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Operators may request a binding information decision from the relevant customs authorities in the EU, in order to obtain certainty about the application of customs legislation in respect of the tariff classification or the origin of imported goods across the EU. Currently, EU customs legislation does not facilitate the issuing of a binding information decision in respect the value of imported goods. This can present real challenges for importers where customs authorities across the EU adopt differing approaches on customs valuation matters, which is not uncommon, particularly for the most complex valuation matters (e.g. treatment of royalties/licence fees, assists, transfer pricing adjustments, etc.).

The EU now has announced plans to include binding valuation information (BVI) decisions in its customs legislation. The aim is that this will increase transparency and legal certainty, and to support compliance and consistency in the treatment of EU customs valuation matters across the EU. This should also bring the EU in line with international standards for advanced customs rulings.

The move follows the conclusion of the public consultation in 2018 which assessed interest in creating a legal basis for BVI decisions and the potential scope for BVI decisions. The EU is currently drafting the implementing regulation and it is anticipated that the European Commission will adopt the implementing regulation in the second quarter of 2022.

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European Union: The EU to Introduce Binding Valuation Decisions - GlobalComplianceNews

The latest epidemiological map issued by the European Centre for for Disease Prevention and Control(ECDC)captures the increase of cases across the European Union and the European Economic Area, as almost its entirety now consists of red and deep red zones.

Cyprus remains in the red category for another week.

The ECDC map does not record the number of deaths or hospitalisation, or the levels of vaccination, but only the number of new cases per 100 thousand people over the past 14 days.

After the rapid rise in cases over the past few weeks, only some areas in France, Spain and Sweden, as well as Malta and most areas in Italy, remain in the orange zone.

Meanwhile, the deep red category now includes Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Ireland and Iceland.

Only two regions in Poland remain in the red category, with the situation worsening in the rest of the country.

Southern and eastern Germany remains in the deep red zone, while its north-western areas remain in the red category.

The red zone includes Cyprus, Romania (where there has been a slight improvement compared to last week), Bulgaria (where the epidemiological situation is also improved), Portugal, Finland and Norway (where some areas are in the deep red category).

France, Spain and Sweden are also mostly in the red category.

Orange zone areas are defined as the areas where the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is below 50 and the test positivity rate of tests for COVID-19 infection is 4% or more, or the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is between 50 and 75 and the test positivity rate is 1% or more, or the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is between 75 and 200 and the test positivity rate is lower than 4%.

Red zone areas are defined as the areas where the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate ranges from 75 to 200 and the test positivity rate of tests for COVID-19 infection is 4% or more, or the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is more than 200 but less than 500 (when the cumulative rate exceeds 500 the area enters the deep red zone).

ECDC publishes relevant maps and data every Thursday, in support of the Council recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The maps are based on data reported by the Member States to the European Surveillance System (TESSy) by midnight on Tuesday.

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ECDC epidemiological map shows almost the entirety of the European Union in the red or dark red zone - in-cyprus

BRUSSELS (AP) Fears that the authoritarian leader of Belarus is using migrants and refugees as a hybrid warfare tactic to undermine the security of the European Union are putting new strains on some of the values and laws in the 27-nation bloc.

The crisis at the eastern frontiers of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia is fueling calls for the EU to finance the construction of something it never wanted to build: fences and walls at the border.

And this idea was voiced this week at a ceremony commemorating the fall of one of Europes most notorious and historic barriers, the Berlin Wall.

The border crisis with Belarus has been simmering for months. Top EU officials say the longtime authoritarian leader of Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko, is luring thousands of migrants and refugees to Minsk with the promise of help to get to western Europe.

Belarus denies it is using them as pawns, but the EU maintains Lukashenko is retaliating for sanctions it imposed on his regime after the presidents disputed election to a sixth term last year led to antigovernment protests and a crackdown on internal dissent.

The crisis came to a head after large groups of asylum-seekers recently gathered at a border crossing with Belarus near the village of Kuznica, Poland. Warsaw bolstered security there, sending in riot police to turn back those who tried to cut through a razor-wire fence.

