The U.K. and Israel launched negotiations July 20 for a new trade deal, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade announced. The deal would boost tech firms and services companies, as the talks seek to yield a "modern, revamped trading relationship between two of the world's services superpowers," the DIT said. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan announced the start of the talks in London, which focused on services trade, a sector that isn't included in the current bilateral free trade agreement between the two countries.

The U.K. released a General License, "Investments in relation to Russia," that permits an individual to directly acquire ownership in Russian land, directly acquire ownership over a business connected with Russia, directly or indirectly establish a joint venture with a Russian individual and open a representative office or branch located in Russia. The license, effective July 19-26, also permits an individual to provide investment services directly related to the mentioned services and also wind down any transactions involving those activities.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and its National Crime Agency issued a "Red Alert," titled "Financial Sanctions Evasion Typologies: Russian Elites and Enablers." The alert says sanctioned parties are using various techniques to skirt sanctions, including transferring assets to proxies. OFSI and NCA laid out the offenses that can apply to individuals or entities aiding sanctions circumvention. The alert contains a list of "indicators" of sanctions evasion and industry recommendations.

The U.K. updated its Russia sanctions regime in a July 15 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation dropped two names from the sanctions list, amended three others and corrected one more. OFSI removed Didier Casimiro, who was just designated in March (see 2203240016) and Zeljko Runje from the sanctions list; amended the entries for Sergei Ivanovich Saenko, Vladimir Leonidovich Sivkovich and Oleg Anatolyevich Voloshyn; and corrected the entry for Alrosa, a Russian diamond mining company.

Businesses in the U.K. are more confident than firms in Europe over the future, even following a record-low drop in an index of optimism, according to data from Accenture and S&P Global, Bloomberg reported July 17. The data firms said their net balance measuring whether British companies expect activity to increase dropped to 28% in June from 56% in February. This is the lowest reading since the survey started in 2009, though higher than in other places around the world, including the EU, Bloomberg said. The main cause of the drop is record inflation. Accenture attributed U.K. companies' higher confidence levels than businesses in other countries to being more accustomed to coping with uncertainty, Bloomberg reported.

The European Council renewed the EU terrorist list, which lays out the individuals and entities subject to anti-terrorism sanctions, for another six months, the council announced July 18. The list currently has 13 individuals and 21 groups and entities, subjecting them all to the freezing of assets. The sanctions regime was set up following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The European Council liberalized trade in seven Moldovan agricultural products in a July 18 regulation, the council announced. The move allows Moldova to "at least" double its exports of tomatoes, garlic, table grapes, apples, cherries, plums and grape juice to the EU tariff-free for one year. The lifting of restrictions is meant to ease the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine on Moldova, whose export industry relies on Ukrainian infrastructure, the council said. Due to the war, Moldova has lost access to Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian markets, the council said.

The European Commission on July 15 adopted a joint proposal for new measures to uphold the effectiveness of the EU's six sanctions packages against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the commission announced. Dubbed the "maintenance and alignment" package, it includes a new import ban on Russian gold, reinforces dual-use and advanced technology export controls, strengthens reporting requirements to shore up asset freezes, clarifies the scope of some sanctions and extends current sanctions until January 2023. “Russia's brutal war against Ukraine continues unabated," EC President Ursula von der Leyen said. "Therefore, we are proposing today to tighten our hard-hitting EU sanctions against the Kremlin, enforce them more effectively and extend them until January 2023. Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression.”

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit updated the open general export license for military goods and technology to India. The move updated the conditions for shipping software or source code under the license. One condition says software or source code being exported must not be intended to boost the military capability of the end user beyond what was originally supplied under the U.K.'s license issued within the previous two years.

The EU released guidance on the transit of goods from Russia. The guidance, published by the European Commission, confirms that the transit of sanctioned goods by road is not allowed under EU sanctions but said these restrictions don't apply to rail transport, without prejudice to member states' obligations to exercise effective controls. The shipment of sanctioned military and dual use goods and technology is barred regardless of the mode of transport, the guidance said.