TradeLane

As one of the newest members of the Tradewin team, having joined our South Pacific practice as a Trade Analyst earlier this year, I have been looking forward to writing my first post here on our blog, so here goes!

In July 2015, shortly after the first phase of the pilot for the Australian Trusted Trader Programme (ATT) commenced, my colleague Jess Cordeta introduced our readers to some of the benefits and requirements of participation.  

Almost 12 months later, the third phase of the pilot is well underway and the Australian Government has recently announced additional funding for the programme over the next four years. The ATT is set to become operational on the 1^st of July, 2016.

Put a band aid on it, it will be ok. Walk it off, you’re not really hurt and you’re holding up the game.

As a guy who has played hockey most of my life I have heard this many times. Then you wake up the next morning take a look and think “Hmm… That might need stitches”.  Sometimes trade programs do not look as good as you thought, too.

Over the years, I have talked to many importers and exporters about the state of their trade programs. Most listen with great interest and agree that their trade program does not get the attention it deserves. I usually ask one simple question: How much of your business relies on trade?

Then there are the excuses for not paying attention to the international movement of your goods. When I was in school, I had plenty of excuses and now in my career I have hear lots of them.

Does everyone remember Y2K?

The whole world was under the impression that, at the turn of midnight on December 31^st, 1999, all our computers would simply stop functioning and we would enter the equivalent of a cyber stone age. I remember vividly sitting on the couch, watching the TV as the ball dropped in Times Square, waiting to see if all the lights were going to go off at any minute.

Alas, the lights stayed on, the computers still worked, and we all moved forward.

EU traders had a similar feeling when May 1^st rolled around and the Union Customs Code (UCC) - a union-wide re-write of the customs regulations within Europe - became effective.

On April 5, 2016, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China released a joint announcement (No. 11 of 2016), which published a list of products that are embargoed in trade with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

It was alleged in the announcement that the embargoes are based on the relevant resolutions enacted by United Nations Security Council and the Foreign Trade Law of P. R. China.

Many trade compliance or logistics managers responsible for their company’s importation process have gone through the internal struggle of deciding whether it would be fruitful to apply for a binding ruling from the EU customs authorities.

This struggle might have been less dramatic then Hamlets, but a struggle after all. To add to the dilemma, the rules surrounding obtaining a BTI are also changing as part of the implementation of the Union Customs Code on May 1^st, 2016.