EU Says WTO’s Ruling on High-Tech Goods May Cost Bloc $386 Million a Year

A World Trade Organization ruling
that the European Union violated global trade law by applying
import duties on high-tech electronic goods may cost the bloc as
much as 300 million euros ($386 million) in revenue a year.

“This is a very rough and highly hypothetical estimate,
based on import calculations from previous years, that if we
didn’t appeal, the future loss revenue would amount to 300
million euros annually,” European Commission spokesman Patrizio
Fiorilli said today at a news conference in Brussels. The EU has
60 days to appeal yesterday’s ruling.

The WTO decision followed a complaint by the U.S., Japan
and Taiwan saying the EU is circumventing a trade accord called
the Information Technology Agreement that was signed by 72
countries and scraps import tariffs on electronic products. WTO
judges agreed and called on the EU to drop the levies.

The case against the EU involves three products — cable
converter boxes, multifunction printers and flat-panel computer
displays — all developed after 1996, when the ITA came into
force. Trade in ITA products produced by companies including
Hewlett-Packard Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and Canon Inc. more
than tripled to $4 trillion in 2008 from $1.2 trillion in 1996,
according to the Information Technology Industry Council.

The EU imposed duties ranging from 6 percent to 14 percent
on the products, the bloc’s imports of which amounted to $11
billion in 2007.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/eu-says-wto-s-ruling-on-high-tech-goods-may-cost-bloc-386-million-a-year.html)

$64 Million Vietnamese Catfish Caper Lands Importer in Tank for 22 Months

A New Jersey seafood importer was sentenced to 22 months for fraudulently importing Vietnamese catfish and was ordered to pay $64 million in restitution for evading anti-dumping tariffs.

Thomas George, 61, founder and former chief executive officer of Sterling Seafood Corp. in Cresskill, New Jersey, also must make a $50,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg ruled in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.

George admitted he bought more than $539,000 in Vietnamese catfish from a Virginia company and falsely resold it as grouper and sole. George lives in Old Tappan, New Jersey.

George pleaded guilty on Jan. 26 to using false purchase orders, manifests, bills of lading and other documents to disguise catfish bought from a Vietnamese company.

In January 2003, the U.S. imposed an anti-dumping tariff on all imports of Vietnamese catfish because it was being sold at significantly lower prices than the market rates, according to prosecutors.

George admitted he evaded the tariff from June 2004 to June 2006 through the importation of 5.28 million kilograms of a type of catfish known as Pangasius hypophthalmus.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-27/-64-million-vietnamese-catfish-caper-lands-importer-in-tank-for-22-months.html)

Whale fossil stuck in Egypt customs wrangle

For years archaeologists have been unearthing a remarkable collection of whale fossils, all the more surprising because the area is now inland desert in upper Egypt.

It is believed that about 40 million years ago the area was submerged in water, part of the Tethys Sea. As the sea retreated north to the Mediterranean it left a series of unique rock formations and also a cornucopia of fossils.

One of the most exceptional finds was a 37 million-year-old whale from the species Basilosaurus Isis, unearthed by a team led by Prof Philip Gingerich of the University of Michigan in the United States.

But now it has become the subject of a bizarre customs wrangle at Cairo airport.

Prof Gingerich explained that this was the only complete specimen from this species of whale.

It provides evidence of how whales evolved from being land-based creatures to go back into the sea - a reverse of the usual evolutionary process.

Basilosaurus Isis retained tiny feet, a useless reminder of its evolution from land animal to sea-dweller.

The limbs are human sized, even though the creature is 15m-16m long.

For the past two years Prof Gingerich and his team have been painstakingly reassembling the skeleton back in Michigan. It is now being returned to Egypt for a new museum, planned for the Valley of the Whales.

But according to the Egyptian media the whale skeleton is stuck at Cairo airport.

Customs agents are demanding a $40,000 fee.

It is not clear how they came to that figure as prehistoric fossils have no agreed market value.

In any case the Egyptian authorities who are importing the fossil are refusing to pay.

A senior official from the ministry of tourism has warned that the issue needs to be resolved speedily, otherwise it could cause a “big scandal” for Egypt, he said.

Prof Gingerich joked that it had taken two and a half years to be allowed to export the fossil to the United States, and it could take another two and a half years to get it back.

(Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10824132)

Ontario man ordered to pay $5,700 in restitution for trying to smuggle reptiles

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - An Ontario man has been handed a conditional sentence after he was caught trying to sneak almost 1,500 reptiles into Canada.

Andrew Fruck, 33, of Niagara-on-the-Lake, pleaded guilty in April after he drove to the border in September 2009 with close to 1,500 tortoises, turtles, boa constrictors and pythons hidden behind the side panels of his van.

