COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Analysis of new potentially trade restrictive measures in the period 1 July 2014-31 December 2015 Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on Trade and Investment Barriers and Protectionist Trends 1 July 2014 - 31 December 2015
Date: 2016-06-20
Institutions: Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security, European Commission
Subjects: World Trade Organisation, common commercial policy, foreign trade, free-trade agreement, investment abroad, liberalisation of trade, market access, protectionism, trade restriction

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 20.6.2016  
SWD(2016) 204 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Analysis of new potentially trade restrictive measures in the period 1 July 2014-31 
December 2015  

Accompanying the document 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

on Trade and Investment Barriers and Protectionist Trends 

1 July 2014 - 31 December 2015 

{COM(2016) 406 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

I. 

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 3 

II.  GLOBAL MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOK AND KEY TRENDS FINDINGS ................. 3 

A. 

B. 

GLOBAL MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOK AND KEY TRENDS FINDINGS....................................................... 3 

MODERATELY OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK FOR 2016 .................................................................................... 5 

III.  ANALYSIS  OF  NEW  POTENTIALLY  TRADE  RESTRICTIVE  MEASURES  IN  THE 
PERIOD 1 JULY 2014-31 DECEMBER 2015.................................................................................... 7 

A. 

B. 

METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................... 7 

GENERAL PROTECTIONIST TENDENCIES ............................................................................................... 8 

1.  General ................................................................................................................................................ 8 
Border measures ................................................................................................................................ 11 
2. 
Behind-the-Border measures ............................................................................................................. 12 
3. 
Stimulus packages and other incentives............................................................................................. 14 
4. 
Trade facilitating measures ............................................................................................................... 15 
5. 

C. 

PROTECTIONIST TENDENCIES IN SPECIFIC SECTORS............................................................................. 16 

1.  Measures affecting the ICT sector including new digital trade measures ......................................... 16 
Steel sector......................................................................................................................................... 17 
2. 
Raw materials and Energy................................................................................................................. 18 
3. 

IV.  OVERVIEW  OF  ALL  NEW  POTENTIALLY  TRADE-RESTRICTIVE  MEASURES 
IDENTIFIED IN 31 EU TRADE PARTNERS IN THE PERIOD 1 JULY 2014-31 DECEMBER 
2015 ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
I. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  main  purpose  of  this  Staff  Working  Document  (SWD)  is  to  provide  an  overview  of 
protectionist  tendencies  observed  in  the  time  period  1.7.2014-31.12.2015  (the  Reference 
Period), based on information gathered by 31 Delegations1 of the European Union (EU) and 
the European Commission's services. This is a (simplified) continuation of previous Reports 
on the Monitoring  of  Potentially Trade-Restrictive Measures of  the European  Commission's 
Directorate-General for Trade ("Protectionism Reports")2, complementing a similar biannual 
report  by  the  WTO  Secretariat  on  the  measures  adopted  by  G20  countries  with  the  aim  to 
monitor the implementation of global anti-protectionism commitments.3 

An overview of trends in the application of trade-restrictive measures cannot be disconnected 
from  the  trends  occurring  in  the  global  economy.  Therefore,  in  line  with  previous 
Protectionism Reports, this SWD first takes a look at the latter. 

II.  GLOBAL MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOK AND KEY TRENDS FINDINGS 

A.  GLOBAL MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOK AND KEY TRENDS FINDINGS 

The  latest  IMF  data  show  that  global  GDP  growth  slowed  down  slightly  in  2015  to  3.1% 
(from  3.4%  in  2014)  and  that  the  world  economy  has  entered  a  transition  phase:  while 
advanced  economies  gradually  regain  their  role  as  engines  of  global  demand,  the  emerging 
economies, which for the past years have been the main source of dynamism, are now facing 
a considerably more challenging environment that is holding back a more robust expansion of 
global output.    

In  fact,  the  IMF  shows  that  growth  in  advanced  countries  gained  momentum  in  2015  as 
domestic demand recovered from the sharp fiscal adjustments and the employment situation 
gradually stabilised. Output expansion accelerated to 1.9% in 2015 (up from 1.8% in 2014). 
This  trend  was  shared  by  all  the  leading  advanced  economies,  the  United  States  being 
especially buoyant with GDP up 2.5%. Output expansion in the EU accelerated noticeably to 

1   Algeria,  Argentina,  Australia,  Belarus,  Brazil,  Canada,  China,  Ecuador,  Egypt,  India,  Indonesia,  Japan, 
Kazakhstan,  Malaysia,  Mexico,  Nigeria,  Pakistan,  Paraguay,  the  Philippines,  Russia,  Saudi  Arabia,  South 
Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the USA and Vietnam. 

2   These reports have been issued regularly since 2008. The last (11th) "Protectionism Report" was published 
on 17 November 2014 (see: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/november/tradoc_152872.pdf).  

3   Since the beginning of the financial and economic crisis, G20 leaders regularly renewed their commitment 
not to impose new barriers to investment or trade in goods and services, including new export restrictions 
and  measures  to  stimulate  exports,  as  well  as  to  roll  back  any  new  protectionist  measure  that  may  have 
arisen. This pledge has been extended until the end of 2016 at the 2013 G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, and 
also reconfirmed at the latest G20 Summits in Brisbane and Antalya in 2014 and 2015. The last (14th) WTO 
trade  monitoring 
2015 
dates 
(https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news15_e/g20_wto_report_oct15_e.pdf).  

trade  measures 

October 

report 

G20 

on 

30 

3 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
almost 2% (up from 1.5% in 2014). In Japan the recovery continued to be more hesitant with 
GDP growing by only 0.6%. However, this was still an improvement from the 0.1% output 
contraction observed in 2014.  

This favourable outlook in the industrialised world contrasts with that of the emerging and 
developing world where economic activity has entered a much more subdued phase. In the 
case  of  some  large  emerging  economies  like  Russia  and  Brazil  the  deterioration  of  the 
macroeconomic  climate  was  dramatic  with  GDP  entering  into    contractionary  territory  in 
2015  (-3.7%  and  -3.8%  respectively).  China’s  economy  continued  to  grow  robustly  but 
slowed down considerably to 6.9% (from 7.3% in 2014). A softening of economic dynamism 
was  equally  felt  in  the  low-income  developing  countries.  Against  this  background,  India 
was the notable outlier as output expansion showed no signs of cooling down in 2015 (GDP 
growth remained unaltered at 7.3%).        

The  latest  data  also  point  to  relatively  weak  global  trade  activity  in  2015.  World  trade 
volumes  fell  in  the  first  half  of  the  year  (-0.7%  in  Q1  and  Q2  respectively,  on  a  quarterly 
basis)  before  returning  to  growth  (+1.9%)  in  the  third  quarter4.  Overall  this  hesitant  and 
restrained performance suggests that the improving economic outlook in the advanced world 
did not prove robust enough to sustain a more steady and vigorous expansion of global trade. 

When focusing on the largest world economies the contrasting trade performance in the EU 
and the United States on the one hand, and in China on the other hand stands out, particularly 
with  regard  to  import  growth  (see  Table  1).  While  the  gradual  improvement  in  domestic 
demand  led  to  more  robust  import  growth  in  the  EU  and  the  United  States,  the  cooling 
economy dented import demand in China. It is important to note that the figures in Table 1 are 
computed on the basis of trade values in euros and that over the period of analysis the euro 
depreciated  considerably  against  the  US  dollar,  which  is  usually  the  reference  currency  for 
China’s  trade  statistics  (see  Table  2).  This  means  that  in  US  dollars  China’s  import  growth 
was  much  lower  or  even  negative,  which  illustrates  well  the  weakening  contribution  of  the 
country to global demand over this period.   

Table  1:  Quarterly  evolution  of  import  and  export  values  (in  €),  excluding  oil  and 
precious metals, y-o-y 

Q1 14 

Q2 14 

Q3 14 

Q4 14 

Q1 15 

Q2 15 

Q3 15 

EXPORTS 

EU 
US 
China 

IMPORTS 

EU  

-1% 
-2% 
-6% 

-1% 
-1% 
0% 

2% 
4% 
10% 

4% 
12% 
18% 

8% 
20% 
29% 

11% 
20% 
23% 

6% 
13% 
- 

3% 

3% 

6% 

8% 

15% 

13% 

11% 

4 See: http://www.cpb.nl/en/number/cpb-world-trade-monitor-november-2015.  

4 

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
                                                 
US 
China 

Source: TradeMap 

-1% 
-4% 

2% 
-5% 

7% 
-2% 

17% 
8% 

30% 
7% 

28% 
14% 

22% 
- 

Table 2: Quarterly variation USD/EUR, y-o-y  

Q1 14  Q2 14 

Q3 14 

Q4 14 

Q1 15 

Q2 15 

USD_EUR 

4% 

5% 

0% 

-8% 

-18% 

-19% 

Q3 15 

-16% 

Source: ECB 

B.  MODERATELY OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK FOR 2016 

The latest IMF forecasts point to a moderate pick up of world output growth to 3.4% in 2016, 
despite  the  lingering  uncertainty  regarding  the  outlook  for  emerging  and  developing 
economies. While GDP in advanced economies is set to continue to expand at moderate pace 
(2.1%), economic growth in China is expected to continue to slow down and in some large 
commodity exporters like Brazil and Russia the economy will remain in contraction. The IMF 
has raised slightly the growth forecasts in the low developing countries but this will depend to 
a great extent on the evolution of commodity prices and of international financial conditions.   

 Table 3: Output projections 

World 
Advanced Economies 
US 
EU 
Japan 
Emerging Markets and Developing Economies 
China 
Russia 
Brazil 
India 
Low-income Developing Countries 

Projections 

2014 

2015 

2016 

3.4% 
1.8% 
2.4% 
1.5% 
-0.1% 
4.6% 
7.3% 
0.6% 
0.1% 
7.3% 
6.0% 

3.1% 
1.9% 
2.5% 
1.9% 
0.6% 
4.0% 
6.9% 
-3.7% 
-3.8% 
7.3% 
4.6% 

3.4% 
2.1% 
2.6% 
1.9% 
1.0% 
4.3% 
6.3% 
-1.0% 
-3.5% 
7.5% 
5.6% 

2013 

3.3% 
1.1% 
1.5% 
0.2% 
1.6% 
5.0% 
7.7% 
1.3% 
2.7% 
6.9% 
6.1% 

Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook Update January 2016, Update October 2015 for EU  

Overall  the  situation  remains  quite  unclear,  especially  across  the  emerging  and  developing 
world.  This  uncertain  outlook  extends  to  trade.  In  its  October  forecasts  the  IMF  projected 
growth in world trade volumes (goods and services) to accelerate in 2016 to 4.1% (up from 
3.2% in 2015). The WTO pointed to a similar outlook in its September projections: it reported 
expectations of a pick-up in the pace of growth of the volume of world merchandise trade to 
3.9% in 2016 (from 2.8% in 2015)5. However, the WTO underlined that the risks are firmly 

5 https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres15_e/pr752_e.htm. 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
on the downside  and that the expansion of world trade is due  to remain well below  the 5% 
average of the last 20 years (1995-2015).  

This apparent sluggishness of global trade growth has in fact emerged as a striking feature 
of the current global recovery; something that ought to be considered in the reflections about 
the outlook for trade policy going forward. 

There  is  an  ongoing  discussion  about  what  is  holding  back  global  trade  growth.  There  are 
certainly  some  cyclical  factors  that  contribute  to  this.  The  deep  recession  in  the  advanced 
economies that followed the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008 was accompanied 
by a protracted period of weak demand in the largest global markets. This paved the way for 
an  atypical  global  recovery  sustained  by  the  emerging  economies,  which  for  all  their 
dynamism  remain  structurally  more  vulnerable  than  the  industrialised  ones  and  fell  into  an 
uneven growth pattern that is too dependent: on China and on very large capital inflows (in 
the  case  of  most  emerging  and  developing  economies)  and  on  revenues  from  commodities 
exports (e.g. Brazil and Russia).  

This now proves to be a challenge for the robustness of the global economic outlook and for 
the acceleration of trade expansion in the coming months. In this respect the uncertainty about 
the  economic  outlook  in  China  is  clearly  a  factor  to  monitor.  China  can  potentially  be  an 
important drag on the economic prospects of many parts of the globe if its demand for imports 
continues  to  wane  for  much  longer.  The  EU  may  be  relatively  unscathed  in  the  short-run, 
given the relatively limited importance of the Chinese market as an export destination (around 
10%).  However,  the  chilling  effect  on  the  emerging  and  developing  economies  notably  in 
Africa,  the  Middle  East  and  Latin  America,  which  have  become  heavily  specialised  in 
supplying the Chinese market with raw materials and other inputs, will be strong and can even 
worsen  going  forward.  These  economies  are  particularly  vulnerable  because  not  only  will 
they be hit by a decline in exports to China, but they can also see a further reduction of their 
export revenues if the slowdown of China’s manufacturing activity continues to depress the 
prices  of  energy  and  other  primary  commodities.  Moreover,  the  economic  outlook  in  the 
emerging  and  developing  world  may  darken  even  more  due  to  the  worsening  financial 
conditions  triggered  by  the  tightening  of  the  US  monetary  policy,  which  will  have 
implications notably in terms of increased capital outflows and exchange rates volatility.  

While these cyclical factors may help explain the more fragile-than-expected contribution of 
trade to the rebound of economic activity, there is a debate among academics and trade policy 
analysts  about  whether  they  are  also  accompanied  by  a  structural  economic  shift  that  is 
possibly  reducing  the  responsiveness  (or  elasticity)  of  trade  to  GDP  over  time.  Several 
contributing  factors  have  been  pointed  out  in  that  regard,  notably:  the  protracted  sluggish 
recovery  of  investment  in  the  advanced  economies  that  is  associated  with  more  moderate 
growth  of  trade  in  capital  and  equipment  goods;  the  exhaustion  of  the  “catching  up”  trade 
effect of China’s integration in the world economy; and a possible slowdown in the pace of 
production fragmentation along global value chains due to an erosion of cost incentives in the 
manufacturing sector and a greater share of services in global trade. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
It  is  not  yet  clear  to  what  extent  the  disappointing  global  trade  growth  performance  is 
reflecting  cyclical  factors  or  more  structural  changes  in  the  economic  environment.  But  the 
macroeconomic  uncertainty  in  the  emerging  and  developing  world  together  with  the  likely 
increase  in  volatility  in  the  foreign  exchange  and  financial  markets  in  the  coming  months 
clearly calls for the monitoring of protectionist measures to be kept a policy priority.  

III.  ANALYSIS  OF  NEW  POTENTIALLY  TRADE  RESTRICTIVE  MEASURES 

IN THE PERIOD 1 JULY 2014-31 DECEMBER 2015 

A. 

METHODOLOGY  

Sections III. and IV. of this SWD take stock of potentially trade restrictive measures, which 
were newly adopted, substantially modified or in an advanced stage of adoption with foreseen 
significant  consequences  in  31  EU  trade  partners6,  in  a  Reference  Period  of  18  months 
between  1  July  2014  and  31  December  2015  ("Relevant  Measures").  For  the  sake  of 
procedural  simplicity  and  of  coherence  with  similar  monitoring  exercises  in  the  context  of 
previous  protectionism  reports,  "Relevant  Measures"  refer  to  individual  legal  acts,  or 
packages  of  similar  acts  adopted  simultaneously,  as  well  as  newly  imposed  or  announced 
restrictive practices by national or regional authorities. Extensions of existing measures were 
not normally counted. Announced (draft) measures were counted only if they were deemed to 
already have potentially trade restrictive effects. 

A  separate  document,  describing  all  potentially  trade  restrictive  measures  adopted  and 
removed in the period October 2008 until 31 December 2015 as well as all potentially trade 
facilitating measures adopted during the same time frame, is published on the Commission's 
website (see: "overview of potentially trade-restrictive measures December 2015"). Some of 
the measures identified in that document are not mentioned in this SWD (even if relating to 
the Reference Period) because they were not considered to be "newly adopted, substantially 
modified or in an advanced stage of adoption with foreseen significant consequences" or they 
were  extensions  of  existing  restrictive  measures  that  had  been  counted  in  previous 
Protectionism  Reports  and  were  therefore  not  accounted  for  in  the  analysis  in  the  analysis 
relating to the current Reference Period.7   

Sections III. and IV. intend to provide an overview of general protectionist tendencies and not 
a comprehensive list of new trade barriers. These sections also do not prejudge the illegality 
of the measures under WTO or other rules nor their ultimate effect on trade and/or investment 
flows.  Depending  on  the  complexity,  product  scope,  duration  and  comprehensive  nature  of 

6   See footnote 1. 

7   Note that the list of new Relevant Measures does not include trade defence or safeguard measures and only 

includes sanitary-phytosanitary (SPS) measures that appear obviously protectionist. 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
the  Relevant  Measures,  their  effect  on  trade  can  vary  and  have  more  or  less  far-reaching 
consequences8. Also, in line with previous Protectionism Reports and their objective to keep 
track  of  all  new  potentially  trade-protectionist  measures,  all  identified9  Relevant  Measures 
were taken into account, including those that may affect mainly or exclusively third country 
business  rather  than  EU  business.  However,  all  identified  Relevant  Measures  have  the 
capacity to unduly disrupt or restrict trade. 

