2008年12月26日金曜日

Japan-Vietnam EPA siged on Dec 25

1) Tariff concession details are available in Annex I.

http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/vietnam/epa0812/index.html

2) Overview presentation of Japan-Vietnam EPA (in Japanese)

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/fta/j_asean/vietnam/pdfs/gaiyo.pdf

2008年12月22日月曜日

VEU Inspection Agreement In Limbo As Bush Term Nears End

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is threatening to suspend a new program to ease dual-use export controls on certain high-technology exports to companies in China that BIS deems to be trusted, because China and the U.S. have not completed negotiations for a program-specific inspection agreement.

The Validated End User (VEU) program, operated by BIS, is in danger of being suspended prior to the end of the Bush administration, said Commerce Department Assistant Secretary Christopher Wall in a Dec. 17 interview. The threat arose because China would not agree to a VEU-specific inspection regime which included statements from the Ministry of Commerce(MOFCOM) on the end use of the dual-use technology exports covered by the program, Wall said. The two countries are currently in negotiations on the new language, Wall said.
He declined to lay out any U.S. proposals, but did say that the bilateral negotiations have “moved to an advanced point.”

Additionally, Wall predicted that the completion of the agreement is “possible” before the end of the Bush administration, but added that “I’m not able to speak for the Chinese on that. It’s amatter for them to decide.” The consequences of a failure to complete such an agreement under the Bush administration include the possible suspension of the program for China before President George W. Bush leaves office, Wall said. However, Wall and another U.S. official both insisted that India’s VEUprogram would continue to move forward. According to the other U.S. official who spoke earlier in the day, the U.S. was waiting to see if China would “ink” a deal before it officially accepted any language itself.

The VEU program currently grants U.S. exporters a standing license to export specified controlled high-technology goods to the five Chinese firms that have been approved for the program. Currently, VEU companies are inspected under the 2004 End User Verification Understanding, Wall said. Those inspections are still carried out, Wall said. “There has been no breakdown in the program at all,” he insisted, denying another U.S. official’s claim that China this year backed away from a 2008 deal to allow inspections of VEU companies under the EUVU. Instead, BIS wants a VEU specific program to “specifically address VEU issues and obtain enduse statements from MOFCOM,” Wall said. BIS wants these statements included in the agreement to reduce the administrative burden for Chinese companies that import goods underthe VEU program. “That doesn’t go to the issue safety; that goes toward trade enhancement,” Wall said.

The head of BIS, Undersecretary of Commerce Mario Mancuso, has “long said” the VEU program will not be a “gray area” when the Bush administration leaves office on Jan. 20, the official said. If the U.S. and China are not able to reach an agreement on end-user inspections,“we will resolve it for them” by suspending the program, the official said.
The U.S. official said media reports that the VEU program had already been canceled were“premature,” and noted that U.S. companies and their Chinese partners currently under the VEU program could continue to ship approved items. A GAO oversight report released in October recommended the Commerce Department suspendthe VEU program, until it can amend or reach a new agreement that allows the conduct of VEU specificon-site reviews in China to protect against diversion of semiconductor equipment and materials to unintended uses (Inside U.S. Trade, Nov. 14) The Chinese may be incorrectly assuming they can successfully push for more decontrolled high-tech exports under the incoming Obama administration, one informed source suggested onDec. 17. “I hope they are not thinking they can just get a better deal while waiting for a newadministration,” this source said. “That’s a misreading of the situation; this is not a partisan question. These are fundamental national security concerns that [the Bush administration] inherited from the Clinton administration.”

(Source: INSIDETRADE-26-50-4)

2008年12月17日水曜日

Brunei joining AJCEP on Jan 01. 2009

On November 29 (Sat), Brunei made the notification on the completion of its legal procedures necessary for the entry into force of the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership among Japan and Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Japan-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement).

With this notification, the Agreement will enter into force on January 1 (Thu), 2009 in relation to Brunei.

This Agreement has already entered into force on December 1 (Mon) among Japan, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

(Source: MOFA web site http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2008/12/1185514_1080.html )

2008年12月12日金曜日

GSP is unavailable after EPA with some exceptions

After implementation of many EPAs recently, traders tend to confuse in mixing up with EPA preferential tariff and GSP ("Generalized System of Preference") tariff.
Basically, GSP tariff is no longer valid after EPA implementation date. However, there are some exceptions, which makes the things complicated.

Even after the EPA implementation, if the items are not included in the EPA or the GSP tariff is lower than EPA tariff, GSP is still effective.
In addition, for Laos and Myannmar, all GSP rate is effective for both two countries.

There is very useful information list in MOF web site which provide "still effective" GSP rate items after EPA implementation. (in Japanese only)
http://www.mof.go.jp/jouhou/kanzei/fta_epa/seido_tetsuduki/tokkei.htm

Traders who have used GSP rate need to check this site.

(Source: METI web site http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/trade_policy/epa/GSP.pdf )

2008年12月10日水曜日

South Korea Eyes FTAs with Russia, Mercosur

South Korea wants to offset the expected slowdown in growth next year by expanding free trade agreements (FTAs) with Russia and South America's Mercosur trade bloc, a government official said this week.

Kwon Tae-kyun, head of the trade office at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, said Seoul plans to lay the groundwork to launch earnest free trade agreement talks with these countries in 2009.

With its rapidly expanding economy, Russia has become an important buyer of locally made goods, while Mercosur's Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay could help South Korea diversify its export market and become important sources of natural resources, he said.

The official added that Seoul wants to expand ongoing free trade talks with Australia, New Zealand, and Peru.

(Source: UPS Trade News for December 9, 2008 )

Delay and operational challenge of Japan-Philippine EPA

On Dec. 11, 2008, Japan-Philippine EPA will be on effective. However, according to Japanese METI web site, it was notice by Philippine government that they face operational delay in Philippine side and some operations are not in time for Dec. 11.

1) Delay of issue of Country of Origin.
Philippine will NOT issue Country of Origin ("C/O") in time for Dec. 11. The possible starting date is unknown.

2) Quota for steel products will NOT be ready
Japan-Philippine EPA have quota with zero duty in importing into Philippine for HS7208, 7209, 7210, and 7212 steel products. However, the Philippine side is not ready for operation of this quota by Dec. 11.

3) No refund of duty
If the normal rate of duty was paid in importing into Philippine, and it was simply because C/O was not ready, the difference of preferential duty and normal duty will NOT be refunded.

(Source: METI web site: http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/trade_policy/epa/html2/081209%20JPEPA.pdf )

2008年12月1日月曜日

Delay of AJCEP implementation in Vietnam & Myanmar

In addition to Singapore, some operational delay of AJCEP in Vietnam & Myanmar is reported in Japanese METI web site.

According to METI, Japanese government was noticed as follows by Vietnam and Myanmar government.

1) Delay of issuing C/O ("Country of Origin") by Vietnam and Myanmar
Due to their internal legal formalities, Vietnam and Myanmar are not able to issue C/O on December 1. At fastest, it will be after middle of December.

2) Preferential tariff in Vietnam Not applied so far
Due to Vietnam's domestic legal formalities, the preferential tariff of AJCEP will be applied only after February 2009. The retrospective refund of duty amount between MFN rate and the preferential tariff is uncertain. It is under consideration by Vietnam government.

(Source: JAPAN METI web site http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/trade_policy/epa/html2/081128_AJ%20ベトナム・ミャンマーに係るアナウンス.pdf )