The European Parliament is pushing the EU to impose new sanctions against government officials for human rights abuses in Belarus and Tibet.

The proposed European Union forced labor trade ban waits to stop goods until after a government investigation finds the goods contain forced labor, in contrast to the U.S. approach, which automatically bans all imports that are suspected to be made with forced labor, without a separate investigation, trade lawyer John Foote said.

The EU's Directorate-General for Trade expanded the scope of the support it provides for EU service exporters via its online Trade Assistant for Services and Investment, the DG for Trade announced. The support tool will now cover 100 service sectors across Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the U.K. Further expansions are planned for four additional trading partners by the end of 2024 and a total of 16 nations by 2026.

The European Council and the European Parliament have announced a provisional agreement on a new authority to given anti-money laundering rules and supervise the EU's enforcement of its anti-money laundering and terrorism financing laws. The authority will have "direct and indirect supervisory powers over high-risk obliged entities in the financial sector," and will look to increase the efficiency of the anti-money laundering framework, the council said Dec. 13.

The EU inched closer this week to adopting a law that could require member states to treat sanctions violations as criminal offenses, which could result in harsher penalties and possible prison time (see 2306090006).

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Dec. 11 revised three entries under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes. OFSI updated identifying information for OOO Mvizion under its Russia sanctions and the listings for Mikhail Ivanovich Dola and Mikhail Kavaliou under its Belarus regime.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Dec. 8 issued a new general license allowing sanctioned parties to pay certain U.K. government taxes and fees. Parties acting on behalf of the sanctioned people or entities may also make these payments. Parties making these payments must report the details of the payment within 14 days of making the payment to OFSI. The license took effect Dec. 9.

The U.K. this week unveiled a new agency that it said will boost enforcement of its Russia sanctions and "clamp down on companies dodging" those restrictions, the Department for Business and Trade announced. The new Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation also will help the government issue "tougher penalties" for trade sanctions violations and refer cases for criminal enforcement.

The European Council this week added to its sanctions regimes for Iran and Myanmar and extended its restrictions on Mali for another year.

The European Commission last week proposed to extend the current rules of origin for electric vehicles and battery trade with the U.K., delaying the imposition of new tariffs on U.K. electric vehicles until Dec. 31, 2026. The rules were scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.