B. 

GENERAL PROTECTIONIST TENDENCIES 

1.  General 

The  numerical  overview  of  protectionist  tendencies  for  the  Reference  Period  1.7.2014-
31.12.2015 gives the following picture: 

8   Some of the Relevant Measures may relate to new economic activities while others may be of diminishing 
economic importance while still being in force (e.g., where they apply to obsolete products). In addition, the 
figures  are  not  weighted  to  reflect  the  economic  impact  of  the  measures  introduced  or  withdrawn  or  any 
changes or differences in legislative practice that could affect the figures (such as the replacement of several 
separate tariff regulations with a single regulation covering multiple tariffs, or vice versa). 

9  

It  should  be  noted  that  the  Commission  may  not  have  a  comprehensive  overview  of  all  new  Relevant 
Measures, as they are often adopted in a non-transparent way. 

8 

 
 
 
                                                 
Table 4: New Potentially trade-restrictive measures per country and type, July 2014-December 2015  

Border Measures 

Behind-the-Border Measures 

Country 

At 
Imports  

At 
Exports 

Total 

Gov.      
Proc. 

Services 
and 
Investm.  

Other  

Total 

Measures 
to 
Stimulate 
Exports 

Stimulus & 
Other 
Measures 

Total per 
country 
(1.7.2014 – 
31.12.2015) 

Algeria  
Argentina* 
Australia* 
Belarus 
Brazil* 
Canada*  
China* 
Ecuador  
Egypt 
India* 
Indonesia* 
Japan* 
Kazakhstan 
Malaysia 
Mexico* 
Nigeria 
Pakistan 
Paraguay 
Philippines 
Russia* 
Saudi Arabia* 
South Africa* 
S. Korea* 
Switzerland 
Taiwan 
Thailand 
Tunisia 
Turkey* 
Ukraine 
USA* 
Vietnam 

TOTAL 

3 
2 

2 
2 

4 
5 
1 
12 
12 

1 
5 
3 
2 

11 

5 

1 
2 

5 
1 
1 

3 
2 

2 
2 

5 
 5 
2 
13 
14 

2 
5 
3 
2 

1 
12 

6 

1 
2 

5 
3 
1 
1 

1 

1 
1 
2 

1 

1 
1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 
1 

8 

2 
2 

2 

5 

80 

12 

92 

23 

(* - G20 countries) 

1 

1 

8 
2 
1 
  1 
3 
1 

1 
1 

1 

1 
2 
1 

1 

1 

27 

3 
5 

1 

7 

1 
1 
3 

2 
1 
1 

4 
2 

3 
5 
2 
0 
2 
0 
16 
2 
3 
3 
6 
1 
0 
0 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
11 
1 
4 
4 
1 
0 
5 
2 
2 
0 
5 
1 

1 

2 
1 
1 
1 

1 

2 

1 

 1 

1

4

3

2

1

3

1

2

6
9
2
2
6
1
26
8
5
17
23
3
0
4
6
4
3
0
1
26
1
10
4
3
3
6
2
9
3
6
2

31 

81

11 

17

201

Thus,  during  the  18-month  Reference  Period,  a  total  of  201  new  Relevant  Measures  were 
introduced while only 16 previously imposed Relevant Measures were actively withdrawn10. 
Recalculation  on  the  basis  of  a  notional  13-month  period  for  comparison  with  previous 

10   An additional 5 such measures were identified to have expired. 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
Protectionism  Reports  gives  a  13-month  total  of  around  145  newly  adopted  Relevant 
Measures. This represents a reduction of around 15% when compared to the 170 Relevant 
Measures introduced during the previous Protectionism Report (1 June 2013 – 30 June 2014). 
Comparing  the  number  of  withdrawn  Relevant  Measures  on  the  same  basis  shows  that  this 
number has remained stable at around 12.  

Although  this  analysis  shows  a  slightly  smaller  increase  in  the  volume  of  new  Relevant 
Measures  than  in  previous  years,  the  number  of  Relevant  Measures  continues  to  grow; 
bringing the total stock identified since 2008 to 1059 while only 180 such measures have been 
actively  removed  since  then.  As  was  the  case  during  the  last  few  years,  the  number  of 
Relevant  Measures  removed  thus  continues  to  be  much  lower  than  the  number  of  new 
measures adopted. This also applies to several G20 member countries, despite their pledge to 
refrain from adopting new protectionist measures and to remove existing ones (see footnote 
3).  

The  same  emerging  economies  as  in  the  last  report  adopted  the  bulk  of  new  Relevant 
Measures:  China,  Russia,  Indonesia  and  India  together  account  for  nearly  half  of  all 
measures  identified.  They  were  followed  by  South  Africa,  Argentina,  Turkey,  Ecuador, 
Algeria, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, the United States, Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia. 

The tables below show a graphic representation of the main findings of this Reference Period:  

Table 5: Potentially trade-restrictive measures by country since October 2008 (* - G20 countries) 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 6: Potentially trade-restrictive measures by type since October 2008 

2.  Border measures 

As reflected in table 6, in terms of types of Relevant Measures applied, countries once more 
resorted  mainly  to  border  measures  directly  affecting  imports  and  exports,  typically 
through  tariff  increases,  quantitative  restrictions,  import  licensing  procedures  or  by  banning 
trade altogether. Over the 18-month period, the number of new import measures was again 
much  higher  (80)  than  the  number  of  export  restrictions  (12).  When  calculated  on  a  13 
month  basis  for  comparison,  the  number  of  new  import  measures  is  just  1-point  below  the 
number  identified  in  the  last  Protectionism  Report,  while  the  number  of  new  export 
restrictions  has  been  reduced  by  half.  While  this  is  in  itself  a  positive  development,  it  still 
constitutes an increase in export restrictions that is not counterbalanced by the number of such 
measures being removed.   

India  and  Indonesia  applied  the  highest  number  of  new  border  measures  restricting  imports 
during the Reference Period, followed by Russia. In India, most of these measures consist of 
increased import duties on various goods, including certain types of commercial vehicles, iron 
and  steel,  bituminous  coal,  natural  rubber,  sugar,  wheat,  crude  and  refined  edible  oil,  ghee, 
butter and butter oil. Such increase in import duties was also observed relating to several ICT 
products,  despite  the  fact  that  they  appear  to  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  Information 
Technology  Agreement  1.  Also  in  Indonesia,  several  import  duty  increases  could  be 
observed. For example, a Regulation adopted in July 2015, aims at increasing import duties 
for over 1 000 products (in some cases with duty increases of 300-600%). Further, Indonesia 
introduced mandatory import licencing procedures for a large range of products in food and 
beverages, drugs, cosmetics, textiles, electronics, and forestry products and requirements of a 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
  
country  recognition  agreement  and/or  registration  and  inspection  of  testing  laboratories, 
imposed  by  a  10  February  2015  Regulation  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  (Regulation 
4/2015),  are  expected  to  have  a  significant  impact  on  imports  of  plant-based  products.  
Further,  some  cases  of  quantitative  restrictions  have  been  extended,  such  as  on  alcohol 
products. Russia resorted to several outright import bans, including a broad political ban on 
imports of agricultural and dairy products and on meat originating from the EU, as well as a 
number of other specific SPS bans, including on beef trimmings, raw hides and skins, animal 
products and poultry products not having undergone a certain treatment. Additionally, it put 
in  place  bans  restricting  certain  products  originating  specifically  from  some  EU  Member 
States,  such  as  on  certain  products  originating  in  Poland  (including  fruits  and  vegetables, 
plant products re-exported from Poland and cheese-like products).  

3.  Behind-the-Border measures 

The Reference Period shows a significant increase in the number of new measures applied 
"behind-the-border"  (81).    This  suggests  greater  reliance  on  internal  measures  affecting 
foreign  competition,  which  are  often  more  difficult  to  tackle  than  border  barriers.  They 
include  new  measures  in  the  field  of  government  procurement  (23)  and  in  services  and 
investment (27) (both in line with the last 7 years average when brought down to a 13-month 
average), as well as 31 "other" behind-the-border measures.  China once again resorted to the 
highest number of "behind-the-border" measures, followed by Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, 
Argentina, the United States, South Africa and South Korea.    

Russia  issued  the  largest  number  of  measures  restricting  government  procurement  (8), 
followed  by  the  United  States  (5)  (and  far  behind  these  two  countries),  South  Korea  (2), 
Turkey (2) and South Africa (2). Compared to the previous reporting period, the number of 
such  measures  has  significantly  increased  in  Russia,  while  it  has  decreased  in  the  United 
States, resulting in a stable total amount.   

Reflecting these protectionist tendencies, Russia has adopted a series of measures restricting 
access to public procurement across various sectors, namely in medical devices, textiles and 
footwear, imported vehicles, light industry imports, machinery and equipment, software and 
pharmaceuticals.  In  the  United  States  several  legislative  (draft)  initiatives  were  introduced 
that aim at establishing local content requirements in the area of public procurement. Also a 
law was adopted that increases domestic content for procurement of rolling stock from 60 to 
70%  by  2020.  In  South  Korea,  several  tenders de  facto  limited  the  participation  of  foreign 
companies.  This concerns in particular a contract for the construction and lease of 6 liquefied 
natural  gas  carriers  and  another  for  the  purchase  of  a  multipurpose  helicopter.  In  South 
Africa,  far-reaching  amendments  to  the  Broad-Based  Black  Economic  Empowerment  (B-
BBEE)  Act  significantly  affect  the  ability  to  successfully  tender  for  government  contracts. 
Further,  In  July  2015,  a  draft  amendment  to  the  Preferential  Procurement  Regulations  was 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
introduced,  increasing  domestic  preference  and  the  government  announced  designations  for 
local procurement in a large range of product areas.11 

In particular in the field of services and investment, China has adopted the highest number 
of restrictive measures (8), followed by Indonesia (3).  

In  China,  a  series  of  new  initiatives  were  taken  in  2015  interfering  with  services  and 
investment  on  the  account  of  national  security.    These  legislations  are  often  problematic  as 
there  is  no  clear  definition  of  "national  security",  leaving  the  Chinese  administration  with 
considerable  discretionary  power  and  no  adequate  possibility  to  appeal  the  restrictions 
imposed  on  foreign  companies.  The  legislative  initiatives  inhibiting  foreign  investment 
include, among others, the National Security law, the draft Cyber Security law, the National 
Security Review, the draft Foreign Investment Law, the Guidelines for applying Secure and 
Controllable  Information  Technology  to  enhance  Banking  Industry  Cyber  Security  and 
Informatisation  Development  (the  "Banking  Guidelines"), 
the  draft  Foreign  NGO 
Management  Law  and  the  Counter  Terrorism  Law.  The  latest  proposal  for  amending  the 
Foreign  Investment  Catalogue  was  issued  in  March  2015.  Claimed  to  be  an  almost  50% 
reduction of restricted or prohibited sectors compared to the 2011 Catalogue, it appears that 
changes  in  fact  often  represent  mere  reclassifications  so  that  the  restricted  areas  do  not 
significantly change, while a number of new restrictions are also introduced.  

For Indonesia, several of the identified measures restricting foreign investment relate to the 
transport  sector  (restricting  the  area  of  operation  for  foreign  or  joint  venture  companies  to 
certain  airports  and  seaports,  for  instance).  Further  restrictions  were  also  proposed  with  the 
aim  to  restrict  export  operations  of  Indonesian  products  to  Indonesian  vessels  only. 
Restrictions  could  also  be  observed  in  the  insurance  sector,  where  a  new  regulation  grants 
preference to domestic reinsurance companies, as well as in the tobacco sector, where a draft 
law was proposed limiting foreign investment.  

Finally,  the  31  behind-the-border  measures  "other"  than  those  relating  to  services, 
investment  or  public  procurement  represent  an  important  part  (38%)  of  newly  adopted 
behind-the-border measures, although the number of such measures has decreased (by around 
34%)  compared  to  the  previous  reporting  period.  They  typically  include  discriminatory  tax 
measures  or  other  discriminatory  provisions  favouring  local  business  or  requiring  local 
content, as well as standards and technical requirements.  

Such  measures  have  mostly  been  observed  in  China  (7),  followed  by  Argentina  (5), 
Thailand  (4),  Indonesia  (3)  and  Algeria  (3).  In  China,  most  of  these  measures  require 

11   The latter draft measure and announcements are calculated as only 1 Relevant Measure in Table 4 and not 
listed  in  Table  7.  For  a  more  detailed  description,  see:  "overview  of  potentially  trade-restrictive  measures 
December 2015". 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
foreign  companies  to  comply  with  burdensome  administrative,  registration  and  labelling 
requirements.  Similarly  to  the  aforementioned  measures  restricting  foreign  services  and 
investment, they were often put in place on the account of national security, for example those 
in  the  sector  of  telecommunications  and  ICT.  In  Argentina,  a  large  majority  of  these 
measures also relate to burdensome certification requirements for various goods and services. 
In  Thailand,  these  measures  often  consist  of  introducing  or  increasing  excise  taxes  which 
could  in  particular  restrict  imports,  for  example  of  EU  alcoholic  beverages.  In  Indonesia, 
these  measures  consist  mainly  of  mandatory  national  standards  and  onerous  local  content 
requirements  (relating  to  telecommunications  technology  (4G)).  In  Algeria,  these  measures 
relate  to  mandatory  safety  requirements,  limitations  on  the  export  of  foreign  currency  and 
discriminatory provisions relating to consumer credit.  

4. 

Stimulus packages and other incentives 

Finally,  many  countries  continued  to  support  their  economic  operators  with  new  subsidies, 
incentives, financial schemes and other measures. 28 Such measures were identified during 
the  Reference  Period,  of  which  11  aiming  to  stimulate  exports.  Although  (when  brought 
down  to  a  13  month  average)  we  can  observe  a  decline  in  the  total  number  of  such  new 
measures  compared  to  the  previous  monitoring  period,  this  decline  does  not  apply  to  the 
number  of  newly  introduced  stimulus  measures  aimed  at  boosting  exports,  which  remains 
stable.  Such  measures  can  contribute  to  distorting  competitive  conditions  globally  with 
detrimental effects in both domestic markets and foreign markets.  

To  mention  just  a  few  examples  of  measures  to  stimulate  exports,  we  can  observe  such 
measures  in  Brazil,  where  the  "Reintegra"  programme  was  reintroduced,  which  provides 
export subsidies to domestic companies that export 50% or more of their production. Japan, 
adopted  a  "Revitalization  Strategy  III"  promoting  overseas  development  of  Japanese 
companies,  in  particular  focusing  on  exports  of  infrastructure  systems.  In  Thailand  a  new 
investment strategy provides that a number of promoted investment projects can benefit from 
incentives,  such  as  import  duty  exemptions  for  raw  materials/input  products,  only  when  the 
manufactured goods are exported.   

Examples  of  other  stimulus  measures  (not  explicitly  aimed  at  promoting  exports),  were 
observed  mainly  in  China,  where  the  shipbuilding  sector,  for  instance,  benefits  from  a 
generous  program  in  the  form  of  a  subsidy  which  reinforces  their  fleet  and  increases  their 
capacity  at  a  low  cost.    China  has  also  released  an  ambitious  strategy  known  as  "Made  in 
China  2025",  providing  preferential  policies  to  upgrade  Chinese  manufacturing  industry. 
Russia  in  particular  supported  its  car  industry  by  adopting  a  subsidy  scheme  with  local 
content  requirements  and  by  setting  up  a  program  of  preferential  car  loans  for  purchasing 
domestically produced cars. Other examples of such measures could also be observed in the 
United States, where, as part of a package of tax extenders, a blenders tax credit for biodiesel 
and renewable diesel tax credits were reinstated retroactively back to January 1, 2015 and a 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
second-generation biofuel production credit was extended through January 1, 2017. Also, in 
February  2015,  the  EU  launched  a  WTO  case  against  the  United  States  relating  to 
Washington State legislation extending the state’s aerospace tax incentives, estimated at UDS 
8.7 billion, through 204012.  

5.  Trade facilitating measures 

In  addition  to  monitoring  protectionist  tendencies,  an  effort  was  made  to  identify  measures 
adopted during the Reference Period that potentially improve trade or investment conditions. 
Although these provisions  cannot  qualify as eliminating existing obstacles and fulfilling the 
G20 roll-back pledge, they do contribute to the liberalisation of global trade flows and to the 
mitigation  of  existing  protectionist  trends.  In  the  Reference  Period,  around  70  trade-
facilitating  measures  were  identified,  over  40%  of  them  enacted  by  China,  Argentina  and 
Mexico13 together.  On a 13 month basis, their total number (51) is considerably higher than 
for the last monitoring period (36).  

In  China,  these  measures  consist  among  others  of  efforts  to  support  e-commerce  and  to 
facilitate customs clearance, as well to reduce certain import and export tariffs.  In Argentina, 
a large majority include the revocation or reduction of export taxes for goods across various 
sectors.  Argentina  also  abolished  its  system  of  export  licences  and  the  system  of  the  "prior 
sworn import declaration" (DJAI) for imports of goods and replaced it with SIMI ("Sistema 
integral  de  monitoreo  de  importaciones").  The  Commission  is  currently  assessing  the 
compliance of the new system with international obligations, but it is a clear improvement on 
the  old  system.  Mexico,  for  example,  announced  concrete  implementation  of  a  planned 
reform in the energy sector with the aim to open oil, gas and electricity to national and foreign 
private  investors  and  adopted  legislation,  which  seeks  to  open  its  rail  freight  sector.  It  also 
reduced  certain  import  tariffs  and  relaxed  its  rules  of  origin  on  various  textile-related 
products. 

