Haiti formally accepted the agreement on fisheries subsidies Feb. 21, the World Trade Organization announced. Sixty-one member countries have now accepted the deal, which is 55% of the way to the two-thirds threshold of members needed for the agreement to enter into force at the WTO.
The U.K. added 50 entries to its Russia sanctions regime and two entries to its Belarus regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced in a pair of notices this week.
Anden Chow, former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has joined litigation boutique MoloLamken as a partner in New York, the firm announced. Chow worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney for a decade, most recently working on prosecutions into "international financial crime," including "sanctions evasion, asset forfeiture, money laundering, cryptocurrency-related fraud, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations," the firm said.
Morocco launched a safeguard investigation on coated fiberboard on Feb. 20, it told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards, the WTO announced. Morocco said interested parties have 30 days from the start of the investigation to comment on the proceeding.
A World Trade Organization dispute panel on Feb. 20 found a U.S. attempt to revisit part of its countervailing duty laws as they pertain to subsidies on agricultural products violated the nation's WTO commitments. The panel said the U.S. failed to implement the findings of a previous dispute panel ruling, which said these same laws cut against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in relation to a subsidy finding on ripe olives from Spain.
The U.K. added a frequently asked question to its Russia sanctions guidance to clarify when certain sanctioned U.K. parties must report to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on changes in their financial circumstances under regulation 70A (5). New FAQ 56 says a party must report to OFSI when "the value of your funds or economic resources, when taken together, has changed" by more than 10,000 pounds ($12,620) since its most recent report to OFSI. Changes also must be reported "if there has been a change to the nature or location of funds or economic resources where those funds or economic resources exceeds" $12,620. This also applies where multiple funds of the same type total more than $12,620.
The U.K. on Feb. 21 added six Russians to its Global Human Rights sanctions regime for their role in the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. They are Aleksandr Vladimirovich Golyakov, Vadim Konstantinovich Kalinin, Sergey Nikolaevich Korzhov, Aleksandr Valerievich Obraztsov, Vladimir Ivanovich Pilipchik and Vasiliy Alexandrovich Vydrin, all of whom worked at the Arctic penal colony IK-3 where Navalny was being detained.
Former Bureau of Industry and Security chief counsel Opher Shweiki, who left the agency earlier this month (see 2402140065), joined Akin Gump as a partner in its Washington office, the firm announced Feb. 20. Akin said Shweiki will add “further depth” to its export controls, sanctions, national security and global investigations team.
Japan extended its antidumping duties on electrolytic manganese dioxide from China until Feb. 25, 2029. The duties range from 34.3% to 46.5% based on the exporter, and a review showed that a lapse of the duties would likely lead to "recurrence of dumping and injury caused by dumped imports to the domestic industry," the Ministry of Finance announced Feb. 20.
The U.S. transferred nearly $500,000 in "forfeited Russian funds" to Estonia in an attempt to provide aid to Ukraine, DOJ announced on Feb. 17. The move, announced at the Munich Security Conference by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Estonian Secretary General Tonis Saar, is "the first of its kind from the United States to a foreign ally for the express purpose of assisting Ukraine," DOJ said.