New Zealand implemented a range of gun control regulations on April 12, banning most semi-automatic firearms and introducing penalties for importing guns without a permit, according to an April 17 notice from Baker McKenzie and the New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office. The regulations also contain provisions that can penalize exporters or importers who “knowingly [supply] or [sell] a prohibited firearm or prohibited magazine to a person who does not hold a permit to import or possess one,” according to Baker McKenzie.

Companies and individuals who violate New Zealand customs requirements can now be issued a range of instant fines, according to a list of infringement offenses from New Zealand Customs. The list was mentioned in an April 17 notice from Baker McKenzie. The changes were introduced in October as part of the country’s Customs and Excise Act of 2018 but were not implemented until after a six-month “education phase,” according to the notice. They became effective April 1, 2019.

Indonesia revoked a regulation that would have imposed value-added taxes on luxury goods bought and sold through e-commerce, according to an April 15 notice from KPMG. The regulation was initially scheduled to take effect April 1, but Indonesia reversed the change in late March, KPMG said. Because the VAT change was withdrawn, KPMG said, the “existing income tax regulations” will continue to apply for all e-commerce transactions.

The Philippines recently lifted certain restrictions on rice imports and replaced them with tariffs, revoking specific requirements that forced traders to apply for licenses from the National Food Authority (NFA) and allowing the country’s president to change duty rates, according to an April 11 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Leaders from South Korea and Saudi Arabia discussed “economic cooperation” and signed an agreement that will increase exports of “testing materials,” according to a press release from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on “technical cooperation in the field of energy efficiency,” which will lead to “exporting testing materials and consulting on energy efficiency,” the release said. The countries also agreed to “strengthen support in automobiles … [information and communications technology (ICT)], smart city, and airport construction,” and supported the possibility of more agreements in the future. The meeting was the second in a series for the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee, an effort by the two countries to strengthen bilateral ties.

Japan’s Ministry of Finance announced tariff rate quotas for certain dairy imports for the Japanese fiscal year that runs from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, according to an April 10 notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. The TRQs cover “natural cheese for processing, skimmed milk powder, evaporated milk, butter and butteroil, and certain whey products, ” the notice said. Among several changes are those affecting imports of natural cheese used in processed cheese: Each Japanese importer is permitted to import natural cheese tariff-free up to 2.5 times “the volume of domestic cheese it uses for the production of processed cheese,” the notice said.

India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to strengthen “maritime cooperation” and improve “connectivity” at the 21st ASEAN-India Senior Officials' Meeting April 11-12 in New Delhi, according to an announcement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. At the meeting, both India and ASEAN “voiced their determination to bolster bilateral ties,” according to a report from the Vietnam Customs Department's CustomsNews website. The change was first suggested during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in 2018, the report said, when the two sides also promised to strengthen trade and the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area, according to a post-report from that summit.

A company based in Vietnam was accused by the country’s customs department's anti-smuggling unit of falsifying import permits and smuggling medical products, the Vietnam Customs Department's CustomsNews website said in an April 15 report. The company, C.V.S One Member Limited Liability Company, allegedly “heavily modified” import permits in at least 18 customs declarations between 2009 and 2016, including changing the model, term and number of the item in the permit’s appendix. The company’s “director ... admitted to falsifying import licenses,” the report said, and the investigation has been handed to Vietnamese police.

China and Croatia have signed an agreement to establish a “joint work group” that will improve “trade cooperation” between the two counties, according to a press release from China’s Ministry of Commerce. China called the agreement a “new platform for investment and cooperation,” and will continue to meet with Croatia to consult on “strengthening information exchange on policies” and “address barriers” in specific projects. Specifics of the agreement were not immediately released.

A report in the Japanese press says that Japan's Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer April 15-16 in Washington, but that auto export quotas, something Lighthizer pushed for in the 1980s, are unacceptable. The free-trade agreement talks, first announced in September 2018 (see 1809260049), could address non-tariff barriers. Nikkei Asian Review reporters say that Japan "is willing to discuss the streamlining of customs procedures should Washington demand them. But it does not plan to negotiate issues that will take years to realize because of the legislative revisions required, including the drug-pricing system, financial regulations and food safety standards." American drug makers are frustrated by new price constraints in Japan, and want that addressed (see 1904030043).