The EU on Oct. 24 adopted new rules to ease digital collaboration between customs and partner competent authorities to create a single window for customs, the European Council announced. With the new rules, businesses no longer will need to submit documents to several authorities via different portals because the single window will allow customs authorities to automatically verify that the relevant goods comply with EU requirements and that the necessary formalities have been completed, the council said.

Up to 11 former employees of Swiss global commodity trading and mining company Glencore could be investigated in the U.K. under charges of bribery in five African countries, Alexandra Healy, an attorney for the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said Oct. 24 in a London court, Bloomberg reported. The alleged scheme involved more than $28 million in bribes, though the SFO didn't say if all 11 were being investigated for bribery. Glencoe told Bloomberg the 11 are former employees. Healy said the SFO will make individual charging decisions likely by the end of April. In DOJ's parallel investigation, two former Glencore traders, Anthony Stimler and Emilio Heredia, pleaded guilty, Bloomberg said. The SFO announced in May that Glencore was expected to pay around $1.5 billion to settle investigations into bribery and price manipulation charges revolving around deals in the U.S., U.K. and Brazil.

Uncertainty over whether the Ukrainian Black Sea grain export deal (see 2208010048) will be extended has rattled agricultural markets, Bloomberg reported Oct. 21. The deal is set to expire in November, and officials are currently negotiating new terms and conditions. Ukraine wants to extend the deal by more than a year and include Mykolayiv as a fourth exporting port, while Russian wants to reopen its pipeline that takes ammonia to Odesa in Ukraine for shipment, Bloomberg said. In the meantime, a "logjam" of vessels carrying Ukrainian crops is easing up, with an acceleration of inspections.

The U.K. added three Iranian individuals and one Iranian entity to its Russia sanctions regime pertaining to their involvement in sending unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the Russian military for use in Ukraine, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Oct. 20. The individuals, Saeed Aghajani, head of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force UAV command; Mohammad Bagheri, chairman of the Armed Forces General Staff; and Seyed Hojjatollah Qureishi, head of the Iranian Defense Ministry's Supply and Logistics Division, are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban. OFSI also sanctioned Shahed Aviation Industries, an Iranian UAV manufacturer. The OFSI notice amended the entry for Oleksandr Saulenko, a senior official installed in the Russian administration of Berdyansk in the temporarily controlled area of Zaporizhzhia, regarding date of birth. The U.K.'s move follows the EU's listing of the same individuals and entity (see 2210200014).

The EU added three Iranian individuals and one Iranian entity to its sanctions regime pertaining to those threatening the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, the European Council announced Oct. 20. The individuals and entities helped supply unmanned aerial vehicles used by Russia in its war against Ukraine. The parties were subjected to an asset freeze and travel ban.

The U.K.'s exit from the EU has led to a 16% drop in trade from the U.K. to the EU and a 20% decline in trade from the EU to the U.K. "relative to the scenario in which Brexit had not occurred," according to data from Ireland's Economic and Social Research Institute. ESRI looked at product-level data on goods trade flows from 2021 for the report. Ireland saw a large decline in British imports, though its exports to the U.K. have remained relatively untouched, an Oct. 19 ESRI news release said.

The EU is considering another set of sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities shortly after adding more names to its Iran restrictions list following the rising number of Iranian-made drones used in Russian attacks throughout Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Oct. 18. Ukraine has proffered several reports and intelligence assessments showing Iran likely delivered the drones to Russia during the summer to be used in the war in Ukraine. Iran has denied providing the drones, and EU member states want more proof before adding Iranian sanctions, Bloomberg said. The EU likely will make progress toward added sanctions this week, the report said.

The U.K. implemented a General License Oct. 17 permitting individuals and entities designated under the Belarus and Russia sanctions regimes and companies owned or controlled by these sanctioned parties to pay funds to the London Court of International Arbitration to cover arbitration costs. The license also permits the LCIA to use funds deposited by sanctioned parties, companies owned or controlled by sanctioned parties or their legal representatives before their listing. The license "is of indefinite duration."

Switzerland added 30 individuals and seven entities to its Russia sanctions regime, bringing its list in concert with the EU's, the Swiss Federal Council announced. The newly listed parties were involved in the "referendums" organized by Russia in four areas of Ukraine. Switzerland said listed parties' assets must be frozen and reported to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and the restrictions already applicable to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions also will apply to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The EU extended its sanctions regime covering ISIL/Da'esh and al-Qaida and individuals and entities associated with them for another year, until Oct. 31, 2023, the European Council announced Oct. 17. The sanctions cover 13 individuals and four entities, subjecting all to an asset freeze and the individuals also to a travel ban.