipient of the goods in the country of destination must also be declared in future.

For more information, visit the website of the Federal Statistical Office. Here you can find more information  on this topic.