China is adding more cities to the 35 already participating in its cross-border e-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone Program, according to a July 16 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The China State Council announced the upcoming additions after its July 3 meeting. While the additional cities have not yet been named, they are expected to benefit from the same advantages offered to other cities in the program, including no value-added taxes on exports, the report said. The zones will also be given “support” for “the establishment of a greater number of overseas warehouses and “e-commerce platforms are to be assisted in the implementation of the appropriate intellectual property safeguards,” the report said.

Exporters are no longer required to register with Laos or obtain a “domestic business license” before shipping goods into the country, according to a July 16 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Instead, exporters and businesses need to be approved by Laos’ Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which requires exporters to submit a request to the Ministry's Department of Import/Export, the report said. All applicants must provide proof they are registered as a “legal business entity” in a member nation of the World Trade Organization, the report said, and must never have “been found in breach of any relevant financial regulations.” The move is expected to “streamline export procedures” and improve Laos’ “overall business climate,” the report said.

Vietnam’s prime minister ordered the country’s government to find ways to expand trade relations with its “key partners,” including by “removing barriers” to entry into the country of foreign investment, according to a July 15 report from Vietnam's Customs mouthpiece Customs News. At a July 13 government meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc heard reports of the country’s assessment of trade relations between Vietnam and several “big partners,” including the U.S., China, South Korea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan. The country is aiming to “build sustainable and balanced trade relations with partners, to combat trade frauds, and fraudulence of goods origin,” the report said. The prime minister asked Vietnam’s ministries to introduce new policies related to “trade, monetary matters, finance-banking, IT and cyber security in order to match with advanced international standards,” the report said.

The dispute between Japan and South Korea over Japan’s export restrictions on advanced technology materials will be raised at the World Trade Organization, according to a July 15 report from The Korea Herald. The report cited a statement from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which said the issue has been named as a formal agenda item of the July 23-24 WTO General Council. The move came at the request of South Korea, the report said. The announcement follows Japan’s decision to restrict exports and licensing policies of certain “controlled items” and technologies to South Korea (see 1907010020).

India is increasing import duties on certain Chinese tires for the next five years, according to a July 10 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The additional tariff will range between about 9 percent and 17.5 percent, the report said, and will cover eight tariff categories on all “China-sourced radial” tires. The tariffs will apply to “outsized tyres typically required by buses or trucks” and is aimed at helping to boost India’s domestic tire manufacturers. A 12 percent to 18 percent import levy already applied to China-made truck and bus radial tires has been in place since 2017.

China’s and Belarus’s Mutual Recognition Arrangement officially takes effect July 24, according to an unofficial translation of a notice from China’s General Administration of Customs. The arrangement will improve customs relations between the two countries, including reducing document reviews, lower inspection rates, higher inspection priorities for goods being shipped between the two countries and “fast customs clearance,” China said.

Singapore Customs issued an advisory on best practices for imports and how to comply with the country’s customs laws, Singapore said in a July 11 notice. The notice contains information on which items are subject to the country’s Goods and Services Tax, when permits are required, and a series of common compliance violations and red flags as examples of what to avoid.

The U.S. is working with Hong Kong to increase audits of imports and exports, said Kevin Kurland, director of Commerce’s Office of Enforcement Analysis, at the Bureau of Industry and Security annual export controls conference July 10. Kurland said the cooperation has led to a “record number of detentions” in the past year as both sides have more strictly enforced and audited export and import controls. “We’re working with them,” Kurland said, adding that Commerce wants to make sure “our systems are complementary.”

Vietnam is increasing customs enforcement and oversight of imported and exported “loudspeakers,” saying the speakers have recently been found to be used to smuggle drugs into the country, according to a July 9 report from Vietnam Customs' mouthpiece CustomsNews. Customs said it will increase inspections and “intensify” its screening methods of cabinet and mobile loudspeakers. The report specifically mentions speakers being imported from “targeted areas producing, trading and transporting drugs” such as China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, South America and Africa.

The Philippines reduced import tariffs on mechanically deboned or mechanically separated poultry by 5 percent for chicken and 20 percent for “frozen whole turkey,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a notice published July 8. The rates were previously set at 40 percent due to the country’s recent passage of the Rice Tariffication Law, the notice said. The changes took effect June 13 and extend until Dec. 31, 2020, the notice said.