1. EU Battery Regulation Takes Effect

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements of the EU Battery Regulation will take effect on August 18, 2025. According to the EU Battery Regulation, exporters must complete EPR registration in each EU country/region where they are considered producers.

2. Canada Imposes a 25% Tariff on Steel Products from China

As announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, starting at the end of July, Canada will impose a 25% tariff on steel and related products from China to prevent China from dumping steel into Canada due to the tariff measures implemented by US President Donald Trump. Additionally, Canada will set quotas based on each country's steel imports from last year, and steel exceeding the quota will be subject to tariffs.

Furthermore, the Canadian Ministry of Finance announced that, starting August 1st, it will implement tariff quotas on imported steel: for countries with free trade agreements (excluding the United States and Mexico), the tariff quota will be equal to the 2024 import volume, with a 50% tariff imposed on any excess; for countries without free trade agreements, the tariff quota will be half of the 2024 import volume, with a 50% tariff imposed on any excess.

3. Vietnam requires automatic payment of value-added tax (VAT) for imported goods valued below 1 million Vietnamese dong

Vietnam Customs announced that, effective August 1, it will implement Notice No. 29/2025/TT-BTC, initiating an automated VAT collection process for express imported goods valued below 1 million Vietnamese dong. According to Decision No. 01/2025/QD-TTg, such goods were previously exempt from import duties but required VAT payment. However, due to system updates, manual declaration efficiency was low.

The new regulations will undergo a pilot phase from July 9 to 31, after which they will be officially applied to all express delivery services, including air, road, and rail transport. The aim is to modernize tax collection, simplify administrative procedures, and ensure national tax revenue.

4. Indonesia eases import restrictions

Indonesia recently announced it will ease or remove import restrictions on ten categories of goods and raw materials, including forest products, pearls, subsidized fertilizers, certain fuels and chemicals, plastic raw materials, food trays, bicycles, and footwear.

Meanwhile, Indonesian officials have stated that they will tighten import regulations on clothing and accessories to support domestic manufacturing. However, import restrictions on strategic goods such as rice, salt, fishery products, goods related to safety and health, and certain labor-intensive industries like textiles and steel will remain unchanged.