The U.K. on Dec. 5 officially updated guidance for its various sanctions regimes to reflect the passage of legislation earlier this year that gives its sanctions agency greater intelligence-gathering and enforcement powers (see 2411260013). An update to the U.K.’s Russia-related sanctions guidance said the U.K. made a “range of technical changes with the purpose of improving” the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s “ability to gather intelligence on industry’s compliance with financial sanctions, strengthen OFSI’s enforcement powers, enable OFSI to conduct its licensing responsibilities more efficiently, and clarify financial sanctions legislation where there is existing uncertainty.” The country made similar updates to its guidance for sanctions against Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Myanmar.
The U.K. transitioned an EU countervailing duty on biodiesel from Indonesia to its own trade remedies authority on Nov. 28. The move maintains the CVD rates on shipments of fatty-acid mono-alkyl esters or paraffini gasoils obtained from synthesis or hydro-treatment and of non-fossil origin in pure or blended form. The duties range from 8% to 18%.
New guidelines issued by the European Banking Authority are designed to help EU financial firms set common policies and procedures to comply with sanctions, export controls and other “restrictive measures.” The document offers separate guidelines for large banks and other sets of financial institutions, such as payment service providers and crypto-asset service providers, and includes recommendations around sanctions screening, risk assessments, due diligence and customer monitoring.
Recently passed U.K. legislation gives the country’s top sanctions agency greater intelligence-gathering and enforcement powers, Crowell & Moring said in a November client alert, and could allow it to process license applications more efficiently.
The U.K. Office of Foreign Sanctions Implementation provided an overview of "red flags" that may indicate when Russian oil shipments have been "manipulated to appear as non-Russian through the use of fabricated or falsified certificates of origin." The guidance also lays out "potential mitigation measures" to help British entities shield themselves from the practice.
The U.K. extended antidumping duties on steel ropes and cables from China, including on ropes and cables consigned from Morocco and South Korea, for another five years, until April 21, 2028. The duties range from 0% for Moroccan exporter Remer Maroc and certain South Korean exporters to 60.4% for all Chinese exporters and all other Moroccan and South Korean exporters. The duties specifically cover "steel ropes and cables including locked coil ropes, excluding ropes and cables of stainless steel, with a maximum cross-sectional dimension exceeding 3mm."
The transfer of certain customs issues from the EU Court of Justice to the EU General Court "could lead to faster and more specialized decisions," lawyers at Baker McKenzie said in a client alert earlier this month. Partner Arnoud Willems and associate Line Hammoud said the change potentially could make it easier for companies to "bring cases and achieve favorable outcomes."
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.