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G20 leaders highlight importance of trade

5th December 2014

By: Riaan de Lange

  

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The Group of 20 (G20), an international forum for the governments and central bank governors of 20 major economies issued a communiqué on November 16, after its summit in Brisbane, Australia.

The communiqué emphasised trade as a powerful driver of economic growth, job creation and better living standards, noting the importance of global supply chains linking developed and developing countries in manufacturing and trade in products. It highlighted the importance of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) trade facilitation agreement, which focuses on trade facilitation as a core component of any economic growth strategy, including “reforms to facilitate trade by lowering costs, streamlining customs procedures, reducing regulatory burdens and strengthening trade-enable services”.

According to the G20 communiqué, its leaders agreed to sharpen their efforts against cross- border tax evasion and avoidance to ensure “the fairness of the international tax system and to secure countries’ revenue bases”, reconfirming the agreed timelines for automatic exchange of tax information between jurisdictions.

The G20 leaders also endorsed the 2015/16 G20 anticorruption action plan, which cites customs as a high-risk sector that could potentially impede economic growth, trade and development.

The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has welcomed the G20 communiqué, noting that the economic growth strategies elaborated in it are wholly compatible with the WCO’s strategic plan, instruments and tools. These include the Economic Competitiveness Package, the Mercator Programme and the Revenue Package, which support trade facilitation and, thus, economic competitiveness, and also enable customs administrations to collect revenue in a fair and efficient manner.

The G20 represents about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and over 75% of global trade. Its members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

World Trade Report Discussion Forum
On November 18, the WTO launched a discussion forum on trade and development – the topic of the ‘World Trade Report 2014’. The forum is intended to encourage open discussion of what could be included in a new generation of trade reforms for facilitating development.

The WTO invites anyone with an interest in trade and development to submit short contributions of not more than 1 000 words to wtr2014@wto.org.

The ‘World Trade Report 2014’, which was launched on October 20 and is entitled ‘Trade and development: recent trends and the role of the WTO’, looks at how four recent major economic trends have changed how developing countries can use trade to facilitate their development. These trends are the economic rise of developing economies, the growing integration of global production through supply chains, higher prices for agricultural goods and natural resources and the increasing interdependence of the world economy.

Cameroon Accedes to Revised Kyoto
On November 18, Cameroon deposited its instrument of accession to the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedures (Revised Kyoto Convention), making the country the ninety-seventh contracting party to the convention.

The convention is the international standard for making customs regulatory procedures as efficient and effective as possible. The convention elaborates on several important principles, including transparency and the predictability of customs actions, the standardisation and simplification of goods declaration and supporting documents, simplified procedures for authorised persons, maximum use of information technology, minimum necessary customs control to ensure compliance with regulations, use of risk management and audit-based controls and coordinated interventions with other border agencies. The convention will come into force in Cameroon on February 18, 2015.

Glass Mirror Trade Remedy
On November 21, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa published a notice for the exclusion of unframed glass mirrors made of tinted glass, classifiable under tariff subheading 7009.91, from the existing antidumping duty applicable on unframed glass mirrors originating in or imported from the Peoples Republic of China. Comment is due December 5.

An investigation into the alleged dumping of unframed glass mirrors was initiated on November 2, 2012, a provisional antidumping duty of 40.22% was imposed on March 8, 2013, and a final antidumping duty of 40.22% was imposed on July 26, 2013, with retrospective effect from March 8, 2013.

The application was lodged by Nelson Glass & Mirrors, an importer of unframed glass mirrors, which sought to have mirrors made of tinted glass exempted from the antidumping duty applicable to unframed glass mirrors originating in or imported from China. The company stated that tinted glass could not be manufactured in the Southern African Customs Union region from start to finish, and that tinted glass was imported and a silver backing was applied to produce tinted mirrors.

Plastic Bags Classification
On November 24, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) published two tariff amendments with respect to plastic bags, aimed at including thermoplastic materials under compulsory specifications for plastic bags and flat bags as recommended by the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) VC 8087/2013.
These tariff amendments are proposed as a consequence of the amendments published by the NRCS in the Government Gazette of September 26, 2012, effective from March 4, 2014.

The first tariff amendment relates to the insertion in Schedule No1, Part 1, of the Act (ordinary customs duty) of tariff subheadings 3923.21.07, 3923.21.17, 3923.29.40 and 3923.29.50, and of the deletion of tariff subheadings 3923.21.05, 3923.21.15, 3923.29.05 and 3923.29.15. These amendments are effective December 1, 2014, up to and including December 31. Effective on January 1, 2015, the European Free Trade Association rates of ordinary customs duty amend.

The second tariff amendment relates to the amendment of Schedule No 1, Part 3A of the Act to reflect the amended tariff subheadings of Environmental Levy items 147.01.01, 147.01.03, 147.01.05 and 147.01.07. These amendments are effective from December 1, up to and including December 31.

The third tariff amendment, of Additional Note 3 of Chapter 39 of the Act, was to be published on November, 28, also effective from December 1, 2014.

The tariff amendments are the result of Sars’ invitation for comment on August 11 and 14, for which comment closed on September 12. These tariff amendments are unchanged from the published draft notices.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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