In the March 25 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom reached a deal to maintain trade relationships with several countries in the Caribbean after it leaves the EU, the U.K. said in a news release. The agreement involves Barbados, Belize, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, The Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the U.K. said. The trade continuity agreement will allow for trade in rum and other goods "without any additional barriers or tariffs," the U.K. said. "The UK is seeking to provide continuity for existing EU trade agreements covering more than 70 countries that account for 11% of total UK trade and we are making good progress having recently signed agreements with Switzerland and Israel," it said.

An agreement to create a new European Union tariff-rate quota for poultry mostly from China will take effect April 1, according to a notice in the March 25 Official Journal. The agreement resolves a World Trade Organization dispute between the EU and China that was the subject of a WTO panel report issued in 2017. Under the agreement, the EU will set a TRQ of 6,060 tons for goods of tariff line 1602.3929 with an in-quota rate of 10.9%, allocating 6,000 tons of that quantity to China; and a TRQ of 660 tons for goods of tariff line 1602.3985 with an in-quota rate of 10.9%, allocating 600 tons to China. It will also set a first-come, first-served quota of 5,000 tons for tariff line 1602.3219, with an in-quota duty rate of 8 percent.

The European Union is amending its regulations on plant and animal health and protection to add new requirements for border controls on hay, straw and composite foods, it said in a notice published in the March 25 Official Journal. Specifically, the EU is amending a list of categories of goods subject to “official controls, at the border control post of first arrival into the Union,” to include “hay and straw and foodstuffs containing both products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin (‘composite products’),” the notice said. The changes apply from Dec. 14, 2019.

The European Union is making several changes to its customs regulations that will take effect in 2020, according to a notice published March 25 in the EU Official Journal. Among other amendments to the EU’s Union Customs Code, temporary storage will be added to the list of customs procedures covered by penalty “extinguishment” provisions, timelines will be changed for invalidating certain customs declarations, and new duty-free provisions will be added for certain goods exported for repair or alteration.

In the March 22 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

A recently adopted EU directive on unfair practices in the food trade will allow U.S. exporters to benefit while adding some compliance requirements, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report. The directive, which was adopted March 12, "forbids certain commercial practices such as late payments for perishable food products or last minute order cancellations," USDA said. "U.S. companies exporting food and agricultural
products to the EU are eligible to benefit from the Directive’s safeguards; U.S. companies will also have to comply with the same rules as European companies, e.g., the Directive forbids unilateral contract changes for perishable goods," USDA said.

Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development recently held a workshop on the use of blockchain technology for supply chain traceability in the textiles and apparel sector, it said in a press release. That comes as part of the early stages of a pilot program to examine the advantages of blockchain, including for certification to consumers of the provenance of textiles and apparel, anti-counterfeiting efforts, and to guarantee the social and environmental sustainability of “Made in Italy” goods, the ministry said. The pilot will include an exploration and design phase, with private industry included in discussions, and will end with a study on the results of the exercise. Among initiatives included in a presentation from the workshop were the tracing of raw cotton and the tracking of products from a luxury goods maker.

Exports of urea and ammonium nitrate from the U.S. to the European Union could eventually face antidumping and countervailing duty requirements as of March 22, after the EU published a notice the previous day directing member state customs authorities to “register” any of their imports of the product. In a procedure similar to “critical circumstances” in the U.S., EU authorities determined that U.S. exporters had been increasing exports after AD/CV duty investigations on urea and ammonium nitrate were launched in August 2018, in an effort to get in as much product as possible before duties take effect. As a result of the registration requirement, should the EU apply AD and CV duties in its final determination, any duties will be retroactive to the date the registration requirements began, i.e., March 22, 2019. The registration requirements also apply to Russia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Once importers and exporters in the United Kingdom get a U.K. Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number, it can take 48 hours before it can be used to make declarations in the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system, HM Revenue & Customs said in an update to its guidance on obtaining a UK EORI number. All importers and exporters in the UK will be required to have a U.K. EORI number assigned by HMRC to import or export into or out of the U.K. if the country leaves the EU without a transition deal in place, including for imports and exports with the EU, HMRC has said.