LONDON (AP) – New post-Brexit custom rules for goods arriving from the European Union to Britain took effect yesterday, and a leading food industry body has warned that the new border controls could lead to food shortages.

Beginning yesterday, importers must make a full customs declaration on goods entering the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) or other countries. Businesses will no longer be allowed to delay completing full import customs declarations for up to 175 days – a measure that was introduced to cope with the disruption of Brexit.

The British Frozen Food Federation said this week the new restrictions on animal and plant products from the EU could result in major delays at ports in the New Year because some in the supply chain – especially logistics companies on the EU side – may not be prepared for the changes.

“We are concerned that not enough planning has been done to ensure the new requirements are understood by everyone in the food supply chain,” said the federation’s chief executive Richard Harro.

“With only days to go before the new rules, we remain concerned that January could be a fraught month for our members,” he said. The new measures require businesses to complete the correct paperwork at least four hours before goods can arrive at UK borders, or they risk being turned back at the border.

Animal and plant-based products must also have statements of origin certificates.

While drivers must declare their goods and origin certificates, checks are expected to be minimal until the rules ramp up beginning in July 2022, when much stricter checks are expected to come into force.

The UK imports five times the amount of food it exports to the EU.

Britain left the EU’s single market and customs union on December 31, 2020.

The new rules take effect six months after they were originally scheduled because of the impacts of the pandemic and businesses said they needed more time to prepare.

Northern Ireland and Ireland are exempt from the changes as political leaders continue negotiating the Northern Ireland protocol.

MANILA (AFP) – Philippine Airlines has said it has emerged from bankruptcy after a United States (US) court approved its plan to slash up to USD2 billion in debt and obtain additional capital.

The national carrier of the Philippines had filed for bankruptcy in the US in September, seeking relief from creditors as it tried to survive the devastation unleashed on the airline industry by the coronavirus pandemic.

Its court-approved reorganisation plan includes a USD2-billion debt reduction and additional liquidity of USD505 million from its main shareholder, PAL said in a statement on Friday. It also has the option to obtain up to USD150 million in additional financing from new investors.

“PAL has streamlined operations with a reorganised fleet and is now better capitalised for future growth,” the airline added.

Air travel in the Philippines collapsed by more than 75 per cent in 2020 due to travel restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus, according to government data. From 60 million domestic and international passengers in 2019, traffic plunged to just over 13 million in 2020.

WASHINGTON (AP) – United States (US) airlines are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to delay next week’s scheduled rollout of new 5G wireless service near dozens of major airports, saying it could interfere with electronics that pilots rely on.

Airlines for America, a trade group for large US passenger and cargo carriers, said in an emergency filing that the FCC has failed to adequately consider the harm that 5G service could do to the industry.

The group wants more time for the FCC and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates airlines, to resolve issues around aviation safety related to a type of 5G service called C-Band.

AT&T and Verizon Communications previously agreed to a one-month delay in 5G, which provides faster speeds when mobile devices connect to their networks and allows users to connect many devices to the internet without slowing it down.

Late Friday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson wrote to the CEOs of AT&T and Verizon to propose a delay in activating 5G C-band service near an undetermined number of “priority airports” while the FAA studies the potential for interference with aircraft operations.

Buttigieg and Dickson said forging ahead with next week’s activation “will result in widespread and unacceptable disruption as airplanes divert to other cities or flights are cancelled”, while a delay around certain airports would have minimal short-term impacts.

Verizon spokesman Richard Young said, “We received the letter a short time ago, after 6pm on New Year’s Eve, and we will need some time to review it.”

AT&T spokeswoman Kim Hart Jonson said the company was reviewing the letter.

The airline industry trade group warned of significant damage if the 5G rollout goes ahead near major airports.

“Aircraft will not be able to rely on radio altimeters for numerous flight procedures and thus will not be able to land at certain airports,” the group said in a filing on Thursday. Radio altimeters measure the height of planes above the ground.

A4A, as the group is called, said its 11 member airlines face the need to reroute or cancel “thousands” of flights, resulting in losses topping USD1 billion.

The group said the new service will affect all three major airports in the New York City area – LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, New Jersey – as well as O’Hare in Chicago, Logan in Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles International and San Francisco.

The trade group’s general counsel threatened to go to court next week if the FAA does not respond to the group’s request for a delay.