The reptiles — which included several endangered species — were found by Canadian border guards who searched the vehicle at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge.

The Canada Border Services Agency and Environment Canada said in a release that Fruck must pay more than $5,700 in restitution for the safe care and return of the reptiles and serve six months of house arrest.

According to the release, most of the reptiles were taken back to Louisiana where they likely originated and were returned to the wild.

Fruck pleaded guilty on April 30 to one count of making false statements under the Customs Act and to 11 counts under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act.

He was sentenced earlier this month in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Under his sentence, Fruck must abstain from possessing live animals and from importing or exporting any live animal. He’s also subject to unannounced inspections of his residence to ensure compliance with court orders.

He was also fined $500 for the Customs Act charge.

(Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/ontario-man-ordered-to-pay-5700-in-restitution-for-trying-to-smuggle-reptiles-99649024.html)

Electronic products importer wins tariff case

On May 28, the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in respect of the case between the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and LG Electronics, which it had heard on May 20.

The case pertains to a tariff determination (also known as a tariff classification) for screens (also known as video monitors) and tuners separately imported.

The court had to consider whether screens were incomplete reception apparatus for television in terms of the general rule for interpretation, that is, rule 2(a), and whether separate importation constituted a scheme to avoid paying legitimate customs duties.

According to the judgment, from 2004 to 2006, LG Electronics declared screens under tariff subheading 8528.21.20. The company continued to clear the screens under this tariff subheading until July 2006, after which, following an investigation, it was issued with a revised determination in terms of section 47(9)(d)(i)(bb) of the Customs and Excise Act in respect of the screens, classifying them under tariff subheading 8528.12.30.

Whereas the video monitors were liable for a customs duty of 25% ad valorem and enjoyed a full rebate of the customs duty on the grounds that they did not incorporate television reception apparatus, the screens, under the redeter- mined tariff subheading, were liable for the same rate of customs duty but without the benefit of a rebate of the customs duty.

In the initial court case, it was found that “the screens are complete video monitors and are used for that purpose”. Concerning the submission that the separate importation of screens and tuners was a cloak to disguise the reality of the entry of television sets into South Africa with the intention of evading the legitimate levying of the customs duty on such sets, the court, after examining the evidence, concluded that the facts negated that inference and clearly showed that “the applicant (LG Electronics) imported the screens and tuners in order to service two markets and imported them separately because that is how they are exported by the manufacturer worldwide”.

According to the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment, the crux of the factual findings of the court was that the screens were designed to serve two markets – one for video monitors or information display panels and the other for television sets – and that LG Electronics supplied both markets. The appeal was, thus, dismissed with costs, including the consequent costs on the employment of two counsel.

(Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/electronics-products-importer-wins-tariff-appeal-case-2010-06-18)

Customs facing ‘massive reform’

THE Government is planning a “massive reform” of the Customs Department that includes moving to the electronic clearance of imports, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham told Tribune Business, pledging that progress was being made in cracking down on tax evasion facilitated by false invoices and dummy Florida-based companies.

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, the Prime Minister said the Government expected Customs to have its new automated, electronic clearance procedures “operational in a matter of months”, in time for when the new $65 million Arawak Cay port started operations.

He expected this would remove many of the “cumbersome” and bureaucratic processes that Bahamian companies currently had to go through to clear their imports, reducing time and costs involved with these processes.

“We’re doing a massive study and reform exercise for Customs,” the Prime Minister told Tribune Business. “We expect it will be operational in a matter of months, certainly in time for the opening of the new port at Arawak Cay, so that we get rid of many of the headaches and cumbersome processes that businesses have to go through, the many forms, so we have electronic clearance of goods, reducing time and costs.”

Glenn Gomez, Customs Comptroller, had previously told Tribune Business that the Department was planning to initiate an automated process “within a month”, which will allow brokers and frequent importers access to its computer system to input goods and duty amounts.

(Source: http://www.tribune242.com/business/06032010_Customs_business_Page1-4)

Govt to plug loopholes in car import duties

he government has set a target to earn Tk 1,000 crore in additional revenue from car imports next year by adopting new measures in the upcoming national budget.

It now earns around Tk 3,000 crore in tax on the imports of 25,000 reconditioned and 3,000 new cars a year.

The tax administration alleges that some importers dodge crores of taka in taxes by manipulating the ages of used cars. There are 20 percent to 350 percent duties on the imported cars of different ages.

The National Board of Revenue is working on developing a new mechanism to avert such tax evasion.

New car importers will have to show prices to be provided by manufacturing companies themselves, instead of any third party. The old car importers will have to have a mandatory inspection from Japanese inspection companies from the next fiscal year.

The pricing of new cars, determined by a third party for the importers, creates scope for under-invoice at the customs point, said an NBR official.

