The new foreign trade regulations that will come into effect in March include
•Latest list of cross-border e-commerce retail imported goods announced
•The “Notice on Increasing Export Credit Insurance Support and Making Inter-cyclical Adjustments to Further Stabilize Foreign Trade” was issued
•Anhui Province accelerates the development of new foreign trade formats and models
•Zhejiang Province issues carbon peak carbon neutral implementation opinions
•RCEP officially takes effect in Malaysia
•Russian SWIFT cut off
•Adjustment of Bangladesh L/C import policy
•Egyptian imports fully require payment by letter of credit
•Algeria significantly adjusts import and export rules
•CMA CGM announces an update to the calculation method for export demurrage in South China
•China and the UAE implement mutual recognition of the AEO system
•Japan relaxes entry restrictions for foreigners
01 The latest list of cross-border e-commerce retail imported goods is announced
Starting from March 1, 2022, the “Cross-border E-commerce Retail Imported Goods List (2019 Edition)” will be optimized and adjusted. In this adjustment, based on the list of cross-border e-commerce retail imported goods (2019 version), 29 items with strong consumer demand in recent years, such as ski equipment, household dishwashers, and tomato juice, have been added.
At the same time, the tariff codes of some commodities have been adjusted based on the changes in my country’s tariff items in recent years, and the remarks on some listed commodities have been adjusted and optimized in accordance with regulatory requirements.
02 “Notice on increasing export credit insurance support and making cross-cyclical adjustments to further stabilize foreign trade” is issued
On February 23, the Ministry of Commerce and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation issued a notice on increasing export credit insurance support and making cross-cyclical adjustments to further stabilize foreign trade.
The notice stated that local commerce authorities should actively implement the “14th Five-Year Plan” high-quality foreign trade development plan, opinions on accelerating the development of new foreign trade formats and new models and other documents, improve credit insurance support policies based on the actual conditions of various regions, and encourage greater support for cross-border e-commerce. , overseas warehouses, foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises and other new foreign trade formats, and take targeted measures to promote the development of service trade.
The notice proposes that local commerce authorities should conduct in-depth investigations and studies, understand the problems and demands of enterprises in exploring domestic and foreign markets through various forms, coordinate and solve the difficulties of enterprises, improve the ability of enterprises to receive orders, and cultivate more internationally competitive trade partners. Circular enterprise.
All business offices of CITIC Insurance Company should give full play to the positive role of domestic trade insurance in expanding domestic demand, and focus on supporting domestic credit trade in industrial chains such as electronic information and home appliances.
03 Anhui Province accelerates the development of new foreign trade formats and models
The General Office of the Anhui Provincial Government issued the “Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Development of New Foreign Trade Business Forms and New Models in Anhui Province”, which aims to achieve an annual cross-border e-commerce transaction volume of more than 50 billion yuan in the province by 2025, and a market procurement trade scale of 10 billion yuan.
The “Implementation Plan” consists of three parts with 22 items, respectively proposing policy measures from the aspects of digital technology empowering the development of foreign trade, promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional trade, promoting the refinement of trade division of labor and integrated development of business formats, and strengthening the construction of a trade innovation environment.
The “Implementation Plan” clearly states that cities with mature conditions will be supported to apply for cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, and a one-time construction financial support of 3 million yuan will be provided to newly approved cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones. Approved pilots of market procurement trade methods will be provided with construction funding support of 3 million yuan per year for three consecutive years, which will be used for infrastructure construction such as public service platforms.
04 Zhejiang Province issues opinions on the implementation of carbon peak and carbon neutrality
On February 17, Zhejiang Province issued the “Implementation Opinions on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality”, planning to create a new generation of information technology, automobiles and parts, green chemicals, modern textiles and clothing and other world-class advanced manufacturing clusters.
Among them, projects with high energy consumption and high emissions will be curbed. Zhejiang will improve energy consumption access standards for new and expanded industrial projects, strictly implement industrial structure adjustment requirements, and strictly control local plans for new high-energy-consuming industry projects such as petrochemicals, chemical fiber, cement, steel, and data centers.
Incorporate carbon emission intensity into the “Heroes per mu” and “Standard Land” indicator systems, and launch pilot projects for carbon emission evaluation of construction projects. Strengthen overcapacity analysis, early warning and window guidance.
05 RCEP officially takes effect in Malaysia
On January 28, 2022, the General Administration of Customs issued Announcement No. 13 of 2022: The “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” will come into effect for Malaysia on March 18, 2022.
