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China and Thailand will be exempt from visas from March 1.
China and Thailand signed a visa exemption agreement in Bangkok, which will come into force on March 1, 2024. According to the agreement, Thai ordinary passport holders and Chinese official and ordinary passport holders enjoy 30-day visa-free treatment for entry, exit or transit in each other's countries; Within 180 days, the cumulative stay of the passport holder shall not exceed 90 days; Long-term residence, work, study, engagement** or other activities that require prior official approval are not eligible for this visa waiver agreement.
Requirements and procedures for the export of used cars.
The Ministry of Commerce and other five departments recently issued an announcement on matters related to the export of second-hand cars, announcing the relevant requirements and procedures for the export of second-hand cars. The announcement will come into force on March 1, 2024.
According to the announcement, second-hand car export enterprises applying to carry out second-hand car export business must meet the following conditions: for production enterprises, they must be registered in the territory of the People's Republic of China and have independent legal personality; The company is listed in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Announcement on Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products"; export the products produced by the enterprise; The enterprise operates in accordance with laws and regulations, complies with laws and regulations on production safety, environmental protection, taxation, customs and foreign exchange management, and has no uncorrected violations of laws and regulations, and no serious untrustworthy conduct. For circulation enterprises, they must be registered in the territory of the People's Republic of China and have independent legal personality; Have a fixed business office space and a second-hand car display and sales place, and have experience in automobile sales or **; Have the ability to identify and evaluate used cars, and employ at least 3 appraisal professionals; The enterprise operates in accordance with laws and regulations, complies with laws and regulations on production safety, environmental protection, taxation, customs and foreign exchange management, and has no uncorrected violations of laws and regulations, and no serious untrustworthy conduct. The announcement also puts forward clear requirements for enterprise declaration procedures and materials, export license application process, export license application materials, export prohibition circumstances, and duty requirements.
Optimize the export procedures for new energy vehicles and power batteries.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Commerce and other 9 units issued opinions on supporting the healthy development of new energy vehicle cooperation. It is mentioned that the procedures for export-related links such as new energy vehicles and power batteries will be optimized, the processing time will be shortened, and the processing efficiency will be improved. Actively participate in the formulation of international standards and rules of the International Maritime Organization on the transportation of new energy vehicles and power batteries. Formulate and issue technical standards for container transportation of passenger cars.
Pilot preferential offshore stamp duty policies in the Shanghai area.
The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the "Notice on the Pilot Preferential Policies for Offshore Stamp Duty in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Zone and Lingang New Area" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), stating that in order to support the development of offshore in the Free Pilot Zone, the preferential offshore stamp duty policy will be piloted in the China (Shanghai) Free Pilot Zone and Lingang New Area.
The Notice clarifies that from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025, stamp duty will be exempted on the sales contracts signed by enterprises registered in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Zone and the Lingang New Area to carry out offshore resale business.
Ecuador ratified the China-Eritrea Free Trade Agreement.
On February 15, local time, Noboa, Ecuador** issued Executive Order No. 166 ratifying the Ecuador-China Freedom Agreement. According to the tariff concession arrangement for goods in the agreement, China and Eritrea will each cancel tariffs on 90% of the tariff lines, of which about 60% will be eliminated immediately after the agreement enters into force.
Ecuador's Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries said that the Ecuador-China FTA will be sent to the People's Republic of China after its ratification. After a ratification process by both countries, the agreement will enter into force within 60 days.
The U.S. ITC made a preliminary ruling on damage to Chinese glass wine bottles.
On February 12, 2024, the U.S. International Commission (ITC) issued an announcement to make an affirmative preliminary determination on anti-dumping and countervailing industry injury to glass wine bottles imported from China, ruling that the products involved in the alleged dumping and subsidy behavior caused substantial injury to the U.S. domestic industry. This case involves U.S. Customs Code 701090.Products under 5019.
Ukraine prohibits the import of photovoltaic panels that do not indicate the quality grade.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan recently passed the decree on "Promoting the Development of Renewable Energy and Related Regulatory Measures", which stipulates that the import equipment and materials involved in the use of renewable energy will be provided with 120 days of interest-free deferred customs tax treatment, and the interest-free deferred payment period will be extended to 6 months for importers who have no bad violation records in the past three years; At the same time, it will further strengthen the quality control of relevant imported equipment, prohibit the import of photovoltaic power generation panels without indicating the quality grade from March 1, and require relevant departments to establish laboratories to assess whether imported renewable energy equipment meets the requirements of technical regulations.
Importers will need to submit an application for certification to the Uzbek Center for Scientific Testing and Quality Control Standards through the "Single Window" customs system.
The situation in the Red Sea continues to be tense, and the risk of the global ** chain has intensified.
On February 19, local time, Yemen's Houthi rebels issued a statement saying that they had carried out missile strikes on a British freighter and two American freighters sailing in the Gulf of Aden. On the same day, the Council of the European Union announced the launch of escort operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf to safeguard its commercial and security interests. Analysts believe that the tension in the Red Sea is expected to continue for a period of time, and the multi-faceted impact on the global economy and the chain industry chain has gradually emerged.
According to the statistics of Clarkson Research, the capacity of ships entering the Gulf of Aden from February 5 to 11 has decreased by 71% in terms of gross tonnage compared with the first half of December last year; Container ship traffic for the week fell by 89% compared to the level of the first half of December last year. Paolo Gentiloni, the European commissioner in charge of economic affairs, recently said that due to the rerouting of shipping through the Red Sea, the shipping time between Asia and the EU has increased by 10 to 15 days, and the transportation cost has increased by about 400%.
The United States launched an anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation against Chinese paper trays.
On February 15, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an announcement to launch an anti-dumping investigation on certain **plates imported from China, Thailand and Vietnam, and a countervailing investigation on paper trays imported from China and Vietnam. This case mainly involves the U.S. Customs Code 482369.0040 may also be involved. 90.4000 and 950590.6000 products. The tax ID number is for reference only, and the specific product description shall prevail. According to U.S. statistics, in 2023, the U.S. will import about 1$3.8 billion. The dumping investigation period in this case is from July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, and the subsidy investigation period is from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
Interested parties in the case may be registered with the U.S. Department of Commerce** to obtain information about the case and participate in the relevant investigative process. According to the U.S. investigative process, the U.S. Department of Commerce usually determines the dumping and subsidy compulsory respondent within 20 days. If the enterprise is willing to respond to the lawsuit, it should inform the ** Relief and Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce (**010-65198906) through the local competent department of commerce.
Israel amends its import and export laws.
The Minister of Economy and Industry signed the Sixth Amendment to the Israeli Import and Export Act. The revision introduced a major overhaul of Israel's import system. The import requirements for products and commodities subject to mandatory standards and classified under the 2nd and 3rd regulated import categories have been relaxed, such as toys, electrical and electronic products, tableware, cleaning materials, faucets, building materials, etc.
This reform allows the import of a wide range of products without the initial requirements for the implementation of models or conformity tests. The importer's declaration of conformity will be relied upon. These bills will be backed by enhanced market regulation.
The United States will spend a lot of money to replace Chinese-made cranes in ports.
According to Wall Street and CNBC on February 21, Biden plans to spend a huge amount of money to build freight cranes in the United States to replace Chinese-made cranes operating at U.S. ports, thereby eliminating people's "concerns."
The move is part of Biden's campaign to strengthen cybersecurity at U.S. ports, and the U.S. Coast Guard has also issued a security directive requiring foreign-made cranes currently deployed at strategic seaports to meet certain digital security requirements, the report said.