An overview of all identified trade facilitating measures issued by the 31 EU trade partners 
since  2008  is  provided  in  Section  VII  of  the  following  document:  "overview  of  potentially 
trade-restrictive measures December 2015". 

12   These US measures were not counted in the analysis of protectionist tendencies (nor mentioned in Table 7) 
because they are (extensions of) measures mentioned and counted in previous Protectionism Reports. More 
details  can  be  found  on  the  Commission's  website  at  "overview  of  potentially  trade-restrictive  measures 
December 2015".  

13   It should, however, be underlined that - as for the Relevant Measures (see Section III.A.) - the number of 

such trade facilitating measures does not necessarily reflect their individual importance.  

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
C. 

PROTECTIONIST TENDENCIES IN SPECIFIC SECTORS 

1.  Measures affecting the ICT sector including new digital trade measures 

The  analysis  of  trade-protectionist  measures  newly  introduced  in  the  Reference  Period  also 
showed that several countries have resorted to protectionist measures that limit market access 
relating to the ICT sector. Since 2008, more than 35 Relevant Measures of this type have been 
identified (mainly in China, India, Russia and Indonesia), of which more than 15 enacted or 
implemented during the current Reference Period. These measures range from duty increases 
to local content requirements, mandatory certification or intrusive testing requirements.  

The digitalisation of the economy has brought new types of trade barriers. Examples include 
unjustified  data  localisation  requirements  and  mandatory  local  security  standards.  Some  of 
those measures are taken on security grounds as the economy becomes more interconnected 
and  countries  are  more  exposed  to  concerns  such  as  cyber  threats.  However,  on  many 
occasions those measures go beyond essential security concerns and have a clear protectionist 
nature.  During  the  reference  period,  China  has  introduced  the  highest  number  of  such 
measures,  many  of  them  on  the  grounds  of  “national  security”  (see  also  Section  III.B.3). 
Generally, these measures include very broad and vague definitions, which create uncertainty 
as  this  implicitly  leaves  the  Chinese  Authorities  with  the  option  of  undermining  foreign 
market access on the basis of unclear and broad considerations.  These measures have raised a 
number of other concerns such as mandatory requirements to use domestic cryptography only 
and  to  apply  Chinese  national  standards  instead  of  international  standards,  disclosure  of 
source  code,  which  would  amount  to  the  disclosure  of  business  secrets,  data  localisation 
requirements and others. In the case of the “secure and controllable ICT” for the banking 
sector, the so-called “banking guidelines” have been suspended following representations of 
the EU, the US and other countries. However, as long as these guidelines are not significantly 
amended or abolished, they may continue to have trade-restrictive effects and therefore need 
further close monitoring. 

India is another country that has imposed several barriers affecting the ICT sector over recent 
years.  During  the  reference  period,  it  effectively  imposed  a  10%  custom  duty  on  four 
groups  of  ICT  products  claiming  they  do  not  fall  under  the  Information  Technology 
Agreement 1 (ITA1), which is contested by the EU and the EU ICT Industry.  

In  addition,  India  plans  to  impose  mandatory  in-country  information  security  testing  and 
certification  of  telecom  network  elements  as  of  1  April  2016.  Besides  the  uncertainties  on 
how  these  tests  will  be  conducted,  there  are  also  concerns  on  additional  costs  and  delays. 
Finally, no further substantial progress can be reported with regard to the implementation of 
the  Preferential  Market  Access  policy  for  domestically  manufactured  electronic  goods  in 
public procurement. 

The  growing  trend  in  the  adoption  of  forced  localisation  measures  is  worrying.  These 
measures  take  various  forms  such  as  local  content  requirements,  mandatory  local  security 

16 

 
 
requirements  that  deviate  from  international  standards,  discriminatory  measures  and 
preference  for  domestically  manufactured  goods,  technology  transfer  requirements  and  data 
localisation  requirements.  For  example,  during  the  reference  period,  the  following  countries 
imposed some type of forced localisation measures:  

In  2015,  several  laws  (for  example,  Federal  Law  No.242-F  of  25  June  2014,  which  entered 
into  force  on  1  September  201514;  Federal  Law  No.188  of  29  June  29,  2015)  with  data 
localisation  requirements  and  public  procurement  restrictions  were  enacted  or  entered  into 
force in Russia; Indonesia imposed onerous local  content requirements on  a wide range of 
through  a  Ministerial  Decree  for  Local  Content 
technology  devices  and  products 
Requirements  for  Telecommunications  Technology  (4G)  of  July  2015  (entry  into  force 
expected for Jan 2017); Nigeria issued Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT 
(released in 2014, revised in November 2015 with immediate implementation), which among 
other  issues  imposes  data  localisation  and  local  content  requirements15.  Other  countries  that 
have issued similar measures include: Vietnam, Ecuador and China. 

Regulatory cooperation, mutual recognition and harmonisation of standards have an important 
role in this regard.  

2. 

Steel sector  

The  Reference  Period  was  marked  by  acute  worsening  of  global  overcapacity  in  the  steel 
sector  and  significant  drops  in  steel  prices  in  the  EU  and  elsewhere  in  the  world,  fuelled 
mainly by the export of China's overcapacities. As a result, countries across the world have 
resorted  to  measures  protecting  their  domestic  steel  industry.  Those  were  mainly  border 
measures, such as significant increases in customs duties.  

For  example,  during  the  Reference  Period  India  imposed  a  customs  duty  on  iron,  steel  and 
related articles ranging from 5% to 12.5%; Mexico a temporary 15% Most Favoured Nation 
("MFN") tariff on 97 tariff lines; and South Africa increased the general MFN duty rate on 
certain wire (of iron or non-alloy steel) and on certain steel products from free to 10% and on 
certain  large  bore  steel  pipes  from  10%  to  15%.  Also  Turkey  imposed  additional  customs 
duty on imports of forged bars or rods of iron or non-alloy steel and certain other steel and 
iron products (including bars and rods, wires and nails).  

Further,  the  Indian  Steel  and  Steel  Products  (Quality  Control)  Second  Order  of  12  March 
2012 (as modified by the successive acts) prohibits the manufacture, import, storage, sale and 
distribution  of  steel  products  which  do  not  conform  to  the  specified  national  steel  standard 

14   The measure was already counted in the last Protectionism Report and therefore not included in Section IV 

below. For a description, see "overview of potentially trade-restrictive measures December 2015". 

15   Idem footnote 14. 

17 

 
 
 
                                                 
and  do  not  bear  the  standard  mark  of  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Standards  (BIS).  In  December 
2014 and in the course of the year 2015, India first added 5 and then another 19 products to 
the scope of this measure. Also, Mexico included 25 tariff lines (belonging to HS chapters 72 
and  73  –  iron,  steel  and  articles  thereof)  to  the  list  of  imported  products  subject  to  prior 
licensing procedures. This is part of a series of measures that were announced on 9 July 2015 
to protect its steel industry from under-valued (and triangulated) imports of steel (from China 
mainly). 

In addition, many governments have engaged in a range of policies that aim at securing inputs 
for  their  domestic  steel  making  industries  and  there  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  the 
introduction  and  strengthening  of  export  restrictions  applied  on  steel  making  raw  materials 
(see also next section III.C.3). 

Moreover,  in  the  face  of  the  steel  crisis,  countries  increasingly  resorted  to  trade  defence 
instruments (TDI), including to safeguard measures. In particular, in August 2014 Morocco 
adopted  definitive  measures  following  an  anti-dumping  investigation  on  hot  rolled  steel 
sheets. In November 2014 the United States adopted definitive measures following an anti-
dumping  investigation  on  non-oriented  electrical  steel.  Further,  in  September  2015  India 
adopted provisional measures following a safeguard investigation on hot rolled products and 
Morocco adopted definitive measures following a safeguard investigation on cold rolled steel 
sheets.  

While  TDI  are  in  principle  a  legitimate  way  of  defending  against  unfair  steel  imports  and 
therefore not counted as "Relevant Measures" for the purpose of this SWD16, these measures 
should  be  adopted  in  full  respect  of  the  WTO  rules  to  avoid  that  they  become  protectionist 
measures. Of particular concern is the important part of safeguard measures in this increased 
resort  to  TDI,  as  such  measures  apply  against  all  countries  of  origin,  whether  or  not  they 
cause  any  injury  to  the  domestic  industry,  and  without  demonstration  of  the  existence  of 
unfair trade practices. Such measures thus require close monitoring. 

As  no  solution  to  the  overcapacity  problem  is  anticipated  in  the  short  term,  the  trend  of 
protecting  the  domestic  steel  industry  is  expected  to  continue  beyond  the  Reference  Period. 
This  is  for  example  confirmed  by  the  import  quota  for  rebars  that  were  introduced  early 
January 2016 in Algeria, the EU’s second biggest export destination for steel.  

3.  Raw materials and Energy 

In view of the EU's dependence on imported resources, access to energy and raw materials is 
critical for the EU's competitiveness. The review of protectionist tendencies however shows 
that  many  countries  still  maintain  barriers  to  the  export  of  their  raw  materials  and 
discriminatory measures relating to energy goods.  

16   Contrary to the WTO trade monitoring reports on G20 trade measures, which do include TDI measures. 

18 

 
 
                                                 
In recent years, a proliferation of measures imposed by third countries restricting the supply 
of  raw  materials  could  be  observed.  In  the  11th  Protectionism  Report17,  several  measures 
were highlighted that deteriorated the conditions of access to natural resources, in particular 
through  easily  imposable  border  measures,  in  countries  such  as Algeria,  Indonesia,  Egypt, 
India  and  South  Africa.  Most  of  the  previously  imposed  measures  remained  in  place  and 
some additional export restrictive measures were introduced.    

For  example,  as  already  reported  in  the  11th  Protectionism  Report,  South  Africa  made  all 
scrap  metal  exports  subject  to  export  licences,  which  are  granted  only  if  the  products  could 
not  be  sold  on  the  domestic  market  despite  a  discount  rate  (originally  set  at  20%)  below 
international  spot  prices.  Between  12  September  2014  and  30  January  2015,  South  Africa 
increased these rates to 30% for steel scrap metal and to 25% for aluminium scrap metal. 

Ukraine  introduced  a  new  law  envisaging  mandatory  registration  of  contracts  for  export  of 
ferrous  scrap  and  proposed  a  draft  law  (bill  2031a)  increasing  the  export  duty  for  ferrous 
scrap  to  30  Euro/ton  for  3  years,  which  appears  incompatible  with  Ukraine's  WTO 
commitment and with the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area ("DCFTA") that entered 
into force on 1 January 2016. On 10 July 2015, it also introduced a 10-year wood export ban.  

On  11  July  2014,  India  increased  the  export  duty  on  bauxite  to  20%.  On  30  April  2015,  it 
reduced  export  duties  to  10%  on  certain  low  grade  iron  ore  fines,  while  however  still 
maintaining  export  duties  of  up  to  30%  on  other  forms  and  qualities  of  iron  ore  fines  and 
lumps.  

On  14  July  2015,  Indonesia  introduced  a  fixed  export  levy  of  50  USD  on  Crude  Palm  Oil 
products and on 11 October 2015, Indonesia and Malaysia18 agreed on the formation of the 
Council  of  Palm  Oil  Producing  Countries  (CPOPC),  which  aims  at  controlling  the  palm  oil 
market and setting global standards in the industry. While the exact scope of the activities of 
CPOPC  remains  to  be  confirmed,  a  growing  sense  of  resource  nationalism  may  lead  to 
measures with potentially trade restrictive elements. Indonesia and Malaysia policy measures 
related notably to export tariffs, state trading monopoly and dual pricing or minimum export 
prices will thus require further close monitoring.  

Finally, upon its accession to the WTO, China undertook to eliminate all export duties (taxes) 
except for a number of products listed in an Annex 6 to its Protocol of Accession.  The EU, 
along with the US and Mexico in a first WTO case (DS395) and with the US and Japan in a 
second WTO case (DS432), successfully challenged China's policy of imposing export duties 

17   See footnote 2. 

18   The two largest palm oil producing countries, accountable for about 2/3 of palm oil products imports into 

the EU, amounting to more than 4 billion €. 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
(and  export  quotas)  on  certain  raw  materials  (in  particular  various  forms  of  bauxite,  coke, 
fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorus and zinc 
on the one hand and on rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum on the other hand). The WTO 
found  that  China's  export  duties  were  inconsistent  with  the  commitments  that  China  had 
agreed to in its Protocol of Accession and that the wording of China's Protocol of Accession 
did not allow China to use the general exceptions in Article XX of the GATT 1994 to justify 
its WTO-inconsistent export duties. Today China, however, still applies export duties on more 
than 250 tariff lines while annex 6 is limited to 84 products.  

In  terms  of  new  market  access  barriers  and  trade  protectionist  tendencies  in  the  energy 
sector,  local  content  requirements  remain  particularly  problematic,  in  particular  in  the 
renewable  energy  sector.  For,  example,  relating  to  Morocco,  we  have  come  across  several 
projects  where  the  authorities  either  explicitly  imposed  local  content  requirements  or  where 
such requirements were disguised as "voluntary" local content requirements. Such measures 
are  also  widespread  in  the  oil  and  gas  sector.  For  example  Nigeria  on  24  December  2014 
adopted  "Regulations on National  Content Development for the Power Sector 2014", which 
reflect  the  same  principles  of  the  Nigerian  Oil  &  Gas  Content  Development  Act  2010  and 
provide that all entities holding licences to carry out regulated activities - including electricity 
generation  and  distribution  -  are  required  to  give  first  consideration  to  qualified  Nigerian 
companies, as well as to goods made in Nigeria and services provided by Nigerian firms. The 
Regulations also include provisions on mandatory transfer of technology to Nigerian entities 
and  deployment  of  equipment  in  Nigeria  and  they  allow  the  national  regulator,  NERC,  to 
establish penalties as it deems fit to ensure compliance.  

Between  March  and  November  2015,  Turkey  introduced  several  modifications  to  a  2012 
decree  (2012/3305)  on  the  investment  incentives  package,  including  refined  petroleum 
products as a sector to benefit from regional state supports (excluding Istanbul) and including 
the manufacture of turbines and generators for generation of renewable energy and of wings 
for  generation  of  wind  energy  among  priority  investment  areas.  If  domestic  goods  and 
services  are  procured  above  a  certain  threshold  of  the  total  investment,  the  subsidy  for 
generating renewable energy is higher, thus also stimulating local content.  

Similarly, discriminatory treatment could be observed in the area of government procurement. 
For  example,  in  South  Korea,  the  Korea  Gas  Corporation  (Kogas),  on  24  October  2014 
opened  a  call  for  tender  for  the  construction  and  the  lease  of  six  LNG  carriers  destined  to 
transport  liquefied  natural  gas  (LNG),  which  de  facto  excluded  the  participation  of  foreign 
companies  and  favored  Korean  technology,  in  apparent  contradiction  with  the  1994  WTO 
Agreement  on  Government  Procurement  and  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  EU-Korea  Free 
Trade Agreement (FTA). 

Conversely, some trade facilitating measures could be recorded for Argentina and Mexico: 
Argentina on 26 February 2015 lowered the applicable export taxes for propane, butane and 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
liquefied  petroleum  gas  (LPG)  from  45%  to  a  symbolic  1%  if  the  international  price  falls 
below certain values of reference. Also, since 1 January 2015 it relaxed its export tax regime 
for  oil  and  its  derivatives,  by  calculating  the  export  duty  on  the  basis  of  a  formula  that 
depends  on  the  international  price  of  oil,  which  -  given  the  drop  of  international  prices  - 
constitutes a reduction of the taxes. On 31 October 2014, Mexico announced the adoption of 
9 implementing regulations and 16 decrees that should set out rules and details to implement 
the  energy  reform  (approved  by  Congress  in  December  2013)  and  open  up  the  Mexican 
market for both local and foreign investors. Also, on 29 December 2014, it adopted rules to 
facilitate  obtaining  permits  for  importing  and/or  exporting  hydrocarbons  and  oil-related 
products. 

Still, the trade restrictive measures in the raw materials and energy sectors remain important 
and opening markets in these fields should remain a priority.  

IV.  OVERVIEW  OF  ALL  NEW  POTENTIALLY  TRADE-RESTRICTIVE 
MEASURES IDENTIFIED IN 31 EU TRADE PARTNERS IN THE PERIOD 1 
JULY 2014-31 DECEMBER 2015 

The  below  table  provides  a  comprehensive  overview  of  all  Relevant  Measures  identified  in 
the  period  1  July  2014-31  December  2015  for  the  31  selected  EU  Trade  Partners19.  It  is 
reminded  that  a  more  elaborate  description  of  all  such  Relevant  Measures  identified  since 
2008, as well as of all trade facilitating measures and identified Relevant Measures that have 
been  rolled  back  since  2008,  is  published  on  the  Commission's  website  at  "overview  of 
potentially trade-restrictive measures December 2015". 

