Italy delayed the effective date of value-added taxes on “remote sales” of certain goods through “electronic interfaces,” including mobile phones, video game consoles, tablets and laptops, according to a May 2 notice from KPMG. The taxes will take effect Jan. 1, 2021, KPMG said, and VAT payments on remote sales are not required for the first quarter of 2019. However, KPMG said that beginning July 1, 2019, “taxable persons that make such remote sales have a reporting obligation for transactions conducted between” Feb. 13 and May 1 this year. The changes were announced as part of a decree regarding “urgent economic growth measures” published April 30, KPMG said. The decree also expanded the VAT reporting requirements for sales of all goods through “an electronic interface.”

In the May 2 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Court of Justice on April 30 upheld a controversial provision of the recent trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, clearing the way for full ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The court ruled that the investment court system set out in CETA does not conflict with EU treaties. “The decision by the Court means that no changes have to be made to the text of the EU-Canada agreement and Member States' ratifications can proceed,” the European Commission said in a press release. “Equally, no change will be required in the ICS provisions included in the agreements with Singapore, Mexico and Vietnam. The Commission will continue to negotiate the Investment Court System in bilateral agreements with other partners,” the release said. “The agreement with Canada is under provisional application since September 2017 and can only enter fully into force once ratified by all Member States and concluded by the Council.”

The European Union is setting to almost zero its long-standing retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. products for U.S. distributions of antidumping and countervailing duties to affected U.S. industries, it said in a notice. With distributions amounting to only a few thousand this year, the tariff, which applies to corn of EU subheading 0710.40.00, jeans of EU subheading 6204.62.31, mobile cranes of heading 8705.10.00 and eyeglasses frames of former subheading 9003.19.00, will fall to 0.001%, down from 4.3% last year. The new tariff rates take effect May 1.

In the April 30 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

In the April 29 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

It's unclear how North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got the armored Mercedes-Maybach limousines made by Daimler that Kim used for several recent meetings with international leaders, a spokesman for the company said. In an April 29 email, a Daimler spokesman said the company has a “comprehensive export control process” to “prevent” all sales to North Korea. “We have no indication how those vehicles have come to the use of” North Korea, he said. Exports of luxury goods to North Korea are banned under United Nations sanctions, and sanctions imposed by the U.S. allow the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to designate any person who “engages in a significant export to or import from North Korea,” according to the Treasury.

In the April 26 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union is setting new rules on unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain, it said in a notice in the April 25 Official Journal. The directive from the EU Parliament and European Council provides that EU member states should prohibit certain practices, including late payment, cancellation of orders for perishables on short notice, unilateral changes to certain terms of supply agreements, payments not related to the sale of the agricultural or food products and acts of commercial retaliation, among other things. The rules apply to situations where the buyer committing the act is larger than the supplier, as defined in size categories laid out in the directive, or the supplier that commits the act is very large. The directive sets a mechanism for submitting complaints, and provides that member states have investigatory powers and may impose fines and penalties for unfair trading practices under the directive. The new rules apply not only to suppliers and buyers inside the EU, but also to non-EU buyers and suppliers doing business in the EU.

The European Commission on April 24 adopted a proposal to create a new exemption from excise and value added tax for supplies for armed forces of European Union member states that are taking part in a European defense effort, it said in a press release. The newly adopted exemption mirrors one currently in place for EU armed forces participating in North Atlantic Treaty Organization defense operations, it said. “Under the new rules, armed forces deployed outside their own Member State would not pay VAT or excise duty to other Member States when they take part in a NATO defence effort or in a defence activity under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). By aligning the indirect tax treatment of both defence efforts, the initiative acknowledges the growing importance of the CSDP and military mobility which require supplies such as training materials, accommodation, provision of food and fuel -- all in principle currently subject to VAT,” the commission said.