The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body agreed to Indonesia's second bid for a dispute panel on the EU's antidumping and countervailing duties on stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from Indonesia at the May 30 DSB meeting, a Geneva-based trade official emailed reporters this week. Indonesia's first request was denied at a past DSB meeting, prompting the second bid in which the nation said it is entitled to protect its national interests.

Germany charged four managers of spyware company FinFisher with intentionally violating dual-use export controls after they sold surveillance products, without licenses, to countries outside the EU. The managers of the FinFisher group of companies, which were some of the “world's leading” spyware firms before declaring insolvency last year, never “even applied for” export licenses from German authorities and tried to evade detection, Munich’s public prosecutor announced this week, according to an unofficial translation.

The Treasury Department ‘understands” the challenges faced by banks, law firms, companies and others in trying to comply with multiple Russian sanctions regimes across the U.S., the EU and elsewhere, and is working to better align those restrictions to alleviate some headaches, said Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Nelson, speaking during a law conference in Washington last week, said the agency is “working hard” to harmonize “our actions, our targets, the guidance that we're providing so that they are consistent across our jurisdictions.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a temporary denial order this week against two Russian nationals, their Florida company, a Maldives business and a Russian airline for a scheme to illegally supply aviation parts to Russia. Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Vasilii Sergeyevich Besedin used their Florida-based company MIC P&I to try to export to Russia more than $2 million worth of U.S. aircraft components, including Goodrich brake assemblies, in a procurement network that went through Intermodal Maldives and eventually to Russia’s JSC Smartavia Airlines.

The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed the temporary denial order for Russia's Rossiya Airlines, saying the company has continued to illegally operate planes in violation of U.S. export controls, including on flights into and out of Russia going to and from Egypt and Turkey. The agency renewed the denial order for another 180 days from May 12. BIS first suspended the export privileges of the airline in May 2022 (see 2205200008) and renewed the TDO in November (see 2211170050).

The chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee used his perch to promote a bill he sponsored that would allow the president to lower duties on non-import-sensitive goods made by a country that lost exports due to coercive actions; increase duties on imports from the "foreign adversary" committing the coercion; and allow the U.S. to more easily facilitate trade, including exports, with the coerced parties (see 2302230021).

Turkey set new import duties on wheat, barley, corn and other grains, which were previously tariff-free but became subject to a 130% duty on May 1, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a recent report. USDA said the duty was likely introduced to protect farmers from a potential influx of cheap grain imports caused by a “widening price gap between domestic and Black Sea grain.” The tariff was also “higher than was originally expected and surprised some local grain traders,” the agency said, adding that the rate is the maximum it can set on grains under World Trade Organization rules.

A Russian government delegation and U.N. representatives will carry out the next round of negotiations on implementing the agreement that promotes Russian products and fertilizers on the global markets, Russian government news agency Tass said. The meeting, set for May 5, will take place the same date as the deputy defense ministers of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine are due for a discussion on the extension of the Black Sea crop export corridor, Bloomberg reported May 3. The Ukraine grain deal has allowed nearly 30 million tons of Ukrainian crops to be shipped since its signing in July.

The Spanish government found no evidence in an initial inquiry to justify claims that the country imported Russian diesel in violation of sanctions, said Teresa Ribera, Spain's energy minister, Bloomberg reported April 28. The nation's largest oil refiner, Repsol, complained that several tankers recently imported fuel via North Africa and Turkey in violation of restrictions on Russia. While the inquiry's initial findings did not find any trace of sanctions violations, the government will continue looking into the matter, Ribera said.

The State Department approved a potential military sale to Turkey worth about $259 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said April 17. The sale includes defense articles and services to “support upgrading its current fleet of F-16 aircraft.” The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.