The certificates of origin exported to South Korea and Malaysia under the Agreement are self-printable certificates, which will be implemented from the date when the Agreement comes into effect for the member countries. Relevant matters will be implemented in accordance with the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 77 of 2019.
06 Russian SWIFT is cut off
In the early morning of February 27, Beijing time, the United States, the European Commission, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Canada issued a joint statement, deciding to exclude some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment system and to impose sanctions on the Russian Central Bank. Impose restrictions to prevent it from deploying international reserves to weaken the impact of sanctions.
According to a joint statement issued by several countries, the latest sanctions will ensure that Russian banks are cut off fromlinkages to the international financial system, “undermining their ability to operate globally.” This means that Russian banks will not be able to communicate securely and effectively with offshore banks.
07 Adjustments to Bangladesh’s letter of credit import policy
The latest news on February 8 was that the Bangladeshi Congress approved in principle the new “Import Policy Regulations (2021-24)”. The regulation stipulates that Bangladeshi retail merchants who import goods not exceeding US$500,000 will be exempted from issuing a letter of credit and will be settled in accordance with the contract and wire transfer.
The new regulations increase the upper limit by US$300,000 from the previous limit. The Parliamentary Secretary said at a press conference that after the implementation of the new policy, the development of Bangladesh’s import trade will be more in line with the development needs of the times and become more competitive.
The new policy stipulates that exporting products or importing machinery should be completed within 24 months from the date of contract signing, replacing the original 17 months. According to the new policy, individuals without import registration can import products worth US$10,000. If the value of the goods exceeds US$10,000, a license must be obtained first.
In addition, in the bonded warehouse system part of the new policy, Bangladesh’s 100% export-oriented enterprises import raw materials and goods required for six months without any back-to-back letters of credit, and the original import quota is four months of inventory preparation.
08 Egypt imports fully require payment by letter of credit
From March, Egyptian importers can only import goods using letters of credit, and banks have been instructed to stop processing exporters’ collection documents. Some Egyptian customers have even requested that the bill of lading date for orders that are being shipped be changed to before 2.12, otherwise the shipping company will need to issue supporting documents.
It is reported that this move is to facilitate the Egyptian government to strengthen import supervision and reduce dependence on foreign exchange supply.
On February 17, the Central Bank of Egypt relaxed some restrictions and excluded necessities such as wheat, corn, beans, poultry, milk powder, chemicals and medicines from the list of imported goods applicable to the new payment rules.
09 Algeria significantly adjusts import and export rules
Algeria signed into effect the 2022 Finance Law (LA LOI DE FINANCE POUR 2022) on December 30, 2021. Traders need to pay special attention to the fact that this adjustment shows Algeria’s policy orientation of encouraging domestic production and inhibiting imports.
The French financial media “Le MOCI” (Le MOCI) quoted Akram Hamouda, director of legal compliance of the Algerian French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIAF), as saying in an online seminar on January 26, 2022. Adjustments include:
•Afghanistan’s import payment rules;
•Import tariffs;
•Importer requirements;
•Product labeling requirements.
10 CMA CGM announced an update to the calculation method for export demurrage in South China
•Billing date: from the day when the empty container is picked up (inclusive) to the estimated sailing date of the ship (inclusive);
•Applicable conditions: Goods exported from South China (port of departure);
•Effective date: March 15, 2022 (estimated sailing date).
11 China and the UAE implement mutual recognition of the AEO system
The General Administration of Customs of China announced that starting from February 14, China and the United Arab Emirates will mutually recognize each other’s customs “authorized economic operators” (AEO) system to be officially implemented, providing customs clearance convenience for goods imported from each other’s AEO companies.
When Chinese AEO companies export goods to the UAE, they need to inform the UAE importer of the AEO code (AEOCN + the 10-digit enterprise code registered and filed with the Chinese Customs, such as AEOCN1234567890), who will declare it in accordance with the UAE customs regulations. The UAE Customs will confirm the Chinese Customs AEO corporate identity and provide relevant convenience measures.
12 Japan relaxes entry restrictions for foreigners
Starting from March 1, the Japanese government will allow foreigners to enter Japan. Foreigners entering Japan (except re-entry) must have a receptionist in Japan.
The specific visa application procedures will be announced later, but foreigners for tourism purposes will still not be able to enter. Regarding the current measure of 7-day quarantine after entry, if incoming foreigners have received three doses of vaccine and come from a country with a stable epidemic situation, they will be exempted from quarantine, or the quarantine period will be shortened to 3 days.
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