Table 7: New potentially trade-restrictive measures (1 July 2014 – 31 December 2015)  

In italic:  Draft measures 

Country 

Date of 
adoption/enacting 
(where available) 

Algeria 

02-07/2015 

Measure 

Algeria  has  imposed  new  measures  on  car  dealership  and 
mandatory  safety  standards  for  imported  vehicles  through 
executive  decree  n°  15-54  of  7  February  2015,  ministerial 
decisions of 23 March 2015, of 12 May 2015 and of 23 July 
2015. 

19   See footnote 1. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
2015 

2015 

2015  

15.07.2015  

31.12.2015 

Argentina 

21.07.2014, 19.03, 
19.03, 06.07 and 
20.11.2015 

31.10.2014 

requirement 

introduced  a 

The  note  16/DGC/2009  of  the  Bank  of  Algeria,  dated  16 
February  2009, 
to  supply 
certification  documents  with  each  delivery  of  goods  to 
Algeria.  This  measure  was  annulled  through  a  note  on  24 
March  2011.  However,  in  the  course  of  2015,  customs 
administration in collaboration with the antifraud services of 
the ministry of Trade started applying systematic controls for 
imported  products;  this  significantly  delays  the  import 
procedures and acts as a deterrent against foreign imports. 

A number of individual measures related to border controls of 
imported  documents  and  to  antifraud  checks  have  targeted, 
starting  from  the  beginning  of  2015,  several  imported 
products.  These  measures  cannot  be  traced  down  to  any 
general provision but signal a consistent trend, nonetheless. 

During 2015, banking procedures set out in Regulation 07-01 
of 3 February 2007 of the Bank of Algeria regarding standing 
orders  allowing  importers  to  export  foreign  currency  have 
been  complemented  by 
instructions.  
Importers  are  now  obliged  to  present  a  series  of  documents 
attesting 
limitations  are 
introduced on the amounts of money that can be exported. 

their  financial  strength,  while 

internal 

several 

in  order 

to  safeguard  certain  public 

Law  15-15  of  15  July  2015  enables  the  Government  to 
introduce  quantitative  restrictions  in  the  form  of  import 
licences, 
interest 
objectives  (e.g.  the  protection  of  financial  stability).  On  the 
basis  of  this  Law,  Executive  Decree  15-306  of  6  December 
2015  brings  in  a  system  of  non-automatic  import  licensing 
resulting  in  quantitative  restrictions  for  certain  products 
(vehicles, cement, concrete). 

The Loi de Finances 2015 reintroduced the consumer's credit, 
but its entry into force had been postponed until the adoption 
of implementing measures. These measures were adopted by 
an inter-ministerial decree of 31 December 2015. Consumer's 
credit  will  only  be  available  for  the  purchase  of  products 
manufactured  or  assembled  in  Algeria,  which  is  a  flagrant 
violation of the prohibition of discrimination enshrined in the 
Association Agreement. 

General  Resolutions  3650/2014,  3752,  3753,  3784  and 
3812/2015 establish reference prices for 5 new tariff lines.  

Resolution 323/2014 requires applicants to submit the results 
of  tests  conducted  in  laboratories  included  in  the  new 
"National  Register  of  Laboratories  for  the  testing  of  Auto 
Parts and Complete Vehicles" in order to obtain a conformity 
certificate. 

21.04, 16.06, 30.06, 
28.07 and 
06.08.2015  

Provisions  ANMAT  Nº  2873,  4491,  5042,  6053  and 
6171/2015  adjust  (increase)  the  fees  for  the  authorisation  of 
packaged  food,  medicines  and  other  products,  based  on 
import values.     

22 

 
 
02.04.2015 

30.09.2015 

1.10.2015 

In the context of the fall of international oil prices, Argentina 
created  a  temporary  stimulus  programme  for  crude  oil 
production,  to  be  in  place  over  2015  and  extendable  for  one 
year,  through  Resolution  14/2015  of  April  2,  2015.  It 
approved an economic compensation of up to USD 3/BBL - 
to  be  paid  in  AR$  -  for  companies  that  raise  or  maintain 
production  (compared  to  a  base  period)  and  the  same 
compensation  for  enterprises  that  increase  or  maintain  oil 
exports. 

in 

involved 

Resolution  404/2015  (Regime  of  recognition  of  bodies  and 
laboratories 
the  mandatory  certification 
procedures  for  goods  and  services),  requires  the  revalidation 
of  all  recognitions  in  place  that  expire  in  180  days  and  of 
recognition  agreements  between  certification  bodies  in  the 
country  and  abroad  (which  expired  automatically  by  end 
November 2015). 

Joint  Resolution  1710/2015  and  406/2015  approved  by  the 
Secretary  of  Trade  and  the  Ministry  of  Health  on  1  October 
2015  dictates  that  the  Health  Insurances  in  Argentina  must 
give preference to less expensive domestically produced high-
cost medicines over foreign medicines for special treatments 
that  patients  can 
for.  The 
implementing  rules  are  to  be  published  by  the  competent 
authority.  

reimbursement 

receive  a 

3.11.2015 

22.10.2015 and 
04.12.2015 

Decree  2229/2015  of  3  November  2015  reintroduced  for  5 
years  a  refund  for  exports  from  ports  in  the  disadvantaged 
geographical region of Patagonia that had expired in 1999. 

The  regulatory  framework  concerning  the  certification  of 
safety  requirements  for  electrical  products,  updated  by 
Resolution  508  of  22  October  2015  (and  amending 
regulations),  includes  rules  on  compliance  with  Argentine 
normalisation  rules;  certification  per  mark  for  certain 
products; customs requirements, etc. The text of the measure 
also  appears  to  require  that  certification  be  conducted  by 
Argentinian laboratories. 

Resolution  680/2015  of  4  December  2015  establishes 
to 
of 
mandatory 
commercialize school articles (including stationery and office 
supplies).   

requirements 

certification 

safety 

22 and 23.12.2015 

General Resolution 3823/2015-AFIP of 22.12.2015 sets up a 
Imports 
new  system  of  "Comprehensive  System  of 
Monitoring" 
the 
establishment  of  Automatic  and  Non-Automatic  Licenses 
(NALs) through Resolution 5/2015-MP of 23.12.2015. NALs 
are foreseen for some 1400 tariff lines. 

(SIMI),  which  was  completed  by 

23 

 
 
Australia 

Formal review 
commenced 5 
November 2015 
[expected to be in 
place by 1 July 
2016] 

Enacted 1.12. 2015 

Belarus 

4.08.2015 

6.08.2015 

Brazil 

10.07.2014 – 27.02. 
2015 

In  its  pre-election  policy  platform,  the  Victorian  state 
government  elected  on  29  November  2014  committed  "to 
increase  the  weighting  accorded  to  local  content  for  major 
[state government procurement] projects". A formal review of 
the  Victorian  Industry  Participation  Policy  (VIPP)  was 
launched on 5 November 2015, proposing the introduction of 
a  minimum  10%  formal  weighting  system  for  local  content. 
Review recommendations will require Cabinet approval. 

New  restrictive  measures  to  Australia's  foreign  investment 
framework  focussing  mainly  on  residential  real  estate  and 
agricultural  investments,  but  also  including  the  introduction 
of fees on all foreign investment screening applications. 

Regulation 658 of 4 August 2015 "On increasing the quality 
imported  building  materials  and  products" 
control  of 
introduced 
imported 
strengthened  quality  control  on 
construction  materials  and  products.  The  regulation  imposes 
inter alia a requirement to obtain a certificate for each single 
delivery  of  goods  imported  into  Belarus  (except  for  CIS 
countries, being a party of the FTA as of 18 October 2011). 

Resolution  of  the  Council  of  Ministers  No.  666  of  6  August 
2015  "On  the  Introduction  of  Changes  and  Additions  to  the 
Resolution  of  the  Council  of  Ministers  of  the  Republic  of 
Belarus  dated  17th  of  February,  2012  №  156"    introduced 
changes in the administrative procedure concerning hygienic  
examination  in    imports  and  a  mandatory  sanitary-hygienic 
examination  for  every  batch  of  certain  imported  products 
(including,  among  others,  food,  children  goods,  perfumes, 
cosmetics,  personal  hygienic  products,  household  chemicals, 
household  goods, 
furniture, 
construction materials – according to Decision of the Deputy 
Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitarian of the Republic of 
Belarus, No 47 of 10 September 2015). 

industry  equipment, 

food 

(by  Provisional  Measure  651/2014  of 
Reintroduction 
10/7/2014  and  Decree  8.301  of  12/9/2014,  regulated  by 
Brazilian  government  Decree  8.304  of  12/9/2014  and  then 
sanctioned and replaced by Law No. 13.043 of 13 November 
2014) of the (2011) "Reintegra" programme. This programme 
provides  export  subsidies  in  the  form  of  tax  advantages 
provided to domestic companies that export 50% or more of 
their  production.  According  to  the  programme,  companies 
that  produce  and  export  goods  manufactured  in  Brazil  are 
allowed  to  request  a  credit  that  may  vary  from  0.1%  to  3% 
calculated  on  the  revenue  from  the  export  of  such  goods.  In 
addition  Reintegra  now  covers  most  of  Brazilian  exports 
(with  a  few  exceptions  in  the  agricultural  sector).  Decree 
8.304  was  replaced  on  27/02/2015  by  Decree  8.415,  which 
delayed  the  application  of  the  maximum  tax-refundable 
percentage,  but  also  provided  for  an  opportunity  to  have  it 
increased depending on the "macroeconomic situation". 

24 

 
 
07.2014 – 
11.11.2015 

19.06.2015 

09.06.2015 

24.06.2015 

30.12.2015 

Canada 

2015 

China 

1.09.2014 

Through  a  series  of  measures,  Brazil  included  in  the  list  of 
100  exceptions  to  the  Mercosur  Common  External  Tariffs  a 
significant  number  of  products,  resulting  in  substantial 
increases  of  duty  rates  (increase  to  20%  for,  among  others, 
gypsum  plasters,  certain  vegetable  fats  and  oils,  certain 
minerals  oils,  sodium  bicarbonate,  certain  acids  and 
machining  centres;  to  16%  for  instruments,  apparatuses  and 
models  designed  for  demonstrational  purposes;  12%  for 
sodium polyacrylate; 10% for acrylic acid and to 4% for joint 
cement).  

Law 13.137/2015 of 19 June 2015 has increased PIS/COFINS 
contributions  for  imported  goods  from  9.25%  to  11.75%  on 
average.  There  is  a  higher  increase  for  certain  specific 
categories  of  products  (pharmaceuticals,  cosmetics,  tyres 
etc.). 

inspections  of 

law  PL  6897/2006  on 

imported 
Draft 
agricultural  products  was  approved  by  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies and sent to the Senate. This new draft law mandates 
inspection  and  analysis  for  pesticide  residues,  toxins  and 
pathogens for all unprocessed or semi-processed agricultural 
and  livestock  products  imported  into  Brazil.  It  would  be 
introduced summarily and across the board without any risk 
analysis or scientific justification.  

The  Brazilian  government  launched  the  “National  Export 
Plan”. This Plan includes provisions to increase financing and 
guarantees  for  exports,  as  well  as  an  improvement  of 
mechanisms and tax regimes for export support. 

While  Law  13.241  of  30  December  2015  eliminates 
discriminatory  ad  rem  system  for  internal  taxation  of  wines 
and spirits, it maintains a 5% nominal tax rate discrimination 
in  favour  of  cachaça  against  other  spirits  and  suspends  the 
benefits of the Digital Inclusion programme for 2016.  

The  Canadian  federal  2015  budget  includes  a  number  of 
proposed  measures  to  stimulate  Canadian  exports  among 
others  within 
forestry  and 
the  automotive,  maritime, 
agricultural sectors. 

Concerning the postal and express delivery industry, the State 
Postal  Bureau  issued  further  compulsory  requirements  for 
tighter  security  measures,  namely 
for 
Allocating Safety Production Facilities in Postal Industry’. 

‘Specifications 

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24.02.2014 

10.09.2014 

Only  Chinese-owned  companies  have  access  to  China's 
generous  subsidy  to  scrap  old  ships  established  by  the 
"Administration  of  Central  Government  Subsidies  for  the 
Scrapping  of  Outdated  Ships  and  Single-hulled  Oil  Tankers 
and  the  Rebuilding  of  New  Ships"  Cai  Jian  [2014]  No.  24. 
 The subsidy is linked to a ship-building subsidy with a gross 
tonnage at least equivalent to that of the scrapped ship. This 
double  subsidy  reinforces  the  competitiveness  of  China's 
shipping industry by upgrading their fleet and increasing their 
capacity  at  a 
the 
that  plagues  China's  shipbuilding  sector. 
overcapacity 
Initially launched in 2014 for two years, the subsidy has been 
extended until end 2017. 

it  also  compensates  for 

low  cost; 

Industry  Cybersecurity  and 

The  China  Banking  Regulatory  Commission  (CBRC),  the 
National  Development  and  Reform  Commission  (NDRC), 
Ministry  of  Science  and  Technology  (MOST),  and  the 
Ministry  of  Industry  and  Information  Technology  (MIIT) 
jointly  issued  a  document  entitled  "Guidelines  for  Applying 
Secure and Controllable Information Technology to Enhance 
Banking 
Informatisation 
Development", containing several potentially trade-restrictive 
provisions  (including  forcing  companies  to  use  Chinese 
intellectual property and to disclose business secrets like key 
software  source  codes,  imposing  localisation  requirements 
for  Research  and  Development  operations,  restricting  the 
cross-border  flow  of  data,  etc.).  While  China  officially 
suspended  the  guidelines  in  April  2015  and  indicated  that  a 
revised  version  of  the  guidelines  was  under  preparation  by 
the  end  of  2015,  there  are  indications  that  the  banks  are 
actually implementing the 'guidelines' in practice. 

15.10.2014 

China re-imposed import duties for 5 coal products at a range 
between 3% and 6%. 

12.2014 and Second 
Half of 2015 

Medical  Devices:  while  there  is  not  a  clear  and  transparent 
“Buy  China”  policy,  there  is  a  general  tendency  for 
government authorities to urge hospitals to purchase medical 
including 
from  “national”  manufacturers,  not 
devices 
products  manufactured 
in  China  by  Foreign  Invested 
Enterprises (FIE). The first batch catalogue was published in 
December 2014. A second batch catalogue is announced for 
the  second  half  of  2015.  While  there  is  no  Central  Chinese 
Government regulation that strictly restricts the market access 
of  imported  medical  devices  or  products  manufactured  in 
China  by  FIEs,  the  industry  is  concerned  that  a  general 
atmosphere is created, favouring the purchasing of  “national” 
medical  devices.  As  a  result  of  this  policy,  some  regional 
government  agencies  directly  restrict  purchasing  of  “non-
national” medical devices.  

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15.12.2014 

31.12.2014 

31.12.2014 

01.2015 

China notified to the WTO (reference G/TBT/N/CHN/1064) a 
new  draft  regulation  on  the  labelling  of  Cosmetic  products, 
by  which  the  current  practice  of  overstickering  would  be 
banned,  among  other  things.  Initially,  the  text  was  meant  to 
be applicable on July 1, 2015. However, in view of comments 
by foreign stakeholders, CFDA decided to postpone the entry 
into  force  of  the  regulation  on  labelling  until  the  new 
Cosmetics  basic  Regulation  (CSAR)  is  adopted  by  the  State 
Council. During the June 2015 WTO TBT Committee, China 
informed  the  Committee  that  the  use  of  stickers  would  be 
allowed,  as  long  as  all  the  information  on  the  original 
packaging is translated into Chinese. 

The  Ministry  of  Commerce 
issued  a  catalogue  of 
commodities subject to export license administration in 2015. 

The Chinese State Council adopted the Implementation Rules 
of  the  Government  Procurement  Law  (order  no.658)  which 
focuses  on  curbing  corruption  and  strengthening  the  rule  of 
law.  However,  the  overlying  Government  Procurement  Law 
(GPL) still requires government agencies preference for local 
Chinese products. 

The  new  draft  foreign  investment  law  (draft  'FIL')  was 
published. There is no specific time table for the final release 
of the new Law with national security review taken up in the 
draft Foreign Investment Law. The draft FIL includes further 
potential  discrimination,  tightening  of  national  security 
review  screening,  prior approval  requirement  for  investment 
reporting 
above  a  certain 
requirements. 

threshold  and  excessive 

1.01.2015 

China's 2015 Tariff Implementation Plan came into effect 

According to this Plan, the most-favoured nation rates of duty 
are set as follows: a provisional tariff rate must be imposed on 
some  imported  commodities,  a  specific  duty  or  compound 
duty shall continue to be imposed on photographic materials, 
and 45 other commodities and HN RLD LED (HS 37024321) 
shall  be  subject  to  ad  valorem  taxation  at  the  rate  of  10%, 
tariff  quota  management  shall  continue  to  be  implemented 
over  commodities  under  47  tariff  items  of  8  categories, 
customs  inspection  and  management  shall  continue  to  be 
carried  out  on  information  and  technological  products  under 
10  tariff  items.  Import  tariffs  for  natural  rubber  were  also 
raised. 

An  import  consumption  tax  is  levied  on  batteries  (with  the 
exception of lead-acid batteries) and coating  materials at the 
applicable tax rate of 4%.  