Polish lawmakers introduced a state of emergency and changed the countrys asylum laws. Only troops have access to the area, to the dismay of refugee agencies and Polands EU partners. Lithuania is taking similar measures and has begun extending its border fence.

The EUs executive branch, the European Commission, believes walls and barriers are ineffective, and has so far resisted calls to fund them, although it will pay for infrastructure like surveillance cameras and equipment.

In the heightened security climate, that attitude may be changing.

We are facing a brutal, hybrid attack on our EU borders. Belarus is weaponizing migrants distress in a cynical and shocking way, European Council President Charles Michel said at an event in Germany on Tuesday, the 32nd anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

We have opened the debate on the EU financing of physical border infrastructure. This must be settled rapidly because Polish and Baltic borders are EU borders. One for all and all for one, Michel said.

That approach, and other border tactics, are sowing dismay. Addressing EU lawmakers Wednesday, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called for European leadership and appealed to the bloc to avoid a race to the bottom on migration policy.

These challenges simply do not justify the knee-jerk reaction we have seen in some places: the irresponsible xenophobic discourse; the walls and barbed wire; the violent pushbacks that include the beating of refugees and migrants, sometimes stripping them naked and dumping them in rivers, or leaving them to drown in seas; the attempts to evade asylum obligations by paying other states to take on ones own responsibilities, Grandi said.

The European Union, a union based on rule of law, should and can do better, he said.

About 8,000 migrants have entered from Belarus this year, and border guards have prevented about 28,000 attempted crossings, according to European Commission figures.

Monique Pariat, a senior commission home affairs official, said most are Iraqis or Syrians, flying to Minsk from Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. They pay a lot of money to a state-owned tourist company, which goes into Lukashenkos pockets, she said.

Its the last thing Europeans want to see. The entry in 2015 of well over 1 million people, most fleeing conflict in the Middle East, sparked the EUs most intractable political crisis. They are unable to agree on who should take responsibility for refugees and migrants and whether other EU countries should be obliged to help.

Greece and Italy were on the front line six years ago. Spain has received thousands of asylum-seekers in recent years. Now, its the turn of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Many in the West believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Lukashenko in targeting Europe.

They know very well that this is a subject that divides European Union member states. We must be very aware that it would be playing their game to bicker among ourselves, Isabel Wiseler-Lima, a conservative EU lawmaker from Luxembourg, said.

At a summit late last month, leaders of the bloc ordered the commission to propose any necessary changes to the EUs legal framework and concrete measures underpinned by adequate financial support to ensure an immediate and appropriate response.

A few weeks earlier, 12 member countries - Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia - had demanded that the European Commission bolster the rules governing Europes passport-free travel zone, known as the Schengen area.

They want stronger border protection and new tools to avoid the grave consequences of overburdened migration and asylum systems and exhausted accommodation capacities that might hurt public trust in the EUs ability to act decisively.

The question is whether these tools would constitute pushbacks - the denial of entry to people, often by force, without affording them any opportunity to apply for asylum which are illegal under international refugee treaties and EU law.

EU officials and U.N. agencies already worry that Poland is denying access to its border area near Belarus, where thousands have been refused entry in circumstances that cannot be independently verified. Eight people have died in the border no mans land.

The commission is also examining recent changes to Polish law on the right to asylum, which seems in this case not to be assured, spokesman Adalbert Jahnz said.

As tensions mount, security is tightening and old methods are again gaining favor.

Europe must protect its external borders, and time has proven that the only effective solution is physical barriers to secure European citizens against the mass arrival of illegal migrants, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote in a letter to the commission last week, seeking reimbursement for funds his government spent on its own border fences.

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Follow APs global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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EU values, laws under threat amid standoff at Belarus border - Associated Press

One year ago, on 8 November 2020, the people of Myanmar cast their ballots in large numbers in the countrys general elections. Their choice was clear and their aspirations for democracy explicit. The elections were an important milestone in Myanmars democratic transition and were confirmed as transparent by all independent domestic and international observers. The military coup on 1 February 2021 forcibly overthrew the civilian government in blatant violation of the will of the people, with disastrous humanitarian, social, economic and human rights consequences. The announcement to extend the state of emergency until August 2023 under the guise of a caretaker government can in no way grant legitimacy to the military regime. The European Union strongly condemns the grave human rights violations by the Myanmar armed forces since then.

