Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares has again reminded all importers and customs brokers to comply with the accreditation requirements of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) by Thursday.

The deadline for compliance with the new accreditation requirements for importers and customs brokers was first extended to June 30, then to July 31, as many importers and customs brokers did not file for accreditation during the initial period given to them.

U.S. importers have bought themselves another two years before they must implement a container-scanning rule that they believe should be scrapped altogether.

Mandated by the SAFE Port Act of 2006, the Department of Homeland Security issued a requirement that 100 percent of U.S.-bound ocean containers be scanned at the foreign port of origin. Since then, Congress and DHS have been kicking the can down the road, repeatedly delaying implementation of a rule that industry says is unworkable. The latest move puts off action until 2016.

Russia's Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) will restrict most fruit and vegetable imports from Poland starting from Aug. 1, due to "the violation of certification and the identification of quarantine products", spokesman Alexei Alekseenko said.

He said the move was part of a VPSS plan to consider restricting all or some fruit imports from the entire EU, announced with little fanfare on Monday while European countries were debating the latest sanctions. The VPSS said at the time it would decide the fate of overall EU imports in a week or two.

At the recent IFCBA Board of Directors meeting in Seoul, Korea, an update was provided on proposed changes to the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG).  The IFCBA has been an active member of the PSCG since it was formed, and IFCBA Secretary Carol West has been its Chair since 2008. One of the proposed changes to the PSCG is that organizations with observer status at the WCO, such as the IFCBA, will no longer be eligible for membership in the PSCG.

Analyzing the global corporate trends during the last decades, the relentless pursuit for process efficiency and the reduction of costs can be regarded among the most outstanding. In many industries these elements determine the business competitiveness, are indicative factors of the companies capability to fulfill their social objectives or necessity for precipitated closure of its activities, due to bankruptcy.

The cost of trade among South Asian countries is far too high. There is a need to simplify procedures for trade, and reduce the cost and time taken to handle cargo to ensure that trading within the region is more cost effective. The Trade Facilitation Agreement (2013), agreed upon at the World Trade Organisation Bali Ministerial Meeting, promises to address at least a few of South Asia’s trade facilitation concerns.

The WCO Council, at its 123rd/124th Sessions in June 2014, adopted a Recommendation that lists recommended amendments to the Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature which will enter into force on 1 January 2017 (HS 2017).

This Recommendation is being promulgated under the provisions of Article 16 of the HS Convention, which implies that HS Contracting Parties now have six months to notify the WCO Secretariat of an objection to a recommended amendment.

Mega-regionals are deep integration partnerships between countries or regions with a major share of world trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Beyond simply increasing trade links, the deals aim to improve regulatory compatibility and provide a rules-based framework for ironing out differences in investment and business climates.

A lot is happening on the trade negotiations front in almost every corner of the world. Countries have been active and prolific at the bilateral and regional levels for some time but the key ongoing negotiations are of a different dimension: they involve more partners, from different levels of development and different regions, covering larger volumes of trade and aiming at reaching agreements of a deeper nature on a wide scope of issues.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Trade & Foreign Direct Investment is pleased to present the report Mega-regional Trade Agreements: Game-Changers or Costly Distractions for the World Trading System? In continuing with the aim to inform the policy debate on critical issues to shape the global trade agenda, the objective of this document is to explore the impact mega-regionals may have on countries that are not part of the negotiations.