The European Commission will present measures to include corruption under the EU's sanctions regime, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her Sept. 14 State of the Union address. Speaking more generally about fighting corruption "with all its faces," von der Leyen said that "in the coming year the Commission will present measures to update our legislative framework for fighting corruption," including proposing to include corruption in the human rights sanctions regime. The European Parliament in February called for the adoption of an EU corruption sanctions regime, and the U.K. and the U.S. have corruption sanctions regimes.

The European Commission updated its consolidated and intellectual property rights frequently asked questions pages related to its Russia sanctions regime. Nine new FAQs deal with the verification of whether an IPR applicant or a party in opposition or invalidity proceedings is listed; IPR registrations filed by listed individuals or entities before their date of inclusion; and whether EU and member state IP offices should suspend requests from designated individuals and entities.

The EU renewed its Ukraine sanctions regime concerning the misappropriation of state funds until March 6, 2023, though it didn't renew certain listings. The listings for former President Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych and his son, Oleksandr, were not renewed, having expired Sept. 6, though they are both now designated under the EU's Russia sanctions regime. The EU General Court annulled the Ukraine misappropriaton listings for Yanukovych and his son in 2022, 2021, 2019 and 2016 but upheld their designations in 2016 and 2017, the EU Sanctions blog said. The listings of former Prosecutor General Viktor Pavlovych Pshonka and his son Artem weren't renewed. The EU General Court annulled their designations in 2021, 2020 and 2019.

The U.K. ports of Liverpool and Felixstowe are preparing for consecutive dockworker strikes in the next few weeks following a pause after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Strike details will likely be announced next week after her funeral, Bloomberg reported. The Port of Liverpool's previously announced a two-week strike will now start Sept. 20, following the rejection at a Sept. 12 meeting of a pay offer from Peel Ports, the port operator, and the funeral for the queen on Sept. 19. Dockworkers at the Port of Felixstowe rejected a pay proposal that would boost wages from the U.K. wing of CK Hutchison Holdings, setting up a walkout at Britain's busiest container port, Bloomberg said. The Felixstowe strike is set to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 5.

The EU is in line to ban products made using forced labor, likely targeting shoes, clothes and commodities including timber, fish and cocoa, the Financial Times reported. The European Commission is expected to announce plans to implement a ban this week, and the Green/European Free Alliance bloc in the European Parliament has publicly declared support for restrictions that emulate the U.S.' ban on all goods from China's Xinjiang province.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation requested that all individuals who hold or control funds belonging to a designed individual or entity submit a report on the details of those assets by Nov. 11. The request comes as part of OFSI's annual review of frozen assets. Any individual or entity that has previously reported frozen assets also must submit a report. The value of such assets as of the close of business Sept. 30 is to be included in the report.

The European Council on Sept. 9 fully suspended the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia, the council announced. As a result, the general rules of the visa code will apply to Russian citizens, leading to a jump in the visa application fee from around $35 to $80, the requirement to present further documentary evidence, increased visa processing times and more restrictions on the issuance of multiple-entry visas, the council said. The decision will enter into force Sept. 12.

The European Commission released a report to the EU Parliament this month on the implementation of dual-use items in 2021, which included aggregated export control data from 2020. The report discusses export control policy, amendments to dual-use controls, EU member state implementation and enforcement measures, arrangements for implementation laid out in the Northern Ireland Protocol, actions taken by the Dual-Use Coordination Group, guidelines for dual-use research, and data on export controls.

The U.K. amended one entry and corrected another under its Russian sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Sept. 6 notice. The entry for Mikhail Razvozhaev, acting "Governor of Sevastopol," was updated to include his full name and alternate spelling of his last name: Mikhail Vladimirovich Razvozhayev. The entry for Pavel Ezoubov, an associate of listed Russian businessman and oligarch Oleg Deripaska, was corrected, with OFSI fixing the spelling of Ezoubov's name in Russian.

Dockworkers at Liverpool's container port will go on strike Sept. 19 to Oct. 3 over a pay dispute, the Unite union said in a statement. Over 560 port operatives and maintenance engineers were offered a 7% pay raise, which the dockworkers say is a pay cut given the 12.3% "real rate of inflation." The port owner also failed to fulfill 2021 promises, including not carrying out a promised pay review and failing to deliver on an agreement to boost shift rotations, the Sept. 2 statement said. Peel Ports, the owner of the Port of Liverpool, said its pay package would have boosted pay by 8.3%.