Latest edition of EY Belgium’s Customs and Excise update

Changes to the legislation regarding excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages

On February 13, the Amendments to the Act of 7 January 1998 on the structure and rates of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages became effective. These amendments include, amongst other, a list of the necessary authorizations for the acquisition, possession and utilization of ethyl alcohol. And this for both partially denatured (in accordance with Belgian standards) and fully denatured. Those authorizations are the following:

• “Ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages - end user”
• “Ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages – tester”
• “Ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages - user - scientific research”
• “Ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages - user - medical sector”
• “Ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages - user - production processes”
• “Ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages – processor”

The movement of fully denatured alcohol used to happen under the paper based SAAD process. Now, this also takes place under the EMCS system. Any person who dispatches to another Member State or who receives from another Member State alcohol that has been completely denatured, must be in possession of a "certified consignor (temporary)" or "certified consignee (temporary)" authorization.

Any person who trades in ethyl alcohol or alcoholic beverages already released for consumption in Belgium and who does not have the status of authorized warehouse keeper, registered consignee, temporary registered consignee or registered consignor, is required to be in possession of an "ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages - trader" authorization.
 

Belgian government published circular letter on the PEM Convention

On 16 December 2022, circular letter 2022/C/122 concerning the provisions of the alternative (revised) rules of origin of the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) was published. The main objective of this circular is to provide a clear and practical explanation of the transitional PEM rules and, where appropriate, compare them with the rules of the current PEM agreement.
 

Belgian government published circular letter on customs decisions

The Belgian authorities published Circular letter 2022/C/123 regarding the taking and the managing of a customs legislation decision. The purpose of the circular letter is to consolidate and comment on the legal provisions concerning the customs authorities’ decisions following a request from an economic operator. The general provisions of the circular letter are without prejudice to specific provisions relating to customs legislation decisions, such as: AEO, Binding Tariff Information (BTI) or special arrangements. The circular also addresses the management of such decisions, including the suspension, revocation, re-assessment and annulment of a customs decision.
 

Belgian government published circular letter on customs representation

The Belgian government has published circular letter 2022/C/120 on customs representation, which consolidates the legal provisions and administrative procedures related to customs representation. This includes direct and indirect customs representation, as well as the responsibilities of the customs representative according to EU and national legislation. The circular letter also outlines the responsibilities of customs representatives under various customs procedures. A customs representative can be appointed for the submission of both standard and simplified customs declarations.
 

Commission updates EU control list of dual-use items

On 11 January 2023, the European Commission published the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/66 amending Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2021/821 – also known as the dual-use Regulation. The update is part of a yearly exercise of the EU control list of dual-use items, it is important to stress that this falls outside the scope of EU restrictions against Russia or Belarus. 

The updated EU control list includes new entries in the field of electronics, semiconductors, and computers (such as Electronic Computer-Aided Design). In the chemical and biological sector, the updated list includes software specially designed for nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers. Lastly, under the category of aerospace and propulsion, the addition of sub-orbital crafts and certain technology for the manufacturing of gas turbines (pressure gain combustion) stands out.
 

EU imposes provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese Beer kegs

The Commission has published the implementing regulation (EU) 2023/100 of 11 January 2023, which imposes a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of stainless-steel refillable kegs (currently falling under CN codes ex 7310 10 00 and ex 7310 29 90) originating in the People’s Republic of China. The provisional anti-dumping duty varies from 52,9% to 112% depending on the company.
 

EU Preferential Exports to Singapore

On 20 December 2022, the Committee on Customs of the FTA between the EU and Singapore has adopted Decision No 1/2022 amending the Origin Protocol of that FTA. The decision updates Protocol 1 to the 2022 version of the Harmonized System. Also, for EU exporters, the system of ‘approved exporters’ is replaced by the system of ‘registered exporters’ (REX). This means that importers in Singapore will have to claim preferential origin, and accordingly, make out invoice declarations indicating their REX number instead of their approved exporter authorization number. 

The decision entered into force on 1 January 2023 and introduces a 3 month transition period between the entry into force of the decision and its application, which ensures that Singapore customs will still accept origin declarations made out by EU approved exporters until 31 March 2023.
 

Updates on autonomous tariff quotas and suspensions of common customs tariffs

At the end of 2022, two Council Regulations were published, related to the management of autonomous tariff quotas and the suspension of common customs tariffs on certain agricultural and industrial products.

• Council Regulation 2022/2563 of 19 December 2022 amending Regulation 2021/2283 opening and providing for the management of autonomous tariff quotas of the Union for certain agricultural and industrial products, opens new tariff quotas at zero duty rates for appropriate quantities of products in scope. The regulation covers a wide range of products, including but not limited to agricultural products, natural unmanufactured tobacco, certain chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment, motor vehicle parts and steel products.
• Council Regulation 2022/2583 amending Regulation 2021/2278 suspending the Common Customs Tariff duties on certain agricultural and industrial products and provides an update-to-date overview of the tariff suspensions on the products in scope. The products in scope of this regulation include, but are not limited to industrial products such as electrical equipment, machinery and parts, pharmaceutical products, chemical products, and textiles; and agricultural products such as vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, processed foods, nuts and oils. Other products in scope are products used in the manufacturing of renewable energy sources such as solar panels and biodiesel.
   

