The European Court of Justice on Sept. 8 ruled the EU properly reimposed antidumping duties on certain footwear with uppers of leather from China and Vietnam. Ruling against German footwear company Puma, the bloc's highest court said the European Commission in 2016 legally reimposed the duties of up to 16.5%.

Vietnam's Dinh Ba Customs Branch will prosecute an individual charged with illegally transporting currency across the border from Cambodia to Vietnam, the state-run CustomsNews reported Sept. 15. The case was transferred to the Investigation Policy Agency of the Tan Hong district policy to continue the investigation per the country's regulations, the report said. The defendant, Trinh Linh Em, was stopped at the Dinh Ba international border gate, where border agents found piles of money that the man said amounted to nearly $14,000, from cockfights in Cambodia. The Dinh Ba Customs Branch said Linh Em brought the money into the country without declaring it.

Ukrainian state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz launched a request for arbitration with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce over "the actions" of Russian oil company Gazprom, Naftogaz said in a statement. The Ukrainian company demands that Gazprom pay for natural gas transit services carried out in Ukraine. Gazprom has not paid any of these funds, "neither on time nor in full," the statement said. Added Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko: "We will make Gazprom pay. Naftogaz also assesses the possibility of additional claims. We will use our experience of victories over Gazprom in arbitration."

Solaiyappan Ramanathan, a permanent resident of Singapore, was ordered to pay a $558,000 fine by the Singapore State Courts for making false statements when applying for Preferential Certificates of Origin for goods his company exported, Singapore Customs announced Aug. 31. Solaiyappan is the former director of Feccuni Singapore Pte. and sole owner of Shakambri Overseas -- companies set up to import and export scrap metals and other metal products from local and overseas suppliers.

Singapore Customs arrested a man and seized 261 cartons of cigarettes for which duties were not paid, the agency said in an Aug. 26 release. The customs agency spotted the man in a car that had brown boxes in the passenger compartment. Officers found 258 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, placing the man under arrest. After a follow-up search of the man's residence, Singapore Customs found another three cartons of cigarettes and 10 empty computer casings that were used as cover loads for the cigarettes. The man allegedly evaded $22,280 in duties and $1,770 in goods and services tax, Singapore Customs said. "Court proceedings are ongoing," the release said.

Chu Thang Trung, deputy director of Vietnam's Trade Remedies Authority, said exporting firms should diversify export markets to avoid "putting all their eggs in one basket," and skirt the challenges posed by increasing trade remedy investigations against Vietnamese goods, the state-run CustomsNews reported Aug. 26.

Beijing-based TianTai Law firm this week published an alert on China’s export control laws (see 2204270040 and 2105180023), outlining how the restrictions apply to certain technologies. The alert also covers China’s Unreliable Entity List regulations and includes examples of certain technologies to show how companies should go about applying for export licenses.

The EU General Court in a July 27 judgment rejected RT France's bid to annul sanctions levied against it in March. The restrictions bar EU operators from broadcasting and facilitating the broadcast of RT France and suspend any broadcasting license or arrangement with the media outlet. The court ruled that the European Council didn't violate the law in finding that RT France was controlled by the Russian government and issues statements backing the war in Ukraine. Further, the court dismissed the media company's challenge to the council's reasons for imposing the sanctions, the fairness of the procedures used to make the listing and the arguments that the sanctions were a disproportionate restriction on RT France's right to freedom of expression.

A U.K. tax tribunal absolved exporter Lynton Exports of paying nearly $12 million in value added tax after finding that the company couldn't be held liable for its new customer's alleged tax evasion scheme. The Tax Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal ruled against HM Revenue and Customs, finding no convincing evidence to back the position Lynton had actual knowledge that its shipments of soft drinks and sweets were connected to the evasion of VAT.

The European Commission opened four different infringement procedures against the U.K. over its alleged failure to comply with certain parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The commission launched the infringement proceedings following the UK's "unwillingness to engage in meaningful discussion" and the UK Parliament's "continued passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill." The four infringement procedures are for failing to (1) comply with the customs requirements on the movement of goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, (2) "notify the transposition of EU legislation laying down general EU rules on excise duties," (3) notify the transfer of EU rules on exicse duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages, and (4) implement EU rules on value added tax for e-commerce.