A “major” Hong Kong retail chain is requiring local suppliers to notify the chain 12 weeks before they make price increases, prompting suppliers to allege a breach of competition law, according to a March 13 U.S. Department of Agriculture report. The 12-week advance notice would allow the retailer to obtain “sensitive commercial data” that would likely be beneficial, the report said, because the retailer also buys direct from overseas suppliers and carries its own branded products. “The information requested from suppliers is conducive to the pricing of the retailer’s own products,” USDA said. The report does not name the chain, but calls it a “major supermarket.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a report reminding U.S. exporters that Hong Kong’s policy regarding bans of U.S. poultry and eggs that may have been subject to an avian influenza outbreak defines the effective date as the date of departure from the U.S. The practice ensures U.S. poultry products on their way to Hong Kong can access the Chinese market when an outbreak occurs, even if the goods were produced during the avian influenza “incubation period.” Products produced before the incubation period will be accepted from the “affected country,” as long as they were shipped before the ban took effect, USDA said. “However, once the ban is imposed,” the report said, “products originating from or processed in the AI infected county well before the AI incubation period are not allowed entry to Hong Kong.”

China recently issued a national food safety standard for vegetable oil, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The standard, which was implemented in late 2018, provides standards for “crude vegetable oil, edible vegetable oil, edible vegetable blend oil and various edible vegetable oils used in frying food,” USDA said. The standard does not apply to “edible oil products, such as edible hydrogenated oil, margarine, shortening, cocoa butter substitute, whipped cream, and powdered oil,” USDA said. The standard includes certain requirements for the physical and chemical makeups of the oils.

Indonesia and Australia signed a trade agreement that provides tariff benefits for Australia and eases restrictions on import licenses on certain agricultural products, according to a notice from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The agreement, called the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, provides Australia with lowered tariffs and “import license advantages” on “live cattle, frozen beef, sheep meat, feed grains, citrus products, carrots, and potatoes,” according to a March 8 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Japan revised its beef and pork safeguards to reflect the recent trade agreement signed between Japan and the European Union, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a March 8 report. The Japan-EU agreement, which took effect Feb. 1, revises Japanese safeguards on volumes of beef and pork imports for all EU countries, the report said. “The revision removes EU imports from the trigger conditions which count imports only from countries with which Japan does not have a free trade agreement,” according to the report. Japan made a similar revision to its safeguards as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership entered into force on Dec. 30, 2018.

Pakistan is changing regulations surrounding food labels, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a March 7 report. The regulatory order, which was issued by Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce and took effect Feb. 19, requires label information to include “a minimum 66% shelf life at the time of clearance of goods” and “labeling of nutritional values and usage instructions in Urdu and English,” according to the report. The new regulations also requires “the Halal Certificate issuing authority to be a member of either IHAF [International Halal Accreditation Forum] or SMIIC [Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries].”

A recent court ruling in India makes the country’s “Advance Authorization Scheme” for duty exemptions on imported inputs more useful for exporters, KPMG India said in a recent client alert. Indian revenue authorities had made several changes to the program in 2017, making Goods and Services Tax potentially exempt but also creating a “pre-import condition” where the same goods had to be imported, used as inputs and exported for those goods to qualify as duty-free under the AA program. An exporter had sued, saying that the new interpretation made it impossible to use the scheme where goods are manufactured and exported in anticipation of an authorization, and then inputs are imported duty-free against the authorization for further manufacturing and export. The high court of Gujarat sided with the exporter, KPMG said. As a result, all enforcement proceedings against Indian companies for improper use of AA due to the “pre-import condition” rule “would no longer survive,” KPMG said. “This judgment comes as a big relief to these exporters as there would have been a cash flow and interest impact on account of the payment of the disputed IGST [the Integrated Goods and Services Tax]. However, it needs to be seen whether the government issues any clarification or challenges the judgment,” KPMG said.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced the approval of a bill that will strengthen protection of Japanese patents and intellectual property rights, the ministry said in a March 1 notice. The bill, called the Act of Partial Revision of the Patent Act, is aimed at protecting the “important technologies and other strong points of Japanese companies,” the notice said. The bill includes a new system in which “neutral technological experts” will complete on-site inspections of companies that are suspected of infringing on patents. Japan is also changing its method for calculating compensation for victims of patent infringement, allowing “rights holders to request” damages from the infringer “for all products sold by the infringer.” The bill also makes changes to Japan’s Design Act, the notice said, which includes expanding the scope of protected designs.

Hong Kong lifted its ban on American lettuce harvested in Arizona, according to a report issued March 6 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The ban, officially lifted March 5, stems from a 2018 U.S. E. coli outbreak “likely linked to ... Romaine lettuce produced in” Arizona, USDA said. The Hong Kong Government Centre for Food Safety said in a notice that was included in USDA’s report that it lifted the ban after an “investigation report and the implementation of surveillance programme by the US authorities.”

As part of its Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, the Philippines’ Department of Finance has created post clearance audit functions for the country's Bureau of Customs and announced a new prior disclosure program, which allows companies to minimize their penalties for errors and omissions on import documentation, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers alert. Post-clearance audits can include audits of importers, customs brokers, agents and “all other parties engaged in the customs clearance and processing functions,” according to the notice. Auditors can also review all export- and import-related records “required to be kept by law,” the notice said. The prior disclosure program, the notice said, allows the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs commissioner to consider previous disclosures of errors and omissions in goods declarations by importers “as a potential mitigating factor in determining penalties.” All disclosures must contain "the errors and payment of deficient amounts of duties, taxes and penalties."