Turkey launched a safeguard investigation Oct. 9 on grinding balls and similar articles for mills, notifying the World Trade Organization of the probe, the WTO said Oct. 13. Interested parties can complete a questionnaire on the potential safeguard measures, with responses due within 30 days from the date of publication of the communique.
The European Commission commenced, on its own initiative, a partial interim review of the countervailing duties on imports of rainbow trout from Turkey, it said Sept. 20. The commission is reviewing product described as “rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) live weighing 1, 2 kg or less each; or fresh, chilled, frozen and/or smoked: in the form of whole fish (with heads on), whether or not gilled, whether or not gutted, weighing 1,2 kg or less each; or with heads off, whether or not gilled, whether or not gutted, weighing 1 kg or less each; or in the form of fillets weighing 400 g or less each originating in the Republic of Turkey.” The commission said it is conducting the review because “there is sufficient evidence” that the circumstances with regard to subsidization “on the basis of which the existing measures were imposed have changed and that these changes are of a lasting nature.” The Turkish government enacted these changes in 2016, specifically making "significant changes on the structure and the terms of implementation of the subsidies granted by the Turkish Government to producers of rainbow trout." Those changes "led to a decrease of direct subsidies received by Turkish rainbow trout producers," the notice said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 16 sanctioned five al-Qaida supporters in Turkey who provide a “range of financial and travel facilitation services” to the terrorist group. The designations target Majdi Salim, Muhammad Nasr al-Din al-Ghazlani, Nurettin Muslihan, Cebrail Guzel and Soner Gurleyen.
Three members of a Florida family were charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran and money laundering, the Department of Justice said. Mohammad Faghihi, along with his wife, Farzeneh Modarresi, and sister, Faezeh Faghihi, led Florida-based Express Gene -- a company that allegedly received multiple wire transfers from accounts in Malaysia, China, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, totaling nearly $3.5 million, between October 2016 and November 2020. Some of this money allegedly was used to buy and then ship genetic sequencing equipment to Iran without a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ said.
Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine have aligned themselves with the European Union's sanctions regime on Guinea-Bissau, the European Council said in a Sept. 8 news release. On Aug. 5, the EC dropped two individuals, Navy Cmdr. Bion Na Tchongo and Capt. Paulo Sunsai, from the sanctions regime. Both listings originally were made in 2012 (see 2108100012). The aligning countries will "ensure that their national policies conform to this Council Decision," the EC said.
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U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in a readout of an Aug. 25 call with Turkey's Trade Minister Mehmet Mus, said that she argued that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's discussions on international taxation are the best way to resolve the issues that led countries to want to impose digital services taxes. The USTR has said that 32 subheadings of Turkish imports could face tariffs if Turkey imposes a DST. The value of goods on the list imported in 2019 was $310 million.
A California electronics company was fined $6.6 million by the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls after it illegally exported technical data and software to more than 15 countries, including China, DDTC said Aug. 9. DDTC said Keysight Technologies, which makes electronic test and measurement equipment and software, committed 24 violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, including unauthorized exports while the companies still had an outstanding commodity jurisdiction request pending with the State Department.
The European Commission amended a countervailing duty order on rainbow trout imports from Turkey on Aug. 3, finding that an exporter with an individual CVD rate could still receive this rate following a name change. BAFA Su Urunleri Yavru Uretim Merkezi Sanayi Ticaret AS, an exporter with a 1.5% individual CVD rate, told the commission that after combining with its parent company, it changed its name to Kilic Deniz Urunleri Uretimi Ihracat Ithalat ve Ticaret A.S. The commission found the name change to be properly registered, keeping the 1.5% rate for Kilic.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a range of sanctions targeting people and entities in Syria and Turkey for human rights abuses or for funding terrorism, OFAC said July 28. The first set of sanctions targeted Turkey-based al-Qaida financial facilitator Hasan Al-Shaban and Syria-based terrorism fundraiser Farrukh Furkatovitch Fayzimatov. Other designations targeted eight Syrian prisons controlled by the Bashar al-Assad regime, five senior Syrian security officials, the Syrian armed group Ahrar al-Sharqiya and Syria military intelligence agencies. OFAC also revised two existing Syria-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List.