The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade is no longer allowing traders to register for an open general export license that allows exports and transfers of goods relating to the “A400M collaborative regime.” according to a Feb. 20 notice. The license only remains available for traders who registered before Oct. 17, 2019, the DIT said. The license permits exports and transfers of goods, software and technology used for the production and maintenance of the A400M aircraft, for the end-use of certain partner nations and “agreed export customers,” the DIT said.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade updated its list of permitted destinations for several open general export licenses, the DIT said in a Feb. 18 notice. The changes removed Yemen, Lebanon and Turkey as permitted destinations under certain licenses and added a destination for the Italian continental shelf. The DIT also suspended registration for an OGEL for certain military goods and reinstated the ability to register for an OGEL relating to exports “in support of joint strike fighter: F-35 lightning II.”

In the Feb. 13-18 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union is beginning an antidumping duty investigation on aluminum extrusions from China, the European Commission said in a Feb. 14 notice in the EU Official Journal. Preliminary duties on Chinese aluminum extrusions imposed in connection with this investigation could come in seven to eight months, the notice said.

The United Kingdom is extending the deadline for companies to apply for funding for customs training (see 2001220051) as the U.K. leaves the European Union, the U.K.’s revenue and customs agency said in a Feb. 10 notice. The grant funding deadline, which was originally set to expire Jan. 31, 2020, was extended one year to Jan. 31, 2021, the notice said. The U.K. said it has awarded the equivalent of about $21 million in grants, with about $10 million still remaining in the program.

In the Feb. 7-12 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Commission revoked some tariff preferences granted to Cambodia due to objections over human rights violations “enshrined” in Cambodia’s laws, the commission said in a Feb. 12 press release. The preferential tariffs will be replaced by EU standard tariffs and will affect certain garments, footwear, travel goods and sugar. The change will impact about one-fifth of Cambodia’s yearly exports to the EU, the press release said. The change will take effect Aug. 20 unless the European Parliament or Council objects. In a statement, Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said the preferential tariffs will be reinstated if Cambodian authorities “take the necessary measures.”

The United Kingdom has “confirmed plans” to put in place customs controls on Dec. 31 for goods traded between the U.K. and the European Union, according to a Feb. 10 press release from U.K. Cabinet Office member Michael Gove. “The UK will be outside the single market and outside the customs union, so we will have to be ready for the customs procedures and regulatory checks that will inevitably follow,” Gove said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed a new “Food Security Doctrine” that aims to prevent imports of genetically engineered seeds for planting, according to a Feb. 7 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service. The doctrine also expands the list of Russia’s “self-sufficiency indicators” -- part of the country's effort to become more reliant on domestically produced goods -- to include vegetables, melons and gourds, fruits and berries, and seeds, the report said.

The European Commission released a Feb. 10 report on the European Union's Generalized Scheme of Preferences during 2018-2019, detailing how developing countries took advantage of trade benefits under the scheme, which countries the scheme helped the most and how the scheme impacted trade. Developing countries’ exports to the EU under the special tariff treatments provided by the scheme reached a new high of about $73 billion in 2018, the commission said in a news release.