EU Go-live of Import Control System 2 (ICS2) Release 2: New data filing requirements for airfreight

On 1 March 2023, the second release of EU's new advance cargo information system ICS2 has gone live, in accordance with the UCC Implementing and Delegated Act. This means that all airfreight shipments (postal, express and general cargo consignments) into or via EU27, Switzerland, Norway and Northern Ireland will have to comply with new data filing requirements.

Based on this data, customs authorities will conduct a pre-loading and pre-arrival air cargo security risk assessment. The pre-loading and pre-arrival messages related thereto are referred to as the Entry Summary Declaration (ENS). Prior to the arrival of the goods at the EU external border, the full set of ENS data must be submitted. Most importantly, the importer of record and accompanying EORI number (or VAT number for non-EU consignees), a meaningful description of the goods and HS code will need to be provided to the freight forwarder and prior to the departure of the goods in the country of export.

Submitting incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate data in a customs declaration can lead to the rejection of the customs declaration, to customs intervention, to consignments being stopped or delayed at customs, to enhanced security screening and to flight delays. Please be aware that the new data elements will only be mandatory for airfreight, while the other modes of transport (maritime, rail and road) will be impacted in the course of 2024.

Note that the Commission has granted Belgium, along with other EU Member States (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Croatia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Sweden), a legal derogation to connect to ICS2 Release 2 by 30 June 2023 instead of 1 March 2023. One of the consequences of postponing this release date is that air carriers operating in these member states can request a “deployment window” to connect to ICS2 Release 2 if they are not ready to go-live with ICS2 Release 2 on 1 March 2023. The deployment window will either end on 30 June 2023 (for air carriers) or on 2 October 2023 (for house fillers, post and express consignments), depending on the type of shipment. Companies who have implemented ICS2 Release 2 on 1 March 2023 can of course connect to the system and start filing ENS from then onwards.
 

Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) Phase 4.0 update

Implementing Regulation 2022/2573 was published on 28 December 2022 amending Implementing Regulation 2016/323 regarding messages relating to the movements of excise goods under duty suspension. The major evolution of the 4.0 phase of EMCS is the computerisation of duty paid B2B procedures. Note that duty paid B2B procedures are mostly used for alcohol products.

As from 13 February 2023:

• Movements of excise goods under a duty suspension arrangement will be monitored by the “Computerised System” that is intended to permit the electronic transmission of the administrative documents provided for in Directive (EU) 2020/262. The same goes for excise goods which have been released for consumption in the territory of one Member State and moved to the territory of another Member State to be delivered for commercial purposes.
• Movements of excise goods which have been released for consumption in the territory of one Member State and moved to the territory of another Member State, in order to be delivered there for commercial purposes, will need to be declared by means of an electronic simplified administrative document (e-SAD) submitted by the consignor.

After 13 February 2023, such movements will need to be declared via the computerised system instead of via a document in paper form (the simplified accompanying document).
 

Suspension of customs duties for ammonia and urea

On 16 December 2022, the EU published the Council Regulation 2022/2465 related to the suspension of customs duties of two input materials, i.e. ammonia and urea, needed for the production of nitrogen fertilisers.

The EU has suspended the customs duties of 5,5% and 6,5% for imports of goods falling under the CN codes 2814 10 00 (Ammonia) and 3102 10 10 and 3102 10 90 (Urea), respectively.

In 2021, the EU imported 2,9 million tons of ammonia and 4,7 million tons of urea to produce nitrogen fertilisers. The prices for those products have however increased substantially in 2021 and have further risen following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In view of the price increases and the need for importation of these products, the EU suspended the applicable customs duties for these three CN codes in order to safeguard the production of nitrogen fertilisers. The suspension applies to imports of goods falling under the three CN codes into the EU, regardless of whether they are intended for the specific production of nitrogen fertilisers. It goes without saying, that the imports from Russia and Belarus cannot benefit from the new suspension, and that the customs duty rates of 5,5% and 6,5% continue to apply. 

The suspension has entered into force on 16 December 2022 and will be applicable until 17 June 2023, i.e. for a period of 6 months.
 

TradeWatch Issue 3 2022

TradeWatch Issue 3 2022 is available. This EY magazine highlights key legislative and administrative developments for customs and trade featuring insights and tax alerts from our network of Global Trade professionals trade around the world, with links to other EY resources and contacts. In this final edition of the year, we examine some of the current trade trends and look forward to the trade outlook for 2023. We expect these trends — including trade disruption, customs valuation, transfer pricing, and sustainability — will continue to influence the trade policies of governments and the trade strategies of corporations into 2023 and beyond.