As of 1 January 2016, Import consumption tax shall also be 
levied on lead-acid batteries at the applicable tax rate of 4%. 

1.02.2015 

[1.01.2016] 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24.04.2015 

The new Food Safety Law adopted is a key milestone in food 
safety  management.  It  also  establishes  a  severe  system  of 
administrative, civil and penal penalties with the objective to 
be dissuasive. Whilst rules may appear adequate on paper, in 
practice  they  are  often  not  fully  enforced.    Special  attention 
will  have  to  be  paid  to  the  implementation  rules,  which  are 
being  drafted.  Additionally, 
legal 
requirements have been tightened. 

formula 

infant 

the 

03.2015 

The State Council announced that, retroactive to January 1st, 
the  central  government  has  assumed  full  responsibility 
(100%) for paying export tax rebates to companies.  

03.2015 

Foreign Investment Catalogue: 

1.05.2015 

8.05.2015 

9.06.2015 

12.06.2015 

07.2015 

1.07.2015 

Since  its  first  promulgation  in  1995,  the  Foreign  Investment 
Catalogue  was  reviewed  6  times.  The  last  proposal  for 
revision  was  issued  in  March  2015.  The  restricted  areas 
largely remain similar to the previous versions with a number 
of new restrictions which are introduced.  

To  "compensate"  for  the  removal  of  the  rare  earth  export 
tariffs, China applies a resource tax, applicable as a fixed rate 
applied on a price basis. 

The  blueprint  of  an  ambitious  strategy  known  as  "Made  in 
China 2025" was  released  via  a  notice of  the State Council. 
The  strategy  seeks  to  comprehensively  upgrade  Chinese 
industry with clear principles, goals, tools, and sector focus.  
It  intends  to  include  preferential  policies,  rely  on  domestic 
technology  and  raise  domestic  content  of  core  components 
and materials.  

MOF,  General  Administration  of  Customs,  and  State 
Administration  of  Taxation  published  policies  on  import 
taxation in the Pilot Free Trade Zones in Guangdong, Tianjin, 
and  Fujian.  Import  and  consumption  taxes  are  required  for 
products  produced,  processed,  and  sold  to  the  Chinese 
mainland in the Custom Special Monitoring Area of the Free 
Trade Zones. 

The NDRC issued a draft "Regulation on the Administration 
of  Investment  Projects  Subject  to  Government  Verification 
and Approval and Investment Projects Subject to Government 
Record-filing" which prescribes which investments have to be 
subject to verification and approval in the future. 

China released a draft cybersecurity law that seeks to beef up 
Beijing’s  ability  to  guard  against  cyber-threats  and  protect 
data on Chinese users, while also tightening controls over the 
Internet. 

The  Standing  Committee  of  China's  National  People's 
Congress  passed  a  new  National  Security  Law  enabling  the 
government  to  take  "all  necessary"  steps  to  protect  China's 
security and sovereignty. 

28 

 
 
1.07.2015 

9.10.2015 

30.11.2015 

1.12.2015 

19.10.2015 

27.12.2015 

Ecuador 

28.12.2014 

20.12.2014 

14.07.2014 

The  State  Council  released  "Guiding  Opinions  on  Actively 
Promoting  the  “Internet+”  Action".  It  aims  to  closely 
integrate the internet with the real economy by promoting the 
combination of  Internet,  Cloud,  "Big  Data",  and  "Internet  of 
Things"  with  modern  manufacturing.  The  government  will 
provide financial support and tax preferences to key projects 
related  to  the  Internet  Plus  plan  and  encourage  local 
governments to follow suit.  

China  Insurance  Regulatory  Commission  (CIRC)  issued  the 
Draft Regulation on the Supervision of Insurance Institutions. 
While  the  law  aims  to  reinforce  network  and  information 
security  in  the  insurance  sector,  it  could  potentially  create 
serious market access barriers for foreign companies.  

The  proposed  draft  of  the  Foreign  NGO  Management  Law 
(Second  Draft)  (the  “Foreign  NGO  Draft  Law”)  requires 
foreign NGOs to find an official government 'sponsor' which 
must approve their activities for 2016 by 30 November 2015. 

CFDA  issued  on  November  6,  2015  a  draft  reform  plan  for 
chemical drug registration categories. CFDA's plans for drug 
registration defines a "new drug" as a chemical entity that is 
"new to the world" (as opposed to "new to China"), creating 
the  risk  that  drugs  approved  or  marketed  first  outside  of 
China may receive slower regulatory consideration. The plan 
entered into force on 1 December 2015. 

The State Council released the “Opinions on the adoption of a 
negative  list  approach  for  regulating  market  access”,  which 
mapped out plans to draft and implement a series of “negative 
lists” for market access. The State Council will draft negative 
lists  of  industries  and  sectors  from  which  investments  are 
prohibited or restricted. Moreover, there will be two kinds of 
lists:  the  “Negative  list  of  general  market  access”  and  the 
“Negative list of market access for foreign investments”. 

The  National  People  Congress  Standing  Committee  passed 
the  counter-terrorism  law,  which  could  have  a  significant 
negative 
information 
technology companies.   

impact  on  business,  notably  on 

Resolution  049/2014:  prorogues  the  quantitative  restriction 
for  imports  of  cars,  thus  causing  a  reduction  by  52%  of 
imported cars.  

The Organic Law for Incentives to Production and prevention 
of  Fiscal  Fraud  modified  the  base  for  the  Special  Tax 
Consumption which includes the ex-custom value, increasing 
it by 25%-30%. This results in discrimination, particularly for 
imported goods such as alcohol beverages, cars or ceramics. 

Presidential Decree 400: a mechanism used to fix the price of 
medicines  based  on  a  median,  provoking  a  fall  of  prices  of 
imported medicines. 

29 

 
 
 
15.01.2015 

11.03.2015 

05.2015 

06.2015 

06.2015 

Egypt 

10.2014 

11.10.2014, 
1.09.2015 and 3.10. 
2015 

Presidential Decree 522: once a patented drug has expired, it 
should  be  registered  and  commercialized  obligatorily  as 
generics, thus the generic name should appear over the name 
of the producer.  

Balance  of  Payment  safeguard:  universal  and  general 
safeguard applied to 32% of imported products or 2.962 tariff 
lines  in  ranges  between  5%-45%.  The  measure  is  currently 
being reviewed by the WTO. 

Resolution  051-2015F  enforces  a  compulsory  retention  of 
95% of premiums for insurance companies. This could curtail 
the re-insurance market in Ecuador. 

Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation Bill (Código Orgánico 
de  la  Economía  Social  del  Conocimiento  y  la  Innovación  - 
“COESC”).  Approval  of  the  Code  is  planned  for  the  1st 
semester 2016. 

The  government  applied  the  devolution  of  a  percentage 
between  2%  and  5%  of  taxes  to  exporters  of  non-traditional 
products to avoid that these goods lose competitiveness in the 
international markets. The objective is to give liquidity to that 
sector and to avoid waiting for the payment of importers. This 
measure has been extended through out 2016. 

The Egyptian Customs authorities issued price list directives 
for several car manufacturers.  As a result, they began to 
refuse the transaction value indicated in the commercial 
invoices for cars of these manufacturers and instead apply the 
German retail prices as a baseline for their tariff calculation 
for these cars.  This increases the export costs for the Original 
Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).  

On  11  October  2014,  Egypt's  Minister  of  Trade  approved 
Decree No. 776 allowing rice exports under the condition that 
the  traders  sell  the  government  one  tonne  of  medium-grain 
rice  at  2,000  Egyptian  pounds  ($279.72)  for  every  tonne  of 
rice they export. Exporters would also have to pay a tariff of 
$280 per tonnes exported. 

On  1  September  2015,  exports  of  rice  previously  permitted 
and  subject  to  licensing  by  the  ministerial  decree  No.  776, 
were banned. 

On  3  October  2015,  Egypt's  Trade  and  Industry  Minister 
Tarek  Qabil  issued  a  decision  allowing  the  export  of  milled 
rice but imposing export fees of LE 2,000 per ton of rice. 

30 

 
 
17.01.2015 

12.07.2015 

Law  5/2015  was  adopted  regarding  national  preferences  for 
Egyptian  products  in  government  contracts.  It  expanded  the 
scope of application of national preferences to all supply and 
project  agreements  and  extended  it  to  public  companies  and 
companies in which the state has a ruling share. It requires a 
minimum of 40% local content, unless such products are not 
available  or  the  price  of  competing  imported  product  is  at 
least  15%  lower.  The  executive  regulations  of  the  new 
Egyptian  procurement  law  5/2015  were  promulgated  by 
Ministerial  Decree  No.  656/2015  on  13  September  2015. 
Following  adoption  of  these  executive  regulations,  Prime 
Minister  Sherif  Ismail  issued  a  decree  on  18  October  2015 
forming  a  committee  in  charge  of  preference  for  locally 
manufactured products. 

Egypt's  president  Abdel  Fattah  El-Sisi  issued  a  significant 
change in the law regulating the security services and money 
transit  business  in  Egypt.  The  law  in  its  revised  format 
aggressively  impacts  the  business  of  international  security 
companies as it sets strict requirements for obtaining a license 
from  the  Minister  of  Interior  in  order  to  carry  out  their 
business;  the  most  important  one  is  that  only  Egyptian 
nationals and fully Egyptian-owned and managed companies 
may obtain the license and engage in the security services and 
money transit business. 

09.2015 

The trade ministry has formulated tax and other incentives to 
support local car manufacturers. 

India 

11.07.2014 

On  11  July  2014,  the  export  duty  on  both  Bauxite  (natural) 
calcined and not calcined was raised to 20%.  

07.2014 

21.08.2014 and 
30.04.2015 

4.12.2014 

Customs  Notification  No  11/2014  removed  four  groups  of 
ICT  products  (e.g.  LTE  equipment  and  different  switches) 
claimed  not  to  be  falling  under  the  Information  Technology 
Agreement 
re-
introduction of a 10% basic customs duty.  

from  duty  exemption, 

resulting 

in  a 

Import duty on sugar increased from 15% to 25%.  

India  passed  an  Order  including  5  products  to  the  Steel  and 
Steel  Products  (Quality  Control)  Second  Order  2012 
(requiring mandatory compliance with national standards and 
certification  by  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Standards  (BIS). 
Furthermore,  in  two  more  Orders  proposed  in  2015,  16 
products  and  3  products  would  be  added  (Steel  and  Steel 
Products  (Quality  Control)  Order  2015  and  Steel  and  Steel 
Products (Quality Control) Second Order 2015). 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12.2014 

1.04.2015 

1.04.2015 

30.04.2015 

05.2015 

7.08.2015 

12.08.2015 

2014-2015 

14.09.2015 

17.09.2015 

2015 

Draft  National  Offset  Policy  (NOP),  which  suggests  that 
foreign companies selling goods worth over Rs 300 crore (ca 
EUR  4.3  million) 
to  government  or  Public  Sector 
Undertakings (essentially Indian term for SOEs), would have 
to source part of their supplies from domestic manufacturers. 
The  foreseen  minimum  value  of  the  offsets  obligation  would 
be  30%  of  the  estimated  cost  of  the  import,  meaning  the 
company  will  have  to  procure  this  percentage  from  local 
players. 

The New Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) was unveiled, aiming to 
increase  exports  of  goods  and  services  as  well  as  generate 
employment  and  increase  value  addition  in  the  country,  in 
keeping  with  the  “Make  in  India”  vision  of  Prime  Minister 
Modi.  

In  line  with  the  License  amendment  dated  31.05.2011,  the 
security  certification  of  telecom  equipment  within  India  was 
extended  for  security  related  concerns  for  expansion  of 
Telecom Services in various zones of the country (ILD/NLD 
Licence amendments dated 31.05.2011). By notification of 31 
July 2015, the requirement of security certification of telecom 
equipment has been extended further by twelve months from 
1st April 2015 to 1st April 2016.  

Through  Customs  notification  28/2015,  India  increased  the 
basic  customs  duty  on  natural  rubber  to  25%.  The  specific 
duty remains unchanged.  

Import duty on commercial vehicles was increased from 10% 
to 40% through Finance Act 2015.  

Through  Customs  notification  51/2015  of  19.10.2015,  India 
increased  the  Basic  Customs  Duty  on  wheat  from  10%  (as 
imposed on 7 August 2015) to 25%. 

Through  Customs  notification  45/2015,  customs  duty  was 
imposed on iron and steel and articles of iron or steel ranging 
from 5% to 12.5%, depending on the product. 

Continuous  delays  in  replying  to  applications  (made  before 
2014)  for  exports  licences  concerning  15  plant,  plant 
products, animals and animal products. 

Through  Notification  21,  India  restricted  import  of  apples 
through a single port located in Mumbai. 

On 17 September 2015, India took the decision to raise by 5% 
import  duties  on  crude  edible  oil  (from  7.5%  to  12.5%)  and 
on refined edible oil from  15% to 20%. While this is within 
the binding rates, this is dictated by protectionist intents in a 
bid to safeguard the domestic industry. 

Through  the  Finance  Act  2015,  Schedule  Basic  Duty  on 
Bituminous  Coal  was  increased  to  10%.  However,  the 
effective rate is at 2.5%. 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10.2015 
(adopted 02.2016) 

5.10.2015 

Indonesia 

26.08.2014 

17.10.2014 with 
implementation 
period of 2-5 years 

14.01.2015 

17.02.2015 

4.03.2015 

31.03.2015  

(adopted 

IRDAI’s  (Registration  and  Operations  of  Branch  offices  of 
Foreign  Reinsurers  other  than  Lloyd’s)  submitted  Draft 
in  February  2016),  which 
Regulation  28(9) 
introduces  new  market  access  barriers 
foreign 
reinsurance  companies  by  granting  the  domestic  state-
sponsored  reinsurer  a  right  of  preference  – 
foreign 
companies  are  allowed  only  in  case  of  first  refusal  by 
domestic companies. 

for 

Through  Customs  Notification  49/2015,  an  import  duty  of 
40%  was  imposed  on  ghee,  butter  and  butter-oil  up  until  31 
March 2016. 

Law  20/2014  on  standardisation  and  conformity  assessment 
provides the legal basis to issue mandatory national standards 
(SNIs). 

Law  33/2014  on  Halal  Product  Guarantee  makes  halal 
certification  mandatory  for  almost  all  products  traded  within 
Indonesia  (with  progressive  implementation).  Although  no 
implementing  regulations  have  been  issued  so  far,  the  Law 
touches a wide scope of products. Furthermore, the Law will 
possibly  also  affect  industries  that  are  not  explicitly  enlisted 
by the Law. The Law shall be implemented between 2016 and 
2019. 

Ministry  of  Manpower  Regulations  12/2015,  13/2015,  and 
14/2015 restrict the use of foreign labour in certain industries. 

Ministry  of  Agriculture  Reg.  4/2015  restricts  the  imports  of 
plant  based  products.  The  Regulation  is  expected  to  have  a 
significant impact for imports of plant-based products, given 
the  requirements  of  a  country  recognition  agreement  and/or 
registration  and 
testing 
laboratories  in  the  export  originating  countries.  Effective 
implementing date is as of 17 February 2016.  

inspection  by 

Indonesia  of 

The  Minister  of  Energy  and  Mineral  Resources  issued 
Regulation No. 8 of 2015 to amend Ministerial Regulation No 
1 of 2014 on Increasing the Value-Added to Minerals through 
Domestic  Processing  and  Purification.  According  to  the 
regulation, the Amendment aims to improve the efficiency of 
mandatory  domestic  minerals  processing/purification,  as 
required  under  Law  No  4  of  2009  on  Mineral  and  Coal 
Mining.  

Bank  of  Indonesia  Reg.  17/PBI/3//2015  obliges  individuals 
and  corporations  to  use  Rupiah  in  cash  and  non-cash 
transactions inside Indonesia and requires all price quotations 
to  be  in  Rupiah.  Effective  implementing  date  is  as  of  1  July 
2015.  

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9.06.2015  

25.06.2015 

07.2015 
(entry into force 
expected 01.2017) 

3.07.2015 
(effective 1.01. 2016) 

 9.07.2015 
(effective 
23.07.2015) 

14.07.2015 

Ministry  of  Finance  Reg.  107/2015  includes  the  products 
excluded from the luxury tax into the list of products subject 
to a 10% import income tax.  

Ministry  of  Trade  Reg.  No.45/M-DAG/PER/6/2015  on  the 
import of tyres. The Regulation introduced rules to be applied 
to the imports of all tyre categories on top of the existing SNI 
(mandatory Indonesian National Standard) import procedure, 
such as the LS/VO (Laporan Survey/Verification Order). The 
LS/VO  requires  a  surveyor  institution  entrusted  by  SNI  to 
check all the tyres prior to be  uploaded into the container in 
the  country  of  origin  and  issue  the  LS  document.  The 
consequences  of  this  request  will  affect  imports’  timing  and 
costs. The Regulation also restricted the entry of imports into 
designated  sea  ports  and  contained  provisions  on  quota 
import limitation by which every importer should propose its 
import  quota  to  the  Ministry  of  Industry  (New  Director-
General Industri Kimia, Tekstil dan Aneka) twice a year. The 
Regulation has, however, been revoked by the Regulation No. 
78/M-DAG/PER/6/2015, dated September 28, 2015. 

