John Grayston will be speaking at the WorldECR conference on sanctions and export control in London in November 2013.  He will talk on how the EU will shape a new export control regime.

Full details of the conference are at: http://www.worldecr.com/conference/

The General Court of the European Union in two parallel cases has ruled that the proper forum to challenge EU customs classification regulations is via the national courts and tribunals of EU Member States and not by direct action before the European Courts.   National courts can always refer any specific EU issues to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

We are delighted to announce that Laura Beretta has agreed to join GCO as an International Trade Advisor.

The European Commission has published a basic Q&A on the practical impact of Croatia’s accession to the EU.

A copy can be downloaded from here: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-629_en.pdf

Republika Hrvatska (Republic of Croatia), today officially becomes the 28th Member State of the EU.

Almost all goods controlled in the EU as dual use are controlled as a result of EU Regulation 428/2009.  Certain goods can also be controlled at EU level for exports to specific third countries due to EU sanctions against those countries.

GCO will be participating once again at the annual International Compliance Professionals (ICPA) EU conference which this year is in Dublin (June 23-25).

Companies doing business in the EU have to comply with EU and national personal data privacy legislation. Unfortunately the data privacy legislation in the EU is not yet fully harmonized. This means that in practice, although companies can expect commonalities between legislations of the EU Member States as a result of the EU Data Privacy Directive, companies still have to verify what obligations and restrictions the various national data privacy legislations and regulators of the countries they are active in impose on them.

Compliance personnel in EU companies will usually be well be aware of the fact that the European and national competition authorities can raid both company premises and their employees’ private homes, subject to certain conditions.

John Grayston and Peter Trepte are speaking at the International Bar Association conference «Dancing with Tigers and Dragons» in New Delhi (31 January – 2 February 2013).

Davide Rovetta co-authored an article in the current edition of Global Trade Customs Journal Vol. 7 Issue 11/12  on the highly contentious issue of the retroactivity of Tariff Explanatory Notes and Tariff Classification Regulations.

The EU has adopted further restrictive measures against Iran, matching new measures adopted by the USA.

Based on the arrangement between the EU and Israel for the implementation of the Protocol 4 to the EU-Israel Association Agreement, all preferential documents EUR. 1 and invoice declarations issued or made out in Israel have to show the postal code and the name of the city, village or industrial zone where production conferring originating status has been performed. The situation is the same for movement certificates EUR-Med and invoice declarations EUR-Med that may be issued or made out in Israel for the export to the EU.

Following the EU's confirmation that it will implement the recommendations of the DSU in DS397 - Steel Fasteners from China, the EU has published amendments to the Basic Regulation which take effect as of today, 6 September 2012.

"Here comes the Sun"(*) - or does it.

A long running saga reaches its end game this week as the EU Commission decides whether or not to initiate investigations into imports of solar panels from China.

The following document summarizes the more than 250 substantive changes made to the EU List of Dual Use items set out in Annex I of the EU’s Export Control Regulation 428/2009.

Regulation (EU) 388/2012 : http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2012/may/tradoc_149517.pdf

A new Annex I to the EU’s Export Control Regulation 428/2009 will enter into force on 15 June 2012. The recently adopted Regulation 388/2012 amends the current Annex I which contains the EU list of Dual Use items.

John Grayston will chair a « Meet the Regulators » session at ICPA Barcelona on 12 June.

The speakers will be: Michael Peeters (Head of the Strategic Goods Control Unit at the Flemish Department of Foreign Affairs) and Tom Smith (Head, Export Control Organisation at the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills).

By measures adopted on 3 and 4 May 2012 the EU implemented full economic sanctions against certain individuals in the Republic of Guinea Bissau.

The measures list 6 persons only.

Our firm is delighted to be a sponsor of the International Compliance Professionals Association’s 3rd Annual European Conference to be held at the WTC in Barcelona from 10-12 June 2012 .

Registration is still open and full details of the event, agenda and sessions can be found at  http://icpainc.org/conferences/barcelona/