“The government is likely to make pricing by any manufacturing company mandatory for importers to check tax dodges.”

Meanwhile, the finance minister has already asked the NBR officials to identify the loopholes in customs valuations to avert tax dodging.

“Soon we’ll bring those tax dodgers under a regulatory regime,” said the revenue board official.

The new move evokes sharp reactions from the traders. Many think this will make car imports much expensive.

Car prices vary and cannot be static, said Dhaka chamber’s former president Hossain Khaled.

Khaled is also the managing director of AG Automobiles, the distributor of US carmaker Ford Motors in Bangladesh. “Distributors can some time supply cars with varied prices to different customers. We can supply 80 units of cars to the Bangladesh Police at a more competitive price,” he explained, adding that such static pricing would create huge controversy at customs points.

DHS Motors Director NAT Rouf, however, welcomed the move saying his company provides original prices from the manufacturing company.

“The present pricing system is not level playing for all operators. Pricing by third party traders makes room for under-invoice. The government is losing huge amount of revenue for such malpractice,” Rouf pointed out.

Habibullah Dawn, president of the Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (Barvida), said mandatory inspection will push a used-car price up by $70.

“If anyone wants to manipulate car age, such inspection will not do, ” he said.

Former Barvida president Abdul Haq said it would be a burden on the middle-income group, the main buyer of used cars.

In another development, the Anticorruption Commission is continuing a probe into an alleged manipulation in pricing by some car importers. They are said to have not shown actual prices of the cars imported between 2005 and 2008.

(Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=141325)

HP accused of evading $323 million in customs

Famous Israeli export is in trouble for her import.

Supermodel Bar Refaeli was caught at Tel Aviv’s international airport this week trying to bring in her newly purchased iPad without declaring it at customs. Items brought into Israel worth more than around $200 are subject to duties.

Refaeli told Israel’s Channel 10 TV that she had an iPad in a suitcase that was lost in transit. She said she didn’t declare the iPad upon entrance to Israel for a brief commercial appearance.

She is now required to pay 650 shekels ($170) in taxes and fines to get it back.

Israel lifted its ban on the popular tablet computer two weeks ago. The restrictions were initially imposed over concerns the Apple Inc. gadget’s wireless signal could disrupt other devices.

(Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTOW6NiAc65oHdw2Ei_WyKkdDXsgD9FMLPFG0)

Singapore urged to stop Cambodian sand imports

A new report released by London-based Global Witness today claims that Cambodia’s sand trade is thriving despite a recent sand export ban by its Prime Minister, and that Singapore is the primary consumer of sand exported from Cambodia.

The Singapore Government today issued a strong statement to reject the report which “suggests that the Singapore government seeks to import sand without due regard to the laws or environmental impact of the source country, in this case, Cambodia”, said Singapore’s Ministry of National Development (MND).

“This is not true. We are committed to the protection of the global environment, and we do not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand, or any extraction of sand that is in breach of the source countries’ laws and rules on environmental protection. “We have not received any official notice on the ban of sand exports from Cambodia,” it added.

MND said that sand suppliers are private entities and they purchase sand from sand concession holders in various source countries. These concession holders determine the source locations and undertake the extraction.

Global Witness, which has made many allegations of Cambodian cronyism in recent years, said Cambodian senators known to have close ties to premier Hun Sen have been covertly awarded licences to dredge sand.

“This situation highlights the continued failure of Cambodia’s international donors to use their leverage to hold the small elite surrounding the prime minister to account,” said campaigner at Global Witness George Boden.

The report said investigators tracked sand-filled boats from Cambodia to Singapore, estimating concessions from southwestern Koh Kong province alone netted 20 million dollars per month for some 796,000 tonnes of sand.

The report also said that the Cambodian Government’s actions “appear to have facilitated rather than limited, dredging operations” and such activities have led to the degredation of the local ecosystems of dredging sites and the plummeting of fish and crab harvests for local communities.

The group said Cambodia’s legislation only bans river sand from export, not sea sand. And the inter-ministerial committee tasked with implementing this regulation has continued to approve licences for the exploitation of both types of sand export, while also failing to ensure compliance with Cambodia’s other environmental and socio-economic legal frameworks.

Global Witness estimates the annual value of the sand trade to be US$28.7 million (S$39.6 million) in Cambodia and US$248 million (S$342 million) in retail value in Singapore.

In 2008, Singapore was the largest global importer of sand at 14.2 million tonnes valued at US$273 million. Of this total, Cambodia was Singapore’s third largest source of sand, providing 3.8 million tonnes or 21.5 per cent, after Vietnam at 45 per cent and Malaysia at 22 per cent, said the report, citing United Nations statistics.

(Source: http://www.eco-business.com/news/2010/may/11/spore-urged-stop-cambodian-sand-imports/)