The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade on Aug 27 updated its collection of exporting country guides for U.K. exporters. The guides contain information on exporting to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.

Some fruits and vegetables could face new restrictions on importation into the European Union beginning Sept. 1, according to blog post by Canadian law firm Tereposky & DeRose. That’s the date an EU regulation issued in March takes effect, setting new import requirements for some fruits and vegetables, including exporting country certification, many of which have not yet been met, the law firm said.

The Eurasian Economic Union Commission completed its customs code harmonization to improve customs clearance time, “service portals,” rules relating to restricted goods, countries of origin and more, according to an Aug. 22 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The move is expected to “clear up the discrepancies and inconsistencies” related to several areas of customs and trade between the Eurasian Economic Union’s member countries: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The move will standardize the average customs clearance time to four hours, define required procedures for establishing exact customs values, list a series of banned goods and more, the report said.

In the Aug. 26 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

A man in the Netherlands is suspected of illegally exporting more than 13 tons of waste to Africa and Asia, the country’s Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate announced Aug. 21, according to an unofficial translation. The country said the man had not applied for the proper export license to ship the garbage, which included polyvinyl chloride. Dutch authorities said they searched two properties and seized a company’s business records as part of the investigation. Money-laundering of profits from the operation is suspected as well.

The United Kingdom and South Korea signed a trade continuity agreement Aug. 22 to ensure the countries trade under current terms after a potential no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a press release. Under the agreement, trade would “continue with minimal changes to tariffs and quotas when the UK leaves the EU,” according to a U.K. fact sheet on exporting to South Korea. The U.K. is already covered by a trade deal between the European Union and South Korea, but that could change when and if the U.K. leaves the EU with no transition deal in place.

Norway is proposing to amend regulations to simplify customs clearances and the country’s value-added tax system for low-value shipments, according to an Aug. 19 KPMG report. The proposal would repeal VAT exemptions and other “indirect taxes” on imports worth less than about $350. New legislation would leave sellers and “online marketplaces … liable for VAT on cross-border sales of low-value goods to final consumers in Norway,” KPMG said. Online sellers would “register, declare, and pay VAT” on the sales under the new system, KPMG said, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2020.

United Kingdom customs authorities on Aug. 21 announced plans to accelerate Brexit preparations for U.K. traders by automatically registering more than 88,000 value-added tax registered companies for Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) numbers over the next weeks “in order to keep trading with customers and suppliers in the EU after the UK has left.”

In the Aug. 20 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union’s new EU Customs Trader Portal will debut on Oct. 1, and will for a time run parallel to the current EU Trader Portal before replacing the legacy system entirely, the Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration said in an Aug. 20 news release. Developed by the European Commission, the new portal will allow traders to apply for and manage Authorized Economic Operator certificates and Binding Tariff Information decisions. “If your organisation already has an AEO certificate or BTI, you will soon receive a notification from Customs,” Dutch Customs said.