The EU should impose more sanctions against the owners and operators of vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet along with the banks and insurance companies they’re using, EU Parliament members said in a resolution adopted Nov. 14.
Recent meetings with American lawmakers during a visit to the U.S. gave the impression there is strong bipartisan support for maintaining the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council, a European Parliament member said Nov. 13.
The U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit last week published a list of export-controlled goods, software and technology for which the exporter still must use SPIRE, the country’s outgoing licensing system, to apply for a license. The country plans to retire SPIRE, or the Shared Primary Information Resource Environment, and replace it with its new digital export licensing system, Licensing for International Trade (LITE), in the coming months (see 2409190037), but applications for certain sensitive items still must go through SPIRE (see 2409250022). The list, included in a new table of "control list entries," includes certain genetically modified organisms, items related to capital punishment and torture, certain radioactive items, and more.
European collaboration with the U.S. on trade-related policies and other issues likely will become more difficult when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, a former Swedish government official said Nov. 7.
The U.K.’s trade agency issued a new report this week about the economic impacts of outbound investments by British firms. The report comes days after the U.S. issued a final rule to create a new regime to block certain outbound investments in China (see 2410280043) and as the EU considers creating its own outbound investment restrictions (see 2407250013). The U.K. report doesn't focus on the possibility of those restrictions but said an “envisaged restrictive regulatory action such as investment screening could alter the effects of UK” outbound investment “in the future.”
The U.K. recently fined four exporters more than $2 million combined for breaching the country’s export controls, including one for violating trade restrictions against Russia, the country announced Nov. 4.
The European Commission last month announced it will begin approving imports of two genetically engineered corn crops and renewed the authorization for one corn crop and one cotton crop, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a recent report. The crops, which are authorized for food and animal feed, will be valid for import for 10 years, USDA said, and will be subject to the EU's “strict labeling and traceability rules.” USDA said this is the EU’s third group of genetically engineered crop approvals this year.
The U.K. on Oct. 31 removed a Russia-related licensing ground, or legal basis, from its list of activities that it said are eligible for export licenses. That list now no longer includes a licensing ground that may have authorized certain services “to a person connected with Russia” through a U.K. parent company or the U.K. subsidiary of that parent company. The U.K. has said it may still approve licenses for certain activities that aren’t included in its list of licensing grounds.
Switzerland adopted a set of recent EU sanctions against Belarus on Oct. 30, bringing the country in line with the EU’s so-called “No-Belarus clause,” which requires companies to insert language in new contracts to signal certain products can’t be sent to Belarus (see 2407010025). Switzerland also adopted EU sanctions that impose restrictions on investments in companies in the Belarusian energy sector; trade bans on luxury goods, gold, diamonds, coal and crude oil from Belarus; and more.
Data compiled by law firm Duane Morris shows which European nations are most actively enforcing sanctions, including by issuing fines, pursuing criminal convictions and undertaking investigations.