Ministerial  Decree  for  Local  Content  Requirements  for 
Telecommunications Technology (4G) imposed onerous local 
content  requirements  on  a  wide  range  of  technology  devices 
and products. 
Ministry of Trade Regulation No. 48/M-DAG/PER/7/2015 on 
General  Provision  of  Import  stipulates  that  importers  must 
acquire import licenses to import restricted goods before the 
goods enter the customs area.  Failure to comply is punishable 
by  the  suspension  of  the  Importer  Identification  Numbers 
(Angka  Pengenal  Importir/API).  The  Regulation,  however, 
does  not  elaborate  details  on  the  implementation  and 
sanctions. 

Ministry  of  Finance  Regulation  No.  132/PMK.010/2015,  on 
the  Third  Amendment  to  Stipulation  on  Classification  of 
Imported  Goods  and  Imposition  of  Import  Duty  Tariffs,  
aims to increase import duty tariffs of more than 60 product 
categories. The Regulation covers customs duty increases on 
more  than  1,000  products,  mostly  finished  and  consumer 
products, in some cases with duty increases of 300-600%. 

Ministry  of  Finance  Regulation  No.  136/PMK.010/2015, 
amending Reg. 75/2012 on CPO (Crude Palm Oil) and CPO 
derivatives export taxes introduces a fixed levy of 50 USD on 
CPO products and a USD $30 per metric ton levy on exports 
of  processed  palm  oil  products  if  the  CPO  price  falls  below 
750 per metric tonne.  

34 

 
 
14.09.2015 

28.09.2015 
(effective 1.01.2016) 

28.09.2015 
(effective 1.10.2015) 

1.10.2015 
(effective 
20.10.2015) 

Head of BPOM Reg. 12/2015 on the Oversight of Food and 
Drug  Imports  into  Indonesian  Territory,  features  a  “Priority 
SKI”, extending the validity of SKI, the Import Certificate, to 
6 months. SKI is transactional and must be obtained for every 
import  activity.  It  applies  to  food,  beverages,  drugs  and 
cosmetics. To obtain SKI, a Certificate of Analysis is needed. 
For  cosmetic  products,  it  includes  the  obligation  to  do  the 
heavy metal testing, amounting to IDR 5 billion for each test 
each  time  companies  apply  for  SKI,  for  every  SKU  (stock-
keeping unit). European cosmetic companies have thousands 
of SKUs in their product inventory of types and variants.  

Ministry of Trade Regulation No. 70/M-DAG/PER/9/2015 on 
Importer Identification Numbers (API) categories, i.e. API-P 
or  Producer  API  for  a  company  that  imports  goods  to  be 
internally  used  as  capital  goods,  raw  material,  additional 
material and/or supporting material in the production process, 
and API-U or General API for a company that imports certain 
goods  for  trade  purposes.  Each  type  of  importer  can  possess 
only  one  type  of  API,  and  which  can  only  be  owned  by  the 
company’s headquarter.   

Ministry of Trade Regulation 73/2015 on the Requirement to 
Affix  Label,  requiring  companies  that  produce  or  import 
goods  to  be  traded  in  the  Indonesian  market  to  put  Bahasa 
Indonesia label on their products. Nevertheless, the regulation 
relaxes  requirements  to  affix  label  in  Bahasa  Indonesia,  e.g. 
removing  SPKLBI  (Certificate  to  Use  Label  in  Bahasa 
Indonesia)  obligation  as  a  pre-clearance  import  document.  It 
revokes  the  previous  Reg.  No.  67/2013  and  its  revision  No. 
10/2014, on the same subject.  

Ministry of Transport Reg. PM 146/2015; second amendment 
to  the  Regulations  No.  78/2015  and  No.  74/2015  on  Freight 
Forwarding  Services,  enacting  BKPM  as  the  sole  licensing 
authority.    It states  sanction  procedures  for  foreign  and  joint 
venture  companies,  as  opposed  to  local  Governor  in  PM 
74/2015  which  exempted  local  freight  forwarders  from  high 
minimum  capital  requirement  –  subject  to  recommendation 
from  local  association  (ALFI).    Regulation  PM  74/2015  (of 
16.04.2015)  on  Freight  Forwarding  Services  significantly 
raised the  minimum capital requirements for foreign  or joint 
venture  companies  (not  applied  to  domestic  companies)  and 
restricted  the  area  where  foreign  freight  forwarders  can 
operate to a limited number of airports and seaports.  

35 

 
 
15.10.2015 

23.10.2015 

4.11.2015 
(effective 1.01.2016) 

Ministry  of  Trade  Regulation  No.  87/M-DAG/PER/10/2015 
(effective  from  01.01.2016  until  31.12.2018)  on  Import 
Provisions of Certain Products stipulates that only companies 
with  a  API-U  (General  Importer  Identity’s  Number)  license 
can 
import  certain  products,  i.e.  food  and  beverages, 
traditional  medicine  and  health  supplement,  cosmetic  and 
household  health  supply,  garments  and  textile  products, 
footwear, electronic and toys. Only traders or API-U holders 
are  allowed  to  import  these  finished  products  to  be  traded, 
while  producers  (API-P  holder)  are  prohibited  to  import 
finished  goods  to  be  traded.  It  takes  months  to  re-arrange 
related Import License and Permit.  

Ministry  of  Trade  Regulation  No.  86/M-DAG/PER/10/2015 
(adopted  15  October  2015,  effective  as  of  20.10.2015) 
provides  similar  requirements  relating  to  Batik  Textiles  and 
Batik Textiles Products. 

Ministry  of  Manpower  Reg.  35/2015  on  Employing  Foreign 
Workers  –  revising  Reg.  16/2015  –  states  that  temporary 
Employment  Plan  (RPTKA)  and  Work  Permit  (IMTA)  for 
foreign  workers  are  required  for  audits,  movie  production, 
machinery 
installation,  electrical,  after-sales  service,  or 
products  under  business  exploration  stage.  Domestic  Capital 
Investment  Company  (PMDN)  cannot  employ  a  foreign 
worker  as  a  Commissioner.  The  obligation  for  foreign 
workers to speak Bahasa Indonesia remains unregulated. 

Ministry  of  Trade  Regulation  No.  97/M-DAG/PER/11/2015 
on  Import  Provision  of  Forestry  Products  stipulates  that 
importation  of  forestry  products  may  only  be  conducted  by 
holders  of  API-U  or  API-P,  who  have  received  an  Import 
Approval from the Ministry of Trade. In order to acquire the 
Import  Approval,  each  company  must  first  acquire  a 
Recommendation  Letter  from  both  Ministry  of  Environment 
and Ministry of Forestry. However, no further clarification is 
provided  on  the  readiness  of  online  systems  to  acquire  the 
Recommendation  Letter, 
facing 
and 
difficulties as the system is not ready to process applications. 
Coordination  between  the  Ministry  of  Trade,  Ministry  of 
Environment and Ministry of Forestry is lacking.  

companies 

are 

10.11.2015 

The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) issued on 
November  3,  2015,  the  Reg.  No.  14  /POJK.05/2015  on  Self 
Retention  and  Support  to  Domestic  Reinsurance  Industry, 
granting preference to domestic reinsurance companies.  

36 

 
 
 
 
2014-2015 

2015 

In the process of 
internal discussions 
in the Parliament. 
Expected adoption in 
2016. 

Japan 

Listing decision 
taken on 26.2014. 
Initial public 
offerings on 
4.11.2015 

21.05.2015 

30.06.2015 

Quantitative  restrictions  that  were  temporarily  imposed  until 
March  2014  on  alcohol  have  been  maintained  throughout 
2015.  Discriminatory  taxation  rates  are  also  applied  (July 
2015 legislation). 

Draft  Law  on  prohibition  of  production,  sales,  purchasing 
and  distribution  of  alcohol  has  been  re-submitted  before  the 
Parliament for adoption. 

The Parliament has been working on a Draft Law on Tobacco 
and  has  produced  a  matrix  of  proposed  drafts  law,  which 
counts  the  restrictions  of  tobacco  used  in  the  production 
process  (80%  domestic  and  20%  imported).    It  plans  for  a 
much higher price and excise duty for imported tobacco and 
tobacco  products  (at  least  three  times  higher  than  the  price 
and excise duty for products using domestic tobacco), and a 
limitation  of  foreign  investment  in  the  country's  tobacco 
industry to only 45% of ownership. 

JAPAN  POST  REFORM/LISTING  OF  JAPAN  POST 
HOLDINGS:  initiation  of  public  offerings  for  the  holding 
company  and  its  2  subsidiaries  (JP  Insurance  and  JP  Bank). 
Japan Post Holdings continues to enjoy favourable regulatory 
treatment  even  after  its  privatisation  and  listing.  The  EMS 
(International  Express  Mail  Service)  provided  by  the  Japan 
Post  will  also  continue  to  enjoy  advantages  over  other 
operators  on  customs  clearance  procedures,  security  rules, 
quarantine and postal vehicle parking regulations.   

PARTNERSHIP  FOR  QUALITY  INFRASTRUCTURE:  As 
a response to AIIB, JBIC will fund public-private partnership 
infrastructure projects in Asia. 

JAPAN  REVITALIZATION  STRATEGY  III:  promotes 
overseas development of Japanese companies and exports of 
infrastructure systems. 

37 

 
 
 
 
Malaysia 

Items subject to import licensing requirements: 

23.09.2014 

26.01.2015 

26.01.2015 

1.07.2015 

9.10.2015 

26.01.2015 

26.01.2015 

9.10.2015 

2014- 2015 

26.12.2014 

Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Amendment (No. 3) Order 
2014,  expanding  the  list  of  goods  for  certain  tariff  lines 
subject to licensing  

Customs  (Prohibition  of  Imports)  Amendment  Order  2015, 
which  includes  a  new  item  (waste,  paring  and  scrap  of 
plastics) subject to licensing 

Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Amendment (No. 2) Order 
2015,  which  includes  a  new  item  (non-rechargeable  primary 
batteries) subject to licensing 

Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Amendment (No. 4) Order 
2015,  changing  the  description  of  some  items  of  electronic 
equipment,  notably  telecoms  related  equipment,    subject  to 
licensing 

Customs  (Prohibition  of  Imports)  (Amendment)  (No.  7) 
Order  2015,  which  bans  the  import  of  certain  goods 
containing  mercury  and  requires  licences  to  import  certain 
liquid filled electrical heating goods 

Items subject to export licensing requirements: 

Customs  Amendment  Order  2015  (Prohibition  of  Exports) 
which  changed  the  requirements  to  export  certain  rubber 
products in terms of licensing 

Customs  No  2.  Amendment  Order  2015  (Prohibition  of 
Exports)  which  changed  the  certifying  Ministry  for  certain 
products 

Customs  (Prohibition  of  Exports)  (Amendment)  (No.  3) 
Order  2015,  which  added  various  products  containing 
mercury to the list of prohibited exports 

Price  Control  and  Anti-Profiteering  (Determination  of 
Maximum Price) Measures: 

Price  Control  and  Anti-Profiteering  (Determination  of 
Maximum  Price)  Measures  which  establish  maximum  prices 
at  the  producer,  whole  and  retail  level  for  a  number  of 
products,  including  specifically  imported  products.  Orders 
2014  (No.  4  and  No.  5)  published  on  18  July  2014  and  17 
October.  Orders  2015  (No.  3  and  No.  5)  published  on  13 
February, 21 May and 6 July 2015. 

The  Price  Control  and  Anti  Profiteering  (Mechanism  To 
Determine  Unreasonably  High  Profit)  (Net  Profit  Margin) 
Regulations  2014  (Regulations  2014)  specify periods  for  the 
determination of unreasonably high profits from 2015 - 2016. 
During  these  periods  there  must  be  no  increment  in  the  net 
profit margin of any goods or services. 

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11.07.2014 

22.12.2014 

13.02.2015 

Mexico 

27.08.2014 

Control of supplies related measures: 

Control  of  Supplies  Act  (No.  3)  Order  2014.  It  includes  a 
number of items for the period from 14 July 2014 to 9 June 
2015, including specifically raw imported fruits. 

Control  of  Supplies  Act  (No.  6)  Order  2014.  It  includes  a 
number of articles for the period from 23 December 2014 to 
27 December 2014, including certain imported meat products. 

Control of Supplies Act Order 2015. It includes a number of 
articles under the Control of Supplies Act for the period from 
14  February  2015  to  25  February  2015,  including  imported 
round cabbage. 

Measures  to  protect  the  footwear  industry  from  unfair 
competition stemming from China:  

(1)  postponing  the  25-30%  MFN  tariff  cuts  scheduled  for 
January 2015 on footwear until February 2019;  

(2)  re-establishment  of  a  number  of  non-tariff  barriers 
previously eliminated. 

4.12.2014 

New  import  measures  in  the  textile  and  clothing  sector  to 
support local industry. 

10.12.2014 

Increased import duties on all 5 tariff lines related to rice.  

3.07.2015 

Temporary  restriction,  as  of  3  July  2015,  of  exports  of  live 
equidae  from  the  EU,  due  to  a  high  number  of  certification 
problems  encountered  with  exports  from  several  Member 
States. 

9.07.2015 

Measures to protect the steel industry from under-valued (and 
triangulated) imports of steel from China, including mainly: 

12.2015 

(1) temporary 15% MFN tariff on 97 tariff lines;  

(2)  addition  to  the  list  of  imported  products  subject  to  prior 
licensing  procedures  of  25  tariff  lines  belonging  to  HS 
chapters 72 and 73. 

Mid-December 2015 it was decided that as of 1 January 2016, 
Mexican  tax  authorities  will  enforce  sanctions  vis-à-vis 
airline  carriers  failing  to  transmit  Passenger  Name  Record 
(PNR) data to Mexico, despite a prior commitment not to do 
so pending the conclusion of a PNR agreement with the EU. 

39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nigeria 

4.12.2014 and 
18.08.2015 

24.12.2014 

31.03.2015 

1.07.2015 

Pakistan 

30.03.2015  

30.04.2015  

2015 

Philippines  

2014 proposed 

Russia 

7.08.2014 

TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/010 

and 
Circulars 
TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/012  from 
the  Central  Bank  of 
Nigeria authorising only Nigerian printing companies to print 
cheques books to be used in Nigeria. 

Regulations on National Content Development for the Power 
Sector  2014  issued  by  the  Nigerian  Electricity  Regulatory 
Commission – Requiring entities active in the power sector to 
give  first  consideration  to  qualified  Nigerian  companies  for 
the supply of goods, works and services and in the award of 
contracts. 

Circular  No  013/2015  from  the  Comptroller-General  of 
Customs - launching the ECOWAS Common External Tariff 
(CET),  replacing  all  previously  applied  levies  on  imported 
products  with  the  so-called  Import  Adjustment  Tax  (IAT), 
and including an updated import prohibition list.   

Circular TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/012 from the Central Bank 
of Nigeria - listing 41 items the import of which has become 
ineligible  for  foreign  exchange  from  the  Nigerian  interbank 
market and the Bureau de Change market.  

SRO  254(I)  2015  introduces  a  25%  regulatory  duty  on 
imports of wheat and its products. 

SRO 393(I) 2015 introduces a 7% duty on imports of furnace 
oil. 

Pakistan is in the process of establishing an EXIM Bank. It is 
anticipated  that  it  will  start  functioning  in  the  second 
semester  of  2016.  It  will  announce  specific  packages  for 
promoting  exports  and 
trade 
financing.    

imports  with  subsidised 

Two bills have been proposed (House Bills 4728 and 5058) in 
Congress  and  in  the  Senate,  prohibiting  any  unprocessed 
minerals  or  mineral  ores  for  export,  foreseeing  severe 
sanctions  and  imposing  new  licenses  for  transportation. 
Explicit  language  includes  a  'complete  ban  on  the  export  of 
unprocessed  mineral  ores  to  encourage  the  growth  and 
develop  the  capability  of  mineral  processing  industry  in  the 
country'  and  'requiring  all  extracted  minerals  be  processed 
within the country before export'. 

Import  ban  on  agricultural  and  dairy  products  and  on  meat 
originating  from  the  EU  (Decree  No.560  of  6  August  2014 
and Resolution No.778 of 7 August 2014). 

06.2014- 06.2015 

Since June 2014, Russia adopted a number of restrictive SPS 
measures in addition to the broad political ban on agricultural 
products of 7 August 2014: 

27.06.2014 

1.  Embargo  on  beef  trimmings  (FS-EN  7/11169  of  26  June 

2014, amended by FS-EN 7/11255 of 27 June 2014). 

40 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
30.07.2014 

10.09.2014 

1.10.2014, 
21.04.2015 

21.10.2014 

30.11.2014 

30.12.2014 

20.02.2015 

5.04.2015 

4.06.2015 

2. Ban on fruits and vegetables imports from Poland (FS-AC-

3/13867 of 30 July 2014). 

3. Ban on import of third country plant products if they are re-
exported  from  Poland  (10  September  2014,  not  officially 
notified, reported by Russian services/press). 

4. Ban on imports of raw hides and skins between 1 October 
2014 and 1 April 2015, renewed from 25 May 2015 to 25 
November 2015 (Resolution N 378 of 21 April 2015).   

