The Customs (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations are made by the Treasury and the Secretary of State further to Part 1 of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (c. 22) (the “Act”) and amend the Customs (Special Procedures and Outward Processing) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1249), the Customs Tariff (Establishment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1430), the Customs (Reliefs from a Liability to Import Duty and Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1431) (the “Reliefs Regulations”), the Customs (Origin of Chargeable Goods) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1433), the Customs Tariff (Suspension of Import Duty Rates) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1435), the Customs Tariff (Preferential Trade Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1457), the Customs (Import Duty Variation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1437) (the “Import Duty Variation Regulations”) and the Trade Preference Scheme (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1438) (the “Trade Preference Scheme Regulations”).

Part 2 makes amendments to the definitions of previous subordinate legislation relating to tariffs. Each of the regulations listed in this part give effect to updated versions of reference documents in order to update information on the classification of imported goods (“commodity codes”) following updates made by the World Customs Organization and other “end of year” changes to commodity codes.

Regulation 4 in this Part amends the definition of “UK Reliefs document” in the Reliefs Regulations in order to both clarify the circumstances in which a waiver would be granted, as well as to clarify the intended scope of the relief for certain pharmaceutical products. This regulation also amends the Reliefs Regulations to align the legislative basis and operational practice in relation to HMRC’s receipt and processing of claims for relief.

Part 3 provides for the continued application of an additional duty on certain goods originating in the United States of America by revoking the Import Duty Variation Regulations and re-enacting the regulations with modifications. As in Part 2, these modifications reflect changes to the commodity codes used to identify categories of goods for import and export purposes.

Part 4 makes amendments to both the Trade Preference Scheme Regulations and the Act in order to: amend the list of eligible developing countries in Schedule 1 to the Trade Preference Scheme Regulations by either moving, inserting or removing countries from the relevant Generalised Scheme of Preferences (“GSP”) frameworks; to correct a minor typographical error in Schedule 4 of the Trade Preference Scheme Regulations; to amend the GSP Specified Goods Table contained in Part 2 of Schedule 5 to the Trade Preference Scheme Regulations; and to amend the list of eligible developing countries in Schedule 3 to the Act to reflect the countries that have been removed from, and added to, the GSP frameworks.