China and Ecuador started negotiations on a trade agreement, with both parties signing a memorandum of understanding laying out their goals, China's Ministry of Commerce said Feb. 6, according to an unofficial translation. A joint feasibility study will be conducted to study any potential FTA and its expected benefits. Bilateral trade between the two countries hit $10.95 billion in 2021, a 44.5% year-on-year increase, the ministry said.

The Philippines recently applied to join the Convention on Temporary Admission, which could align it with 72 other countries that benefit from duty exemptions on goods temporarily imported for reexportation within a period of up to one year, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 4. Under the convention, goods covered by the ATA Carnet (see 2112270016) can be imported for a “specific temporary purpose” without being subject to duties or taxes as long as they are reexported within a “specified” time frame and don’t undergo substantive changes or processing, the report said. The Philippines is set to join the convention April 17.

Singapore Customs arrested six individuals and seized over 7,100 cartons of cigarettes for which duties have reportedly not been paid, the agency said in a Feb. 2 release. The arrests and seizures were made during an operation in which Singapore Customs officers observed two men transferring the boxes from a box truck to a van, which one of the men drove away. Brown boxes later were seen being transferred from the box truck to an open-top truck. The officers suspected the boxes to be duty-unpaid cigarettes and then moved in to stop the transaction, Singapore Customs said. In a related operation, the van that drove away from the first scene was under observation and two were arrested when another person approached it. More cartons were found in the van. In all, 7,186 cartons of cigarettes were seized and found to have evaded $613,680 and $48,840 in Goods and Services tax (in Singapore dollars), respectively, Singapore Customs said. Two of the individuals were charged in court Jan. 29 and granted an application to be remanded for a week for further investigations, Singapore Customs said. Investigations remain ongoing for the remaining individuals.

India extended the date by which companies can submit applications under five trade benefit programs, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 28, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said Feb. 1. The programs are the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme, Service Exports from India Scheme, Rebate of State & Central Taxes and Levies, Rebate of State Levies and the 2% additional ad hoc incentive. The MEIS scheme is for exports July 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019; April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020; and April 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020. The SEIS program is for service exports rendered for fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The 2% ad hoc incentive is for exports Jan. 1, 2020, to March 31, 2020. The ROSCTL program is for exports made from March 7, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020; and the ROSL scheme is for exports made up to March 6, 2019, "for which claims have not yet been disbursed under scrip mechanism."

The General Department of Vietnam Customs directed its local branches to strictly inspect and supervise import entries of rice that are then exported or reexported to other markets, to prevent origin fraud, the state-run CustomsNews said Jan. 29. The customs agency issued such instructions over fears that the rice imports are being illegally labeled and transshipped for rice products with HS codes 1006.20, 1006.30 and 1006.40.90. The GDVC will require local customs units to identify the origin for the rice products with these HS codes using measures that include customs officers conducting a physical inspection of the rice shipments, the report said. Other measures to be used for these efforts include the strengthening of the information collection, which entails a review of the rice export and import activities in the area and analysis of the information used to identify risks of origin fraud or illicit transshipment, the report said.

Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department on Jan. 26 issued an updated list of officers authorized to sign delivery verification certificates and trade licenses for imports and exports of “strategic commodities.” The list was last updated in November (see 2111290004).

Singapore Customs arrested two Singaporean nationals Jan. 23 following a raid that discovered a total of 500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, the customs agency said. Customs officers conducted the operation in an industrial building around Eunos Avenue 3 after keeping watch on a unit in the building "that was suspected to be used for storing duty-unpaid cigarettes." The total amount of Goods and Services tax evaded by the two men totaled $68,320 and $5,100 (in Singapore dollars), respectively. The pair were charged in court on Jan. 25, Singapore Customs said.

China banned all pig and wild boar shipments from Italy and North Macedonia, along with all pig and wild boar products, the General Administration of Customs said Jan. 24, according to an unofficial translation. The protective measures followed an outbreak of African swine fever in both countries, with the disease affecting Italy's Alessandria province and Piedmont region and North Macedonia's Delcevo region. China said it based its decision on the countries' reporting of the African swine fever cases to the World Organization for Animal Health. Any shipments of pigs, wild boars and their products shipped prior to the date of the announcement will be subject to enhanced quarantine, Customs said.

The Singapore Customs TradeNet will undergo extended system maintenance Feb. 6 and Feb. 13, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, it said Jan. 21. Singapore Customs advised users to avoid submitting applications during this time. This is in addition to the usual 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday maintenance.

On Feb. 1, the terms of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a key 14-member trade pact, for goods from South Korea, will enter into force in China, the General Administration of Customs said, according to an unofficial translation. The announcement includes two documents from China Customs: one is of items mentioned in the RCEP agreement that are being added to China's special goods exported to South Korea list; the other adds the format of the certificate of origin mentioned in the agreement to the format of the COO renewal page.