The Cabinet on Sunday decided that an earlier decision stipulating a five-year age limit on imported automobiles will not be applied to cars that have been cleared under a statement exempting their owners from customs duties.

The former decision will not apply to these cars, including those obtained by officers or persons with disabilities, in accordance with an amendment approved on Sunday.

This article, excerpted from the 6 January 2014 edition of The Jordan Times, is available in its entirety at:

Counterfeit goods worth nearly $1m have been seized across Eastern Europe, reports Interpol, as part of the international police body’s Operation White Mercury.

Involving seven countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – the operation also resulted in the identification of a network spanning three countries involved in production of fake everyday consumer goods.

Serbia Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic said that officers of the border police and customs should make the maximum effort to avoid crowds that are expected at border crossings after the holiday season.

During a tour of the Batrovci border crossing together with Minister of Transport Aleksandar Antic and Police Director Milorad Veljovic, Dacic said that this crossing records a higher frequency of traffic, as 12% more vehicles were registered in December 2013 than in December 2012.

In 2012, China launched the value-added tax (VAT) pilot reform to improve the efficiency of its national tax system. The VAT pilot reform replaces business tax (BT) with VAT in the transportation industry and certain modern service sectors at the start of 2012.

First implemented in Shanghai, the reform expanded to Beijing in September 2012 and Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Tianjin, Zhejiang, and Hubei later in the same year. On August 1, 2013, the VAT pilot reform was implemented nationwide.

The following is excerpted from the 7 December  2013 article by the CBC News.

A deal to boost global trade has been approved by the World Trade Organization's 159 member economies for the first time in nearly two decades, keeping alive the possibility that a broader agreement to create a level playing field for rich and poor countries can be reached in the future.

Further to our past communications regarding the WTO meeting taking place in Bali, here is the latest text of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation as presented to the Ministers on December 7. IFCBA members will be particularly interested in Article 10, section 6 relating to the use of customs brokers. 

The following is excerpted from the 3 December 2013 edition of Business Standard Limited.

India's motor vehicle exports to Europe, including passenger cars, are likely to be hit badly from January next year when the European Union raises customs duty for import of vehicles from 6.5% to 10%, engineering exporters' body EEPC India has said.

The motor vehicle exports, which currently stand at $1 billion or Rs 6,300 crore, "will be severely affected due to increased competition from other auto exporting countries," EEPC India Chairman Anupam Shah told PTI.

The following is excerpted from the 3 December 2013 edition of RJR News.

The Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Jamaica has given the thumbs up to the decision to reduce the rates for the importation of small packages to Jamaica. 

This article is available in its entirety at:
http://www.rjrnewsonline.com/business/thumbs-up-to-reduced-rates-for-small-package-imports

The following is excerpted from the 3 December 2013 edition of ABC.AZ.

The Federal Customs Service (FCS) of Russia has informed of the postponement of the deadline of termination of the "Agreement on the obligations on the application of the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention, 1975)", concluded on 7 June 2004 between the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation and the International Road Carriers Association, for 1 July 2014.

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The following is excerpted from the 3 December 2013 edition of RJR News.

Cargo is beginning to pile up at the two major ports in Kingston as operators of trailers used to haul containers continue to withdraw their service.    

Importers and exporters have been impacted by the protest which started on Monday. 

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