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On 30 March 2023, the Japanese Diet passed the Amendment Act of the Customs Tariff Act, etc. (“Amendment Act”). Most of the provisions of the Amendment Act came into force on 1 April 2023. The overview is as follows:

1. An extended period of application of the provisional tax rate, etc.

The period of the provisional tax rate (412 items) and the special safeguard system for rice, wheat and dairy products, etc. were extended until the end of March 2024.

The provisional tax rate for sugar-containing products (six items) was lowered in line with the expansion of adjustments to be allocated to support domestic sugar production.

The duty-free system for aircraft parts, etc. and the tax reduction system for processing and reimporting certain items were extended until the end of March 2026.

2. Revised tariff rates for individual items

The current tariff rate has been maintained by establishing a new tax segmentation that is in line with the change in classification of propolis masses, etc. following the international classification decision.

3. An expanded Attorney for Customs Procedures system

A system under which a non-resident designates an Attorney for Customs Procedures and notifies the chief executive of customs to handle customs-related procedures, etc. has been established. In the absence of notification, the chief executive of customs may designate a domestic affiliate as an Attorney for Customs Procedures.

4. A new simplified tax rate for heated tobacco hand-carried by immigrants

From the standpoint of prompt customs clearance, etc., a simple tax rate was newly established for heated tobacco that is hand-carried by immigrants (JPY 15 per stick type, JPY 50 per liquid type).

5. Development of the tax payment environment

In light of the provisions concerning the development of the domestic tax payment environment, the additional tax ratio for large non-filing customs duty was raised.

Author

Izumi Matsumoto is a member of the Corporate/M&A practice groups in the Firm’s Tokyo office. Prior to joining the Firm, he worked at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry from 2007 to 2020. There, he was mainly engaged in the Japan-EU EPA negotiation, the Japan-US-EU trilateral subsidies agreement negotiation, several WTO dispute settlement cases, and the Brexit issue.

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