The European Commission updated a portion of its European Union dual-use export control list to bring it “in line … within the framework” of non-proliferation and export control regimes in 2018, the commission said Oct. 17. The updated list will take effect in about two months if its being approved by the European Council and European Parliament, according to an Oct. 21 post on the EU Sanctions blog. Changes to the list include new entries for discrete microwave transistors, microcomputer software and air-launch platforms for space launch vehicles, the post said, and amendments to entries for underwater submersible vehicles, hydrophones, cryptographic activation tokens, digital to analogue converters and multilayer mask control. The list deletes “technology for gas turbine engine components,” the post said, and contains new mentions of specific lasers and items designed for “civil industry application.”

In the Oct. 11-16 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The U.K.’s HM Revenue & Customs recently published a list of customs agents and fast parcel operators that can help importers and exporters submit customs declarations in the event of a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31. Customs agents can also be searched for on the British International Freight Association website, HMRC said.

Nearly 100,000 companies in the United Kingdom have now been automatically registered to use that country’s Transitional Simplified Procedures if there’s a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31, U.K. HM Revenue & Customs said in a press release. TSP simplifies procedures importing, and make it especially easier for companies completing customs procedures for the first time, but up to now only about 30,000 had applied. Among the benefits of TSP are a six-month period to submit customs declarations and pay customs duties after importing goods from the European Union. “This will prevent congestion at the border when goods enter” the U.K., HMRC said.

The United Kingdom won’t issue any more export licenses on goods destined for Turkey that "might be used in military operations in Syria," U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Parliament on Oct. 15. The policy will remain in place while it conducts a review of the U.K.’s defense exports to Turkey, he said. Raab, who noted that the EU has declined to impose sanctions on Turkey, was answering questions on the U.K.’s policies toward Turkey in light of the country’s military action in northern Syria.

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs on Oct. 10 issued new guidance documents outlining procedures for importing and exporting excise goods between the U.K. and the European Union after Brexit. “After Brexit, imports of excise goods from the EU will be treated the same as imports from the rest of the world. This includes moving imported excise goods within the UK,” the guidance said. The Simplified Accompanying Administrative Document (SAAD) and EU distance-selling arrangements will no longer be used, and a customs declaration will have to be completed, though a full declaration may not be necessary if transitional simplified procedures are used, it said.

EU exporters will no longer be able to claim value-added tax (VAT) refunds on goods exported to the United Kingdom after Brexit, the U.K.’s HM Revenue & Customs said in an Oct. 9 guidance document. Instead, they must follow manual processes for companies outside the U.K., it said. The main differences are that the repayment period runs July 1 to June 30 instead of the calendar year, and that the deadline for submitting a claim is the following Dec. 31 (six months from the end of the claim period), HMRC said. Claimants will also have to provide a certificate confirming their taxable status, as well as all original invoices and receipts to support the claim, it said.

In the Oct. 10 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Commission is referring Hungary to the European Union Court of Justice for failing to apply the minimum EU threshold for excise duties on cigarettes, the commission said in an Oct. 10 press release. Hungary’s low duty rate creates “distortions of competition with other Member States and is at odds with EU health protection policy,” the commission said. Hungary has been given a “long transitional period” to comply with the EU’s minimum 60 percent excise duty, the press release said.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade on Oct. 10 posted guidance documents on the U.K.’s respective export licensing policies for Senegal, Guinea -Bissau and Benin. Each of the three members of the Economic Community of West African States, and as such the U.K. “will not issue an export license for small arms ad light weapons, components or ammunition,” the three guidances all said. The U.K. “will only consider issuing license applications where the ECOWAS Commission has issued an exception to its moratorium,” UKDIT said. The guidances note that military items transiting the U.K. “are still regarded as being exported when they leave the country and are therefore subject to control.” There’s an exception to that policy on transit when “certain military goods destined for Senegal, meaning that a licence is required to transit goods through the UK or to tranship them in the UK with a view to re-exportation to Senegal,” UKDIT said.