The current military build-up in the central and northwestern part of the country, including the Sagaing and Magway regions, and the resulting escalation of violence particularly in Chin State, are of deep concern. The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the attacks by the Myanmar military on civilians and villages in Chin State, including the use of torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and the destruction of private property and religious sites, which are blatant violations of human rights and international law and call for justice and accountability. The European Union reiterates its calls for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and the disproportionate use of force witnessed in recent days. The military authorities must ensure rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all displaced persons and people in need, in all parts of the country. The European Union will continue to provide humanitarian assistance, in accordance with the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence and is deeply concerned by the combined effects of the conflict, food insecurity and COVID-19 on the population.

The escalation of violence led by the Myanmar armed forces also runs counter to the commitments made at the ASEAN Leaders Summit in April, setting out the Five Point Consensus. The European Union continues to call for its immediate and full implementation. The European Union further calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained in connection with the coup, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The European Union welcomes the appointment of Noeleen Heyzer as the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations on Myanmar and welcomes continued close collaboration with the United Nations. The European Union also reiterates its full support for the approach and efforts of ASEAN and the ASEAN Chairs Special Envoy, Erywan Yusof, Foreign Minister II of Brunei Darussalam, to engage in a meaningful and inclusive process of dialogue involving all relevant parties in the country, including the National Unity Government and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. The European Union underlines that a meaningful political dialogue must include full, equal and meaningful participation of women, youth and ethnic groups.

The European Union welcomes the actions taken by ASEAN in view of its recent summit. The European Union looks forward to engaging closely with Cambodia as the Chair of ASEAN for 2022 and as the chair of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on 24-26 November 2021. The European Union will continue to support ASEANs efforts to ensure a peaceful resolution of the current crisis that will ensure the countrys swift return to a democratic path.

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Myanmar/Burma: Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union - EU News

Elections held in Nicaragua on 7 November have taken place without democratic guarantees and their results lack legitimacy. Daniel Ortega has eliminated all credible electoral competition, depriving the Nicaraguan people of their right to freely elect their representatives. The integrity of the electoral process was crushed by the systematic incarceration, harassment and intimidation of presidential pre-candidates, opposition leaders, student and rural leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and business representatives.

Not only has the Nicaraguan Government deprived the people of Nicaragua of the civil and political right to vote in a credible, inclusive, fair and transparent election, it has also fallen short of its own commitments on human rights and fundamental freedoms under Nicaraguas Constitution, the Inter-American Democratic Charter and international covenants to which the country is a party. Moreover, the Nicaraguan people have been deprived of their freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Dissenting voices are silenced, scores of civil-society organisations have been outlawed, and state repression is unrelenting.

Following the social protests that broke out in the spring of 2018, the Nicaraguan Government unleashed violence against its own people, leaving death, forced disappearance, incarceration, mistreatment and mass exile in its wake and turning the country into a republic of fear. The elections of 7 November complete the conversion of Nicaragua into an autocratic regime.

The European Union has consistently called for respect for human rights, democracy and rule of law, and it will continue to do so. The European Union also reaffirms its commitment to continue supporting the economic and social development of the most vulnerable sectors of Nicaraguan society.

Nicaraguan authorities must put an end to repression and restore the full respect for human rights, including for civil and political rights. International human rights bodies such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) must be authorised to return to Nicaragua. Above all, the European Union calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, and for the annulment of legal proceedings against them.

The European Union has carefully avoided any measures that could potentially add to the hardship of the Nicaraguan people and has consistently targeted only those responsible for the anti-democratic developments in Nicaragua. In that spirit, we will consider all instruments at our disposal to take additional measures, including those that may go beyond individual restrictions.

Finally, we call upon Daniel Ortega to return the sovereignty of Nicaragua to the Nicaraguan people, who are its rightful owners.

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Nicaragua: Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union - EU News