The FAA said in early December that it will restrict pilots from using automated landing systems at certain airports after the rollout of 5G or fifth-generation wireless service because it could interfere with radio altimeters.

The FAA declined to comment on the airline group’s filing.

SINGAPORE (CNA) – The Singapore government will have to start moving on the planned hike in Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Budget 2022, given that the economy is emerging from COVID-19, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his New Year message on Friday.

The government must have reliable and adequate revenues to carry out its social programmes, said Lee, adding that additional revenues are needed to fund the expansion of the healthcare system and support schemes for older Singaporeans.

“Those who are better off should contribute a larger share, but everyone needs to shoulder at least a small part of the burden,” he said.

“This is the rationale for raising a broad-based tax like the GST, coupled with a comprehensive scheme of offsets to cushion the impact on lower-income households.

“The GST forms one important component of our system of taxes and transfers that also includes income and wealth taxes. Overall, our system will remain progressive and fair,” he added.

“We have seen this need coming for some years. Now that our economy is emerging from COVID-19, we have to start moving on this. Budget 2022 will therefore lay the basis for sound and sustainable government finances for the next stage of Singapore’s development.”

The plan to raise the GST by two percentage points, from seven per cent to nine per cent, was first announced in 2018 during then-Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s Budget speech.

He said the increase would be necessary to strengthen Singapore’s revenues, given recurrent increases in healthcare, security and other social spending.

“The responsible way to pay for them is through taxation so that every generation pays its share. We should not borrow for recurrent spending, because that will put the burden of recurrent spending on future generations,” Heng said in 2018.

“This GST increase is necessary because even after exploring various options to manage our future expenditures through prudent spending, saving and borrowing for infrastructure, there is still a gap,” he added.

“Increasing GST by two percentage points will provide us with revenue of almost 0.7 per cent of GDP per year.”

Heng said then that the hike would take place sometime from 2021 to 2025 – earlier rather than later in the period – with the exact timing to be decided based on factors such as the state of the economy. Given the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Heng said last year that the increase would not take place in 2021.

He reiterated, however, that the hike would be implemented “sooner rather than later”, between 2022 and 2025.

“Without the GST rate increase, we will not be able to meet our rising recurrent needs, in particular healthcare spending,” Heng said in his 2021 Budget speech.

Heng, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, previously announced that GST on publicly subsidised education and healthcare will continue to be fully absorbed.

Lower- and middle-income households can also get support from the permanent GST Voucher scheme, which will be enhanced when the new GST rate takes effect.

Singapore’s Budget 2022 will be unveiled by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on February 18.

The GST in Singapore was last raised more than a decade ago, in 2007, to seven per cent from five per cent.

It was first introduced in 1994 at three per cent, then raised to four per cent in 2003 and five per cent in 2004.

TIME TO ‘BITE THE BULLET’

Nanyang Technological University’s Assistant Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah told CNA that if the GST is to be raised, then this is the “least bad time” in the political cycle for the ruling party to do it.

“There is no good time of course. Especially considering the pandemic and how many people are not doing too great financially,” he said.

Political observer Associate Professor Eugene Tan said that the Prime Minister has indicated that the economy is improving and it is necessary to ‘bite the bullet’.

“The pandemic has also increased the demands on the government coffers and the post-pandemic recovery will also stretch the public purse even more. I think ‘TINA’ (there is no alternative) to a GST hike in the new fiscal year,” said the law professor from Singapore Management University.

He pointed out that 2022 will be the second full year of the current term of government. With a general election due by November 2025 and the presidential election in September or October 2024, the political preference is to have the tax increase “sooner rather than later”.

“An early implementation can enable people to see how the ‘comprehensive scheme of offsets’ make the GST hike manageable, especially for lower-income households,” he said.

“It can also help reduce the political sensitivity of a GST hike when the hustings come round in about two to three years time.”

With inflationary pressures within the economy, the Singapore government will have to put in place a robust system of counter-inflationary measures to ensure that the GST increase does not add to the inflation or, worse, lead to runaway inflation, he added. It will be a delicate balancing act and the “economic nous” of the government will be put to the test, said Associate Professor Tan.

Both political analysts said that this will renew the debate for higher and new wealth taxes, as well as corporate and personal income taxes, and have “Singaporeans and experts delving into the merits and drawbacks of drawing down the past reserves as well as the net investment returns”.

“Such debates are healthy, and should be had, if we are to move forward as a mature, democratic society.”