5.  Ban  on  imports  of  a  number  of  animal  products  as  of  21 
October 2014, (offal and animal fat, not covered by the 7 
August  2014  ban).  This  was  extended  on  25  November 
2014  to  by-products  and  fat  used  for  food  purposes 
(Resolution No. FC-EN-8/20219 of 20 October 2014). 

6.  Prohibition  of  transit  through  Russia  of  banned  animal 
products  unless  entering  from  a  limited  list  of  specified 
border posts (entry via Belarus excluded) (Resolution No. 
778  of  7  August  2014;  Decree  560  of  6  August  2014 
amended by Decree No. 320 of 24 June 2015; Decrees of 
Rosselkhoznadzor  No.  FS-NV-  7/22888  of  21  November 
2014,  No.  FS-AS-3/22924  of  21  Nov.  2014,  No.  FSAS- 
7/24997  of  17  December  2014  setting  checkpoints  which 
should be used for import of goods.  

7.  Temporary  restrictions  on  poultry  meat  and  all  kinds  of 
poultry products that have not undergone heat treatment (at 
least 70 ° C), on feed and feed additives for poultry (except 
feed additives chemical and microbiological synthesis) and 
on  used  equipment  for  the  maintenance,  slaughtering  and 
butchering of birds, originating from the whole territory of 
Italy. 

8.  Ban  of  Polish  cheese-like  products  made  by  Ostrawia 
producers. In the modification of the political embargo that 
took place in June 2015, products under CN code 1901 90 
990  0  were  added  to  the  banned  list,  i.e.  food  stuffs  and 
finished products manufactured on the basis of the cheese 
production  technologies  and  containing  1.5  %  or  more  of 
milk  fat  and  foods  (milk  containing  products  on  the  basis 
of vegetable fats). Therefore, also cheese-like products are 
covered by the “7 August 2014 ban”. 

9.  Ban  on  the  re-export  of  plant  products  with  regard  to 

Bulgaria. 

10. Ban on imports of canned fish from Latvia and Estonia. 

41 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14.07.2014-
2.12.2015 

14.07. 2014 

11.08.2014 

1.09.2014 

31.01.2015 

5.02.2015 

29.06.2015/11. 2015 

2.12.2015 

09.2014 (legal basis 
adopted only on 
20.12.2014) 

Russia  adopted  a  series  of  sectorial  measures  restricting 
access 
following 
procurement 
sectors/products: 

public 

the 

for 

to 

1.  Imported  vehicles  –  Gov.  Decree  N  656  of  14.07.2014 
'On  establishing  a  ban  on  access  of  some  type  of 
engineering  products  from  foreign  countries  to  public 
procurement'. 

2.  Certain types of textile/footwear – Gov. Decree N791 of 
11.08.2014  'On  establishing  a  ban  on  access  of  light 
industry  goods 
to  public 
procurement' (entry into force on 1 September 2014)  

foreign  countries 

from 

3.  Light  industry  imports  –  Gov.  Decree  N  791  of 
01.09.2014  'On  establishing  a  ban  on  access  of  light 
industry  goods 
to  public 
procurement' – Relates to textiles and footwear. 

foreign  countries 

from 

4.  Machinery  and  equipment  –  Gov.  Decree  N  84  of  31. 
01.2015  'Amendments  to  the  Gov.  Decree  N656  of  14 
07.2014 -  Relates  to  transport  vehicles  (entry  into  force 
on 11 February 2015). 

5.  Medical devices – Gov. Decree N102 of 05.02.2015 'On 
limiting  access  of  some  kinds  of  medical  devices  from 
foreign countries to public procurement'. 

6.  Software - Russia has adopted law No 188 FZ on 29 June 
2015  on  software  and  the  procurement  activities  of 
government bodies (entry into force on 1 January 2016), 
establishing  criteria  to  distinguish  local  companies  from 
foreign  companies.  Moreover,  in  November  2015,  PM 
Medvedev  has  signed  a  decree  obliging  to  buy  only 
software  listed  in  the  special  registry  of  domestic 
software  for  public  procurement  purposes.  Purchases  of 
foreign  software  are  permitted  only  when  there  is  no 
similar  domestic  software.    The  decree  took  effect  on  1 
January 2016.  

7.  Pharmaceuticals:  on  2  December  2015,  PM  Medvedev 
signed a decree restricting public procurement purchases 
of  imported  pharmaceuticals  included  in  the  list  of 
crucially important pharmaceuticals.   

The  Russian  government  has  put  in  place  since  September 
2014 a subsidy scheme for the car sector presented as a scrap 
premium  programme  (extended  for  2015).  This  measure 
relies on Decree 1433 of 20 December 2014 setting Rules for 
providing  subsidies  from  the  Federal  budget  to  Russian 
producers of wheeled vehicles for the compensation of a part 
of the costs related to production.  This is in the framework of 
the 
the 
"Automobile 
governmental  programme  "Development  of  industry  and 
increase of its competitiveness" (amended by Decree N° 244 
of  18  March  2015).  Eligibility  for  this  subsidy  scheme  is 
conditioned on the respect of local content requirements. 

sub-programme 

industry" 

of 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14.10.2014 

30.07.2014   

1.02.2015 

16.04.2015 

23.06.2015 

Russia adopted a law limiting the share of foreign ownership 
in Russian mass media outlets to 20% and aiming to remove 
control over editorial policy from commercial ownership (law 
N305-FZ).  The  law  came  into  force  as  of  1  January  2016. 
Current  media  owners  will  have  until  1  February  2017  to 
bring their holdings into compliance.  

Regulation 728 of 30 July 2014 amends Regulation N1432 of 
27 December 2012 which provides subsidies to the producers 
and  consumers  of 
farm  equipment  and  agricultural 
machinery,  to  which  the  Russian  manufacturer  of  grain 
harvesters  (Combine  Plant  Rostselmash)  has  preferential 
access. 
for 
manufacturers  (from  15%  of  the  selling  price  to  25%  and 
even  30%  if  the  agricultural  producers  are  established  in 
Crimea).  

In  particular, 

the  subsidies 

increases 

it 

Russia imposed an export duty of 15% on wheat plus €7.5 or 
at least €35 per ton. 

Resolution  of  the  Russian  government  N°  364  of  16  April 
2015  sets  up  a  program  of  preferential  car  loans  for 
purchasing  domestically  produced  cars.  This  new  state 
programme,  limited  to  locally  produced  cars,  entered  into 
force  on  1  April  2015  to  last  at  least  until  the  end  of 
2015. The  Ministry  of  Industry  and  Trade  will  compensate 
the interest rate cost (9.33% or 2/3 of the Central Bank rate) 
of such car loans.  

Russia  may  lay  down  additional  rules  concerning  the 
procurement  by  Russian  State-owned  enterprises  in  order  to 
formalize  the  policy  of  giving  preference  to  Russian  goods. 
On  23  June  2015,  the  Government  proposed  to  amend  the 
legislation  on  State-owned  enterprises  (Law  N223-FZ  of  18 
July 2011) and introduced additional supervision powers for 
government  agencies  over  the  purchases  by  State-owned 
companies,  giving  it  more  possibilities  to  direct  their 
procurement  practices.  This  leads  to  restrictions  of  foreign 
companies' access to such procurement, often in accordance 
with multiannual plans of import substitution implemented at 
company  level  pending  further  legislative  action.  Based  on 
this proposal ("On the purchases of goods, works, services by 
certain  categories  of  legal  persons"),  a  law  on  procurement 
by  SOEs  is  in  preparation  (draft  law  n°  821534-6,  first 
reading  in  the  Duma  on  15  September  2015,  no  further 
legislative developments). 

43 

 
 
 
03.09.2015 (entry 
into force 7.03.2016) 

No date of entry into 
force yet. Federal 
Consultations with 
Eurasian Economic 
Union (EAEU) took 
place in 07.2015 

Saudi Arabia  08.2015 

South Africa 

22.08.2014 
06.02.2015 
25.09.2015 
04.12.2015 

to  be  put  on 

A  new  Government  Resolution  of  3  September  2015 
extended  to  cement  the  list  of  products  requiring 
certification 
the  market.  Cement 
certification rules  are detailed in a new GOST  standard 
("gosudarstvennyy  standart")  adopted  on  11  January 
2016 and applicable as of 1 February 2016. Compared to 
locally  produced  cement,  imported  cement  from  third 
countries  (EEU  countries  excluded)  are  subject  to 
additional  controls/tests  (of  each  shipment  imported)  to 
verify compliance with the GOST standard. 

Russia  has  prepared  a  pilot  project  for  allowing  parallel 
imports (i.e. shifting from the regional exhaustion principle of 
trademarks  to  the  international  exhaustion  principle)  in  the 
sectors including medicines, medical devices and car parts. 

The  Saudi  government  has  announced  its  plan  to  introduce 
value-added  taxes  (VAT),  in  particular  on  luxury  goods, 
tobacco, energy drinks and similar products, which will have 
an immediate impact on trade. 
Increase in the general MFN rate of duty: 

- 

- 

- 
- 

on  wire  of  iron  or  non-alloy  steel,  plated  or  clad  with 
other base metals from free to 10% (22/08/2014). 
on certain wire products from 5% to 15% and on certain 
helical springs from 5% to 30% (06/02/2015) 
on certain steel products from free to 10%. (25/09/15) 
on  certain  large  bore  steel  pipes  from  10%  to  15%. 
(04/12/2015) 

22.08.2014 

Increase in the general MFN rate of duty: 

03.10.2014 
10.10.2014 

03.10.2014 and 
10.03.2015 

10.04.2015 

- 

on vitrifiable enamels and similar preparations from free 
to 5%  

Increase in the general MFN rate of duty: 

- 
- 

on paper and paperboard to 5% and 10%. (03/10/2014) 
on  certain  paper  products  of  paperboard  coated, 
impregnated  or  covered  with  plastic  or  metal  foil  from 
free to 5% (10/10/2014) 

Increase in the general MFN rate of duty: 

- 

on  preserved  mussels  from  5.5  c/kg  to  25%  on 
03/10/2014.  And  on  10/03/2015  increased  duties  on 
mussels  to  match  duties  implemented  on  2012  on 
fresh and smoked mussels 
Increase in the general MFN rate of duty: 

- 

on  lead  acid  batteries  used  for  starting  piston  engines 
from 5% to 15%  

44 

 
 
12.09.2014 and 
30.01.2015 

24.10.2014, 
15.11.2015, and 
07.2015 

Amended  export  Control  Guidelines  on  the  exportation  of 
Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Waste and Scrap and review of the 
discount  rates  in  the  PPS  for  ferrous  and  non/ferrous  waste 
and scrap.  The discount rate (below international spot prices) 
at  which  the  scrap  must  first  be  offered  on  the  domestic 
market  is  increased  from  20%  to  30%  for  steel  scrap  metal 
and 20% to 25% for aluminium scrap metal. 
B-BBEE Amendment Act in effect from 24 October 2014 and 
its amended Codes of Good Practice from 1 May 2015. The 
changes  are  aimed  at  guaranteeing  stricter  compliance, 
placing  more  emphasis  on  direct  debt-free  black  ownership, 
as  well  as  broadening 
influence.  This 
significantly affects not only the ability to successfully tender 
for  Government  and public  entity  tenders,  but  also to  secure 
private  contracts,  for  example,  for  firms  whose  customers 
require a minimum B-BBEE status from suppliers.  

its  sphere  of 

Also  as  part  of  the  B-BBEE  framework,  some  sectors  have 
their own “transformation charters” or Sector Codes intended 
to accelerate empowerment within these areas. Sector Charter 
Councils  were  given  until  15  November  2015  to  amend  the 
Sector Codes, otherwise they would revert back to the general 
generic codes. 

28.11.2014 and 
13.08.2015 

01.2015 (has not 
made it into 
Parliament; still 
being re-discussed at 
service level) 

compulsory 

specifications 

the  National  Regulator 

The  Draft  Amendment  to  the  Preferential  Procurement 
Regulation  was  forwarded  for  comments  by  the  Treasury  on 
several points. 
Compulsory  specifications  for  energy  efficiency  and  the 
labelling  of  electrical  and  electronic  apparatus  under  the 
terms  of 
for  Compulsory 
Specifications Act (NRCS) 2008, which will be rolled out in 
are 
three  phases.  These 
burdensome  and  costly.  Phases  2  and  3  were  extended  in 
August 2015 by a period of six months. 
and  Petroleum  Resources 
The  Amended  Mineral 
Development  Act 
includes  many 
controversial  provisions,  not  least  of  which  is  a  provision 
which  allows  mining  companies  to  be  compelled  by  the 
government  to  sell  minerals  at  an  “agreed  price”  for  local 
beneficiation.  Parliament  approved  the  MPRDA  Bill  on  12 
March 2014, but on January 2015, President Zuma sent back 
the Amended Bill to Parliament, among other reasons, on the 
basis  that  it  contravenes  international  trade  legislation 
particularly  on  the  matter  of  quantitative  restrictions  on 
exports. 

(MPRDA)  of  2013 

45 

 
 
 
 
09.11.2015 

South Korea 

24.10.2014 

Introduction  of  a  revised  Promotion  and  Protection  of 
Investment Bill in Parliament on July 2015. On 9 November 
2015 the Bill, now called the "Protection of Investment Bill", 
was  approved  by  the  National  Assembly.  It  has  been  sent  to 
the National Council of Provinces where it will be processed 
before being sent to the president for his final approval.  
The  Investment  Bill  has  generated  intense  controversy, 
particularly  with  regards  to  the  standard  of  protection  of 
foreign  investments  in  South  Africa  and  the  uncertainty  it 
creates 
  Among  others 
controversial  elements,  the  Bill  lacks  a  standard  "fair  and 
equitable treatment" clause, capable of covering situations of 
indirect  expropriation,  and  only  foreseeing  state-to-state 
arbitration. It also includes a wide-ranging list of provisions 
ensuring the widest discretion in respect of the State's right to 
regulate. 

investments. 

term 

long 

for 

for 

tender  de 

On  October  24,  2014,  The  Korea  Gas  Corporation  (Kogas) 
opened a call for tender for the construction and lease of six 
LNG  carriers  destined  to  transport  liquefied  natural  gas 
(LNG).  This  call 
the 
participation  of  foreign  companies.  In  addition,  certain 
technical  specifications  included  in  the  tender  revealed 
Kogas's clear intention to favor and ensure the emergence of 
a  Korean 
in 
technology,  which  was  deemed 
contradiction  with  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  EU-Korea 
FTA and the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement of 
1994.  

facto  excluded 

to  be 

30.06.2015 

2015 (adopted 
4.02.2016) 

The  Public  Procurement  Service  (PPS)  published  a  call  for 
tender  open  to  non-Korean  companies  on  June  23,  2015  in 
order to carry out a procurement procedure for the purchase 
of a multipurpose helicopter on behalf of the National Police 
Agency.  However, 
the  awarded 
international tender only a few days later on June 30, 2015. 

the  PPS  cancelled 

In 2015, the government of South Korea prepared a reform of 
Legal  services  containing  several  conditions  that  may  delay 
the creation of joint ventures and dissuade foreign law firms 
from establishing joint ventures in South Korea, including by 
requiring that foreign firms may form joint ventures only with 
South Korean entities in existence for three years. The reform 
was passed by the National Assembly as amendments to the 
Foreign Legal Consultant Act on 4 February 2016. 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
2015 

Switzerland 

1.07.2015 

12.2015 

18.12.2015 

Taiwan 

4.12.2014 

20.10.2015 

The  Customs  Service  of  South  Korea  had  proposed  to 
eliminate  on-site  customs  inspections  through  a  common 
terminal  for  express  carriers.  While  the  proposed  terminal, 
which  will  be  fully  operational  by  the  3Q  of  2016,  was 
initially  intended  to  consolidate  customs  inspections  of 
shipments  by  express  operators  who  did  not  have  a 
permanent  facility  at  Incheon  Airport,  this  was  extended,  in 
2014,  to  cover  all  express  operators.  However,  it  now 
appears  that  the  Customs  Service  does  no  longer  intend  to 
provide  this  one-stop  service  to  express  operators  who  have 
already invested in permanent facilities at Incheon Airport. 

On 1 July 2015, the Swiss government submitted a proposal 
on  the  revision  of  the  Posted  Workers  Act  to  the  Swiss 
Parliament. The  government  proposed  to  increase  the  upper 
limit  of  administrative  penalties  for  infringement  of  the 
minimal  wage  and  work  conditions  (from  5 000  to  30 000 
Swiss 
the 
francs).  The  Swiss  Parliament  will  discuss 
government's proposal during the first half of 2016.  

In  the  framework  of  the  debate  on  the  2016  budget,  the 
Parliament  approved  export 
for  processed 
agricultural  products  in  the  amount  of  94.6  million  Swiss 
francs.  

subsidies 

On 18 December 2015, both Chambers of Parliament adopted 
the revised law on custom tariffs, moving uncooked seasoned 
meat  (CN  code  1602.5099)  from  chapter  16  to  chapter  2  of 
the customs tariff. This means an increase of the quota tariff 
from CHF 638 to CHF 2000 per 100kg. 
The  Ministry  of  Finance  announced  the  tightening  of  the 
commodity  tax  benefit  scheme  for  hybrid  vehicles.  Most  of 
the imported hybrid vehicles, in particular those from the EU, 
no longer qualify for tax benefits, putting EU car makers in a 
disadvantaged position. 

