The European Commission launched an investigation on whether safeguard duties on certain steel products should be extended beyond June 30, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. Under World Trade Organization rules, the commission will be able to extend the duties for only another two years. The rules allow safeguard measures for a maximum of eight years, which in this instance would be June 30, 2026.
The EU General Court on Feb. 7 dismissed sanctions removal applications from Russians Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, according to an unofficial translation.
Cyprus is working to establish a "National Sanctions Implementation Unit" by the end of 2024 after a project manager and a group of experts were appointed to help set up the agency, the Ministry of Finance announced Feb. 5, according to an unofficial translation. The new enforcement body will seek to enforce sanctions laws and boost the existing legislative framework.
DOJ this week announced charges involving two illegal technology transfer schemes, which were meant to benefit the Chinese and Iranian governments.
For Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., the future of U.S. trade policy is to make climate a trade policy priority, work with global allies to set digital trade standards and deepen the U.S. trading relationship with the global south.
U.S. priorities during the World Trade Organization's upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference should center on extending the moratorium on e-commerce duties and advancing the second wave of talks on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies, witnesses said at a Feb. 7 hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.
The U.K. on Feb. 6 amended the entry for Oleg Alexandrovich Mashtalyar under its Russia sanctions regime. The entry was revised to reflect that Mashtalyar no longer works as the vice chairman of the management board of Sovcombank, a Russian bank. Mashtalyar, who is still sanctioned, was originally designated for operating in Russia's financial services sector.
A U.K. citizen was sentenced to 18 months in prison Jan. 31 for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran by exporting and attempting to export dual-use goods to Iran without the required license.
The U.K. High Court of Justice on Jan. 29 ruled that disclosures of reinsurance documents from a reinsurance broker to an airplane leasing company wouldn't violate the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime. The disclosures were related to an insurance claim on planes leased by Russian airline operators.
The U.K. on Feb. 1 added four entities to its Myanmar sanctions regime: the 101st and 77th Light Infantry divisions, Mining Enterprise 1 and Mining Enterprise 2. The infantry divisions were added for violating "the right of life of persons in Myanmar" and for carrying out arrests and torture "on the basis" of "political opinion, religious belief or ethnicity," the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation notice said. The mining enterprises were listed because of their ties with the Myanmar Security Forces.