TAX

WTO members recently welcomed Ecuador’s reiterated commitment to completely remove by this June the import surcharge that has been in place on a range of tariff lines since March 2015. More

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service is seeking input by 20 March on a proposal to establish an industry-funded promotion, research and information programme for certified organic products. More

On 14 September 2016, the Commission unveiled a “Scoreboard” of third countries whose tax policies may facilitate tax avoidance. This marks the completion of the first step, out of three, towards the adoption of a common EU list of “non-cooperative tax jurisdictions”, i.e. a list of third countries that do not respect tax good governance principles and thereby facilitate tax avoidance to the detriment of the tax base of the EU Member States. More

On 16 July 2016, Council Directive 2016/1164 laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the EU’s internal market was published in the Official Journal. Hong Kong companies may recall that the Directive, also known as the “Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive” forms part of the European Commission’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Package (the Package) that was presented in January 2016. More