Starting  20 October  2015,  the  Agriculture  and  Food  Agency 
(AoA)  prohibited  organic  olive  oil  exported  from  EU  MS 
from  being  sold  as  'organic'  in  the  market  based  on  a  very 
restrictive 
the  "Organic  Agricultural 
Products  and  Organic  Agricultural  Processed  Products 
Certification Management Regulation" (in force since 26 July 
2007 but AoA has stepped up its testing in 2015), making it 
virtually impossible to enter the market. 

interpretation  of 

47 

 
 
29.10.2015 

The  National  Treasury  Administration  of  the  Ministry  of 
Finance  banned  around  200  bottles  of  European  wine  from 
being  imported  into  Taiwan  due  to  higher  than  allowed 
methanol  content.  The  threshold  for  methanol  (2000mg  per 
liter  ethanol),  set  by  Taiwan's  Hygiene  Standard  of  Alcohol 
Products is not in compliance with the  relevant international 
standard set by the OIV. While the standard itself is not new 
(the  Act  on  Hygiene  Standard  of  Alcohol  Products  has  been 
in force since 19 April 2000), NTA has not tested  European 
wine  for  methanol  previously  and  the  inconsistency  has  not 
been 
the 
international standards results in a trade barrier (in addition to 
damaging the brand image of European wines). 

identified  earlier.  This 

inconsistency  with 

Thailand 

Late 2014 

Proposal  for  the  Foreign  Business  Act  amendment:  An 
attempt to impose further restrictions on foreign participation 
in  business  sectors  was  made.    Given  strong  concern  from 
foreign  investors  regarding  the  potential  impact  on  foreign 
investment  (one  of  the  main  concerns  reported  over  the 
reporting  period),  the  proposal  was  finally  withdrawn  (and 
therefore not counted in the current report). 

1.01.2015 

26.03.2015 

22.04.2015 

the  geographical 

A  new  investment  strategy  covering  a  seven  year  period 
(2015  – 2021)  entered  into  effect  as  from  1  January  2015.  
The  strategy  is  developed  with  the  objective  to  move  away 
investment  zone-based  approval 
from 
criteria  to  a  new  concept  based  on  prioritized  industry 
clusters/sectors, activities and merits e.g. investment in R&D, 
technological 
product/packaging 
design, contribution to local suppliers' development, etc. The 
strategy  also  includes  certain  subsidies  closely  linked  to 
exports. 

development/transfer, 

New  Sports  Act  imposing  an  additional  2%  excise  tax  to  be 
paid  to  the  Ministry  of  Finance  by  exporters,  importers  and 
producers  on  alcohol  and  tobacco  in  order  to  support  the 
sports  agenda.  The  tax  builds  upon  existing  tax  system 
imposing  a  higher  excise  tax  rate  on  imports  of  spirits  and 
thus  increasing  the  level  of  discrimination  on  certain  spirits 
(imported vodka, gin versus local white spirits). 

for 

regarding 
labelling 

Thailand  (Office  of  Alcohol  Beverages  Control  Committee) 
submitted  an  additional  TBT  notification  on  "Alcoholic 
rules,  procedures  and 
Beverage  Control", 
conditions 
beverages 
alcoholic 
(G/TBT/N/THA/437/Add.1).  The  measure  mandates  a  more 
stringent  set  of  criteria  for  alcoholic  beverage  labelling  and 
raises  concerns  regarding  administrative  complexity  in  the 
label approval process and lack of clarity in scope. It entered 
into  force  on  22  April  2015  (with  a  transitional  period  of  6 
months  for  compliance  with  the  new  labelling  requirements 
until  18  October  2015).  While  the  adopted  new  alcoholic 
beverage  labelling  requirement  does  not  yet  include  a 
graphic  health  warning  requirement,  such  a  graphic  health 
warning  labelling  proposal  is  still  being  discussed  despite  a 
number of concerns previously raised by trading partners. 

48 

 
 
 
N/A [expected date 
of adoption 
unknown] 

N/A [expected date 
of adoption 
Unknown]. 

N/A [Expected 
effective date: 
03.2016] 

Tunisia 

Late 2014 

A policy to transform Thailand into a "digital economy" was 
set  up  with  a  number  of  legal  proposals  to  implement  the 
policy. Some of these legal proposals raise concern regarding 
the  independence  of  the  regulator  and  the  protection  of 
personal  data,  as  they  would  grant  broad  authority  to  the 
government, including the power to control the regulator and 
acquire  digital  information  from  both  public  and  private 
entities.  This  could  raise  questions  on  compatibility  with 
the  separation  of 
Thailand's  GATS  commitments  on 
regulatory activities and operators.  

The  Draft  Milk  Code:  While  the  objective  of  the  law  is  to 
promote  breast  feeding,  the  draft  law  also  imposes  stringent 
restrictions  on  milk  product's  marketing  that  could  be 
considered  to  go  beyond  international  standards.  The  draft 
Milk Code was approved by the Cabinet on 1 December 2015 
with some reservations from the Ministry of Commerce on the 
alignment  with 
international  standards  and  consumer's 
access  to  information  and  sent  to  the  Council  of  State.  The 
draft  will  be  subject  to  the  National  Legislative  Assembly's 
consideration before being passed to a law (unknown date). 

Excise tax reform: Moving excise tax base from ex-factory or 
CIF  prices  to  "suggested  retail  prices"  (higher  tax  base) 
There are concerns about the transparency of application of 
this measure. Moreover certain statutory rates (ceilings) are 
proposed  to  increase,  giving  further  room  to  potential 
discrimination. 

Tightening  of  “tax  privilege  quotas”  on  the  import  of  cars, 
with “in-quota” imports benefiting from reduced consumption 
taxes,  while  imports  of  "out  of  quota"  cars  (although 
theoretically legal) are de facto impossible, as cars importers 
would have to pay the full consumption tax making the cars 
prohibitively  expensive.  Since  late  2014,  the  Ministry  of 
trade,  which  manages  the  granting  of  such  “tax  privilege 
quotas”,  has  moreover  put  pressure  on  importers  of  cars  to 
postpone their orders, delay payments, and overall reduce the 
value of cars imported. 

49 

 
 
 
Early 2015 

Tightening of informal restrictions on imports of certain types 
of tyres, including a de facto prohibition to import some types 
of  tyres  which  are  produced  by  the  local  manufacturer,  and 
for some other types of tyres, the obligation to purchase 30% 
of the importer's requirements locally in order to get approval 
to import the remaining 70%. In addition, imported tyres were 
subjected  to  consumption  taxes,  whereas  locally  produced 
ones  appeared  not  to  be.  Following  demarches  from  the  EU 
and  Japan,  the  Tunisian  Minister  of  industry  announced  that 
all  restrictions  would  be  removed  by  the  end  of  2015.  The 
finance  law  for  2016,  adopted  by  Parliament  in  December 
2015,  abolished  all  consumption 
thus 
eliminating  any  potential  discrimination  between  locally 
produced  and  imported  tyres.  As  of  early  2016,  operators 
however  still  have  to  confirm  whether,  following  the 
announcement 
industry,  all 
the  Tunisian  Minister  of 
remaining restrictions to the import of tyres have effectively 
been removed as planned. 

taxes  on 

tyres, 

Turkey 

2.08.2014 

18.02.2015 

20.06.2015 

6.02.2015 

Governmental Decisions (Cabinet Decrees) impose additional 
customs duties: 

* Cabinet Decree No. 2014/669  imposing additional customs 
duties on imports of footwear  

imposing  additional 
*  Cabinet  Decree  No.  2015/7252 
customs duty on imports of carpets, rugs and similar products  

*  Cabinet  Decree  No.  2015/7722 
imposing  additional 
customs  duty  on  imports  of  travel  goods,  handbags  and 
similar containers  

Governmental Decisions (Cabinet Decrees) impose additional 
customs duties: 

* Cabinet Decree No.2015/7241 imposing additional customs 
duty on imports of 129 different items such as screwdrivers, 
shovels, mattocks, axes, hand sows, and pliers 

23.05.2015 
7.06.2015 

Governmental Decisions (Cabinet Decrees) impose additional 
customs duties: 

*  Cabinet  Decree  No.  2015/7699 
customs duty on imports of some furniture and their parts 

imposing  additional 

* Cabinet Decree No. 2015/7712 and No.2015/7713 imposing 
additional  customs  duty  on  imports  of  certain  lamps  and 
home appliances  

18.10.2014 
5.07.2015 

Governmental Decisions (Cabinet Decrees) impose additional 
customs duties: 

* Cabinet Decree No.2014/6884 imposing additional customs 
duty  on  imports  of  forged  bars  or  rods  of  iron  or  non-alloy 
steel and duty increase on certain steel products  

*  Cabinet  Decree  No.  2015/7749 
imposing  additional 
customs  duty  on  imports  of  certain  steel  and  iron  products 
(bars and rods, wires, nails etc.)  

50 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24.10.2014 

08.2015 

12.2015 

5 and 16.03.2015,  
14 and 27.08.2015 
and 19.11.2015 

14.08.2015 

Through  a  circular  that  entered  into  force  on  24  October 
2014, exporters of enzymes or food containing enzymes were 
asked  to  provide  the  Ministry  of  Food,  Agriculture  and 
Livestock  a  certificate  confirming  that  the  organism  from 
which  the  enzymes  are  obtained  is  not  genetically  modified. 
The  practice  blocked  the  imports  until  a  clarification  was 
provided  by 
the 
requirement  for  enzymes  was  removed  as  from  5  May  2015 
through  another  circular  by  the  Ministry.  However,  the 
requirement  still  remains  for  the  products  that  contain  live 
organisms such as yeasts. 

the  Biosafety  Board.  Subsequently, 

Local  content  requirements  were  imposed  in  the  tender 
specifications for the 4.5G mobile tender that was concluded 
in August 2015 

The  Communiqué  on  the  Implementation  of  the  Industry 
Cooperation  Programme  (ICP)  in  the  Field  of  Healthcare 
Services  was  promulgated  in  the  Official  Gazette  on  20 
December  2015.  The  ICP  programme  specifies  several 
obligations 
local  content 
the  contractor  such  as 
requirements. 

for 

Several  modifications  to  a  2012  decree  on  the  investment 
incentives package: 

-  extended  the  field  of  application  of  the  incentives  in  the 
sector  of  chemicals  and  chemical  substances  from  21 
provinces  to  41  more  provinces  (excluding  Istanbul)  and 
including  refined  petroleum  products  as  a  sector  to  benefit 
from regional state supports (again excluding Istanbul). 

- extended interest rate support for strategic investments and 
sectors that could benefit from incentives and reduced certain 
minimum  investment  thresholds.-  extended  the  scope  of 
strategic  investments  (projects  with  a  fixed  investment  of 
more  than  3  billion  TL  will  also  be  considered  strategic 
investments).  

-  included  manufacturing  of  turbines  and  generators  for  the 
generation of renewable energy and wings for the generation 
of wind energy among the priority investment areas. 

The  government  adopted  the  23rd  amendment  to  the  decree 
94/6401  on  state  aid  related 
to  exports.  Accordingly, 
programmes  which  aim  at  improving  the  foreign  trade 
balance  can  also  benefit  from  state  aid  along  with  R&D 
programmes,  whereas  a  clear  definition  of  "programmes 
improving foreign trade balance" was not provided. 

51 

 
 
 
 
Ukraine 

adopted on 
10.07.2015 and 
entered into force in 
11.2015  

1.03.2015, (removed 
on 31.12.2015) 

2015 

United  States 
of America 

2.09.2014 

Measure introduced 
in 01.2015 [unkown 
future date of 
adoption] 

The  President  of  Ukraine  signed  a  wood  export  ban  via  the 
Law on "State rules on activities of economic entities related 
to  the  distribution  and  exports  of  wood"  on  9th  July  2015, 
which entered into force on 10th July. This Act provides: (i) a 
moratorium  (a  ban)  on  the  exports  of  raw  round  wood 
(excluding pine wood) for 10 years as of 1st November 2015; 
(ii)  a  moratorium  (a  ban)  on  the  exports  of  pine  raw  round 
wood for 10 years, being applied from 1st January 2017 and 
(iii) the obligation to obtain certificates of origin by Ukrainian 
exporters of round wood (except for the ones covered by the 
aforementioned  moratorium)  and  sawn  timber  issued  by  the 
relevant  forest  districts  in  order  to  be  exported  outside  of 
Ukraine  (Art.  I  point.  3  -  taking  effect  three  months  after 
publication). 

An import surcharge of 5-10% (5% for all goods, except 10% 
for  agricultural  products  and  0%  for  a  limited  number  of 
products such as pharmaceuticals) was adopted as a "balance 
of  payments  measure"  (GATT  article  XVIII).  It  was 
subsequently discussed in the balance of payment committee 
of  the  WTO,  where  no  consensus  was  reached.  It  was 
temporary and came to an end on 31 December 2015. 

The legislation of Ukraine, in accordance with the obligations 
of  Ukraine  under  the  protocol  of  accession  in  WTO, 
establishes an export duty rate for ferrous scrap in the amount 
of 10 Euro/ton. In addition, a law on ferrous scrap envisages 
mandatory  registration  of  contracts  for  export  of  ferrous 
scrap. A draft law (bill 2031a) proposes to increase the export 
duty  for  ferrous  scrap  to  30  Euro/ton  for  3  years,  which 
would be incompatible both with Ukraine WTO's commitment 
and the DCFTA which has come into force on 1st January. It 
was put on the agenda for the first time on 16 June 2015 and 
several times since then, but has not been discussed so far. 

Protectionist  application  of  existing  regulations:  on  2 
December 2013, an EU airline, Norwegian Air International 
(NAI),  applied  to  the  U.S.  Department  of  Transportation 
(DOT)  for  a  Foreign  Air  Carrier  Permit  and  an  Exemption 
Authority  that  would  allow  it  to  commence  air  services 
between  points  in  the  EU  and  points  in  the  US.   NAI’s 
application  for  the  permanent  Foreign  Air  Carrier  Permit 
remains  pending  at  DOT,  despite  DOT's  obligation  to  grant 
applications  with  “minimal  procedural  delay”  stated  in  the 
EU-US air transport (so-called “open skies”) agreement. On 
2  September  2014  the  DOT  issued  an  Order  dismissing  on 
procedural  grounds  the  application  by  NAI  for  Exemption 
Authority (i.e. temporary permission).  

Texas  -  In  January  2015,  a  draft  bill  (HB  1007)  was 
introduced,  which  would  establish  exceptionally  strict 
domestic  content  requirements  (60%  of  components  by  cost 
must be American and final assembly must occur in America) 
for  any  state  procurement  contract  related  to  construction 
projects.  

52 

 
 
 
Measure introduced 
in 02.2015 [unkown 
future date of 
adoption] 

Measure introduced 
on 6.03.2015 
[unkown future date 
of adoption] 
Measure introduced 
in 05.2015 [unkown 
future date of 
adoption] 
4.12.2015 

the  draft  Buy  American 
Maine  -  In  February  2015, 
legislation  (LD  407)  was  introduced.  The  bill  would  require 
state agencies to purchase goods that are U.S. manufactured 
for  all  state  contracts.  The  definition  of  “made  in  America” 
has  yet  to  be  established  and  would  be  created  upon  its 
passage.  

The  Department  of  Transportation  (DOT)  issued  a  notice  of 
proposed  rulemaking  (80  FR  12092,  pp.  12092-12094)  to 
modify its regulations governing hiring preference provisions 
in DOT funded contracts.  

In May, the House passed the National Defense Authorization 
Act  (NDAA)  for  FY  2016,  which  includes  a  provision 
increasing  the  simplified  acquisition  threshold  from  its 
current level of $150,000 to $500,000.  

On  December  4,  2015  President  Obama  signed  into  a  law  a 
five-year,  US  $305  billion  spending  act  named  "Fixing 
America’s Surface Transportation Act" (FAST Act). The new 
law  gradually 
for 
the  Federal  Transit 
procurement  of  rolling  stock  for 
Administration from the current 60% to 70% by 2020. 

increases  domestic  content 

rules 

Vietnam 

1.08.2014 

23.03.2015 

New  draft  Decree  on  Information  Technology  Services  that 
would  limit  foreign  suppliers  of  IT  services  by  the  following 
requirements:  (i)  IT  service  providers  serving  State  bodies 
must  be  Vietnamese  organisations;  (ii)  IT  service  providers 
serving State bodies must store the data in servers located in 
Vietnam; and (iii) certificates and licenses are imposed on the 
delivery of cross-border IT services. 

this 

The  Ministry  of  Finance 
issued  a  Circular  numbered 
36/2015/TT-BTC  dated  23  March  2015  adding  some  gold 
products  to  the  list  of  the  products  subject  to  export  duties. 
Under 
legislation,  gold  products  with  HS  codes 
71131910, 71131990, 71141900, and 71159010 are subject to 
export  tariff  of  2%.  The  previous  duty  was  0%.  (It  is, 
however, expected that this issue will be solved in the course 
of  the  implementation  of  the  FTA  with  Vietnam  for  which 
negotiations were concluded in December 2015.) 

53