Washington, D.C.-

The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee held a hearing on "Supporting U.S. Workers, Businesses, and the Environment in the Face of Unfair Chinese Trade Practices"

The issue that caught a lot of attention was Chairman Blumenauer highlighting the testimony of Kimberly Glas, President & CEO, National Council of Textile Organizations, who recommended that Congress "Close the Section 321 De Minimis Tariff Loophole."  See page 11 of testimony.

Discussion of this issue appears at the following time points in the hearing: 15:42, 28:20 and 49:00.

EMTC believes now is the time for the e-commerce industry to make its voice heard in Congress.  After nearly two-years of lockdowns, small businesses are trying to reinvent their companies using the e-commerce supply chain.  Americans have built their e-commerce businesses based on legislation passed by Congress, and changing the rules will have a devastating impact.    

EMTC speaks to Congressional staff on a continuous basis on issues important to the e-commerce industry.  Contact EMTC's CEO, Marianne Rowden, at mrowden@emtc.org, if you will be negatively affected by elimination of Section 321 and De Minimis.

Periodically EMTC will post material from the third-party sources to keep you apprised of e-commerce and digital economy developments around the world.  One such source is Platform Economy Insights (PEI) published by our friend, Brian Bieron, who has years of experience working on digital economy public policy issues.   We recommend companies engaged in e-commerce for both physical and digital goods subscribe to informational feeds on these topics.  PEI is a good service because it provides context and analysis to understand news reports.  Below is a headline about an important development:

PEI sites a report in the Financial Times on “European Council Agrees on DMA and DSA Plans and Vestager Presses Forward” and provides the following summary:

In Brief – The Council of Europe, the EU’s legislative body made up of the bloc’s 27 Member States, has agreed on draft language for the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), two landmark bills rewriting the rules of the digital economy. The DSA is a comprehensive update of the EU’s eCommerce Directive that provides the legal framework for digital platforms in Europe and aims to regulate better policing of harmful content by platforms. The DMA aims to address competition concerns in the digital economy that are attributed to the largest “gatekeeper” platforms. The European Commission unveiled drafts of both last December and they have been under review in the European Parliament and in the Member States, who meet in the Council. (Links to legislative schedules for DSA and DMA.) Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a leader on digital policy on the European Commission as well as the bloc’s top antitrust official, followed up the recent Council actions that largely backed the Commission’s DSA and DMA drafts by calling for the Parliament to also conclude work quickly, counseling those who are concerned with digital platforms that “Perfect not be the enemy of very, very good.”

Geneva -

The General Council agreed late Friday (26 November) to postpone the imminent Ministerial Conference after an outbreak of a particularly transmissible strain of the COVID-19 virus led several governments to impose travel restrictions that would have prevented many ministers from reaching Geneva.

See the full statement at: WTO | 2021 News items - General Council decides to postpone MC12 indefinitely

After a careful analysis of Senator Cassidy's (LA-R) Customs Modernization Act of 2021 "Discussion Draft", EMTC submitted comments on the bill.

EMTC's Board of Directors felt it was important to "level set" by providing a historical context of trade legislation to ask a fundamental question "What is Customs Modernization?"  EMTC offered its ideas for a new regime in the section under "Customs Modernization Requires a New Statutory Framework." 

You can download EMTC comments at Statement of EMTC on Customs Modernization Act of 2021 "Discussion Draft".

Please contact us (mrowden@emtc.org) to discuss EMTC's comments and how this bill will impact your business in the e-commerce supply chain.

Geneva-

The co-convenors of the negotiations on e-commerce — Australia, Japan and Singapore — said at a meeting on 10 November they plan to issue a statement on behalf of the participating members to take stock of the work achieved so far. The statement, to be issued at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), will also reiterate the commitment to achieving an ambitious agreement on e-commerce and set targets for work in the year ahead. Members also heard updates from facilitators of small group discussions and reviewed text proposals for the e-commerce agreement.

See full statement at: WTO | 2021 News items - Negotiations on e-commerce advance, eyeing a statement at MC12

EMTC will be participating in the MC12 as an accredited NGO and will report back to EMTC members about progress of the negotiators and the impact on e-sellers.

We have reviewed the “Discussion Draft” of the Customs Modernization Act of 2021 circulated by Senator Cassidy (LA-R) and prepared an EMTC Issue Alert summary of the major provisions of the bill.

Senator Cassidy is seeking industry feedback on the "Discussion Draft" by November 20, 2021 before the bill gets introduced in the U.S. Senate.

Please contact us (mrowden@emtc.org) to get a copy of the "Discussion Draft" and to discuss how this bill will impact your business in the e-commerce supply chain.

Chicago, Illinois, November 1, 2021 — The African Global Chamber of Commerce and E-Merchants Trade Council, Inc. (EMTC) announced that they will engage in an Affiliate Agreement to promote trade and ecommerce between Africa and the US.

Geneva -

The co-convenors of the negotiations on e-commerce have urged participating members to intensity their efforts and to make further progress ahead of the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) starting in late November. In the current global context and with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing, stakeholders are expecting this initiative to continue to yield results, they said at a plenary meeting held on 13 October.

See the full article at: WTO | 2021 News items - E-commerce negotiations: Co-convenors urge members to intensify efforts ahead of MC12

We urge companies involved in e-commerce to join EMTC (www.emtc.org) to weigh-in on the WTO's e-commerce negotiations.

E-Merchants Trade Council, Inc. (EMTC) is the new not-for-profit trade association for micro, small and medium-sized Entrepreneurs, “Homepreneurs” and “Sidepreneurs” to support the growth of e-commerce.  EMTC is convening participants from all aspects of the e-commerce supply chain to create a grass-roots community of those interested in accelerating the growth of e-commerce.

EMTC Press Release - New E-commerce Advocacy Group Help Entrepreneurs (10-11-21).pdf

CBP has issued a NEW Collection of Information on Global Business Identifier (GBI). The notice is at: https://lnkd.in/ddnBy-YJ

As you know, CBP has been exploring a unique identification code to replace the Manufacturer Identification Code (MID) and to serve as a system to identify parties in the supply chain.

CBP is seeking comments and will be conducting an Evaluative Proof of Concept (EPoC) assessing 3 identifiers:

- Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) – owned and managed by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF)

- Global Location Number (GLN)– owned and managed by GS1

- Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) – owned and managed by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)

Note that these identifiers are administered by the private sector and non-profit corporations who may provide the identifier for free but also maintain a myriad of related services which may impose significant costs on users, particularly SMEs.

CBP is seeking comments on the information collection and seek pilot participants. Comments are due within 60 days of the notice in the Federal Register (presumably tomorrow) - which would be December 4, 2021.