China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which was placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List last year, plans to build a nearly $9 billion chip production facility in Shanghai to help bolster China’s semiconductor ambitions, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 3. The facility will be built through a joint venture between SMIC and the Shanghai government, and will specialize in “mature technologies of 28-nanometer process nodes and higher and churn out 100,000 12-inch wafers a month when complete,” the report said, citing a SMIC regulatory filing. SMIC, which is also on an unclassified Defense Department list of Chinese military companies (see 2106280023), has come under intense scrutiny from some lawmakers, who view it as a threat to U.S. semiconductor leadership (see 2103190005).

China will lead an eight-fold expansion of the Qianhai economic cooperation zone, state-run media outlet Xinhua reported, as China announced the plan on the same day as a visit to Shenzen by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. The Qianhai zone, opened in 2010, will expand from 15 square kilometers to around 120 square kilometers. The expansion is intended to more greatly integrate Hong Kong and Macau's economy into the Greater Bay Area -- a region made up of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities, Bloomberg reported. The plan generally calls for further liberalizing of the financial sector and services trade, including more cross-border securities investment and allowing cross-border use of the yuan.

China's General Administration of Customs implemented temporary antidumping duty measures on imported polyphenylene ethers from the U.S., in a Sept. 6 announcement, according to an unofficial translation. Starting on Sept. 7, polyethers in primary forms and "'poly-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-benzene Ether (including chemically modified or physically modified)' product number should be filled in 39072090.10, and 'other polyether in primary form” product number should be filled in 39072090.90,'" the notice said.

Thailand recently approved the use of certain export certificates for imports of U.S. wine, beer and distilled spirits, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a Sept. 1 report. The country will allow the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation form’s Model Wine Export Certificate for U.S. wine exports and the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s Certificate of Sanitation for U.S. beer and spirit exports. The exports will require “specific attestation,” USDA said, but the alcohol shipments won’t require any “additional testing or certificate of analysis.” USDA said it expects the approved certificates to “ease the import process” for U.S. alcohol shipments and “possibly help encourage new export opportunities.”

Sri Lanka seized 29,900 metric tons of sugar found hoarded in warehouses following investigations into the goods, the Commissioner General of Essential Services said Sept. 1. The sugar will be sold to the public through state and private traders' outlets at a controlled price, the release said. Sri Lanka halved its sugar import duty beginning Oct. 14, 2020, to give relief to consumers. As a result, 584,000 metric tons of sugar were shipped into the country through June 30, leading to the hoarding. The Sept. 1 seizure took sugar from these stores.

South Korean Customs is offering additional support measures to aid the customs clearance process for imports and exports around the Sept. 21 Chuseok holiday, the agency said Sept. 3, according to an unofficial translation. Of particular emphasis are agricultural, livestock and fishery products such as food supplies and emergency raw and subsidiary materials. The measures seek to either process immediately or ramp up the approval process for imports and exports related to the holiday. The customs service nationwide will operates a "24-hour special customs clearance support team" from Sept. 9 to Sept. 24, including holidays and nights, to support import and export customs clearance during the holiday period.

Singapore Customs will exempt a 20% duty on hearse imports for businesses providing funeral or undertaking services and incorporated or registered under an Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority administered act with “Funeral and Related Activities” as its main activity. In a Sept. 3 circular, the customs agency also found the duty exemption will apply only to hearses registered in the name of the business entity and registered under the Road Traffic Act as a goods vehicle. The agency reserves the right to reimpose the duty if the business contravenes any of the conditions or transfers the hearse to a “non-entitled person, unless the transfer is for the sole purpose of the other person destroying or ensuring the proper disposal of the hearse or exporting the hearse,” the agency said.

Singapore's National Environment Agency will impose import and export controls on lead paints under its Environmental Protection and Management Act starting Jan. 3, 20222, the agency said. It will bar the manufacture, import and sale of paints beyond 90 ppm total lead concentration, save for zinc-based anti-corrosion paints and copper-based anti-fouling paints. Existing stocks of these paints will allowed to be sold locally until depletion, NEA said. The export and reexport of these paints will require a Hazardous Substance License. Labels will be required for zinc-based anti-corrosion paints and copper-based anti-fouling paints with a total lead count of 90 ppm for local sale and restricted to industrial uses only.

India recently published final standards for walnut kernels, a range of dairy products, oilseeds, margarine and fat spreads, cereal and more, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in an Aug. 30 report. Import approvals for any of the products remain subject to “local rules and regulations as interpreted by Indian officials at the time of product entry,” USDA said. The new standards take effect Feb. 1, 2022.

The G-7's Financial Action Task Force released its Japan Mutual Evaluation Report 2021 along with an executive summary that gives a synopsis of the anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing (AML/CFT) measures imposed by Japan since November 2019. The report also broke down Japan's compliance with the FATF's 40 recommendations and the effectiveness of the nation's AML/CFT system, along with a fresh set of recommendations.