For the second week of our Annual Compliance Conference, we discussed key trade compliance issues impacting our clients globally. Specifically, we discussed the trade policy response of the US, EU and U.K. to ever increasing geopolitical disruption, global strategies for handling sanctions regulators and enforcement, and key global sanctions and export controls developments.

Asia Pacific tax authorities are actively seeking to reduce tax leakages, non-compliance, and what they perceive to be tax avoidance activities. To help you position your business for success in an era of ever-changing tax rules and intense scrutiny, our subject matter experts from across the region and globally will come together to examine key developments. We will discuss the impact of emerging trends and current issues on your business models and strategies, sharing practical tips on how you can maximize opportunities to achieve the best risk mitigation outcomes.

In the realm of international trade, the anti-dumping instrument plays a crucial role in safeguarding domestic industries against unfair trading practices. Navigating the intricate landscape of anti-dumping procedures across various jurisdictions requires an understanding of each jurisdiction’s rules and processes. To help further that understanding, the Baker McKenzie global trade remedies team has put together a comparative table of anti-dumping procedures in five key anti-dumping jurisdictions: the European Union, the United States, Brazil, China, and Japan.

On 12 April 2023, China’s regulators on cybersecurity and product standardization, including the Cyberspace Administration of China, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Finance and the China National Certification and Accreditation Administration, jointly published a Circular to announce changes to the licensing regimes for network products distributed in the Chinese market.

The Ministry of Commerce of China initiated an antidumping and countervailing duty administrative review of barley from Australia, effective from 14 April 2023. For all Australian barley exporters, this is an opportunity to revoke the existing antidumping and countervailing duties and resume exportation to China.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on 12 April 2023 that it has initiated a trade barrier investigation involving 2,455 categories of Chinese products that may be subject to import restrictions or prohibition in Taiwan, including agriculture, mineral, chemical, and textile products. The outcome is expected to be announced by 12 October 2023, or 12 January 024 if the investigation is extended. Due to the current geopolitical tension between Taiwan and China, it is possible that the investigation may be expedited.

Post-importation transfer pricing adjustments have always presented great challenge for multinational companies doing business in China due to the lack of formal nationwide mechanism which simultaneously addresses the tax, customs and foreign exchange administration requirements, in order to allow customs valuation adjustment to be made in response to a post-importation TP adjustment.
While a TP and customs aligned approach which was introduced in a pilot program in Shenzhen in 2022 allows retroactive TP adjustment to be made with respect to imported goods, the application of the pilot program is currently limited to companies registered in Shenzhen which have in place advanced pricing arrangements with the China tax authority.

Heightened sanctions and export controls targeting key technologies and the TMT sector are an important trend of recent years and reflect the current geopolitical climate. In this episode Anne Petterd, Frank Pan, and Alison Stafford Powell discuss the practical impact these sanctions have on TMT companies and what TMT companies should do in their strategic plans to de-risk their exposure.

Post-importation transfer pricing adjustments have always presented great challenge for multinational companies doing business in China due to the lack of formal nationwide mechanism which simultaneously addresses the tax, customs and foreign exchange administration requirements, in order to allow customs valuation adjustment to be made in response to a post-importation TP adjustment. A new practice adopted by China Customs piles on additional challenges for companies looking to implement TP adjustments.

After two and a half years since the issuance of the Regulations on the Unreliable Entities List, the Unreliable Entities List Working Mechanism headed by China’s Ministry of Commerce has for the first time designated two US aerospace and defense companies as “Unreliable Entities.”