Jacob Kopnick

Following a package of measures meant to flush out ties between United Kingdom businesses and forced labor practices in China's Xinjiang region, compliance efforts have ramped up to ensure that supply chains are free of any association with the practice imposed on the region's Uighur Muslim population. In October 2020 and January of this year, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced a suite of four policies meant to eliminate forced labor from supply chains (see 2101120056). The policies include business guidance to U.K. companies with links to Xinjiang; strengthening the Modern Slavery Act (MSA), that includes levying fines for non-compliance; transparency requirements for government procurement; and a review of export controls to Xinjiang.

A month after the Jan. 29 imposition of export controls on vaccines in the European Union (see 2102010012), industry experts say the controls were meant only to send a message to vaccine manufacturers at risk of failing to fulfill their contracts, and that the measures have no real risk of drastically reorienting global vaccine supply chains. The controls were issued as a way to make sure British pharmaceutical company and vaccine developer AstraZeneca satisfied commitments to the EU and didn't redirect vaccine shipments to the United Kingdom, among other locations, experts said. The EU has yet to use the export authorization regime.

Germany will now generally issue export permits electronically, using the platform to issue permits, null notifications, trade information and extensions, and changes to notices in foreign trade law, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control said, according to an unofficial translation. The switch, effective March 1, takes place on Germany's ELAN-K2 filing portal. The German government will still issue general permits, permits for repeated export after previous import and transit permits in writing, and it reserves the right to issue any approval in writing if it is needed, it said.

In a case against an Iranian banker accused of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, Judge Alison Nathan for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York lambasted federal prosecutors over their mishandling of evidence and dereliction of responsibility. Stopping short of finding them guilty of knowingly withholding crucial information or intentionally misrepresenting facts to the court, Nathan in a Feb. 22 ruling called for a full investigation of the prosecutors' actions by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility and said she hopes the government's reforms on evidence handling training will ensure that similar action is not repeated.

Saudi Arabia will stop contracting with any foreign company that has its regional headquarters outside the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency said Feb. 17. The new regulation will take effect Jan. 1, 2024, and includes agencies, institutions and government-owned funds. The move was made as part of the Riyadh 2030 initiative and comes on the heels of the Future Investment Initiative forum held in Riyadh in January. SPA said 24 international companies announced their intent to move their regional headquarters to the capital at the FII forum, coming into compliance with the new regulation.

The European Union Foreign Affairs Council recommended placing restrictive measures on the individuals responsible for the arrest and persecution of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, European Commission High Representative Josep Borrell announced in a Feb. 22 press briefing. The sanctions, which include an asset freeze and travel ban, would mark the first use of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime that became law in December (see 2012070010). The decision to impose these sanctions will now be subject to an administrative review by the European Council where they will likely be ultimately decided and imposed within a week, Borrell said.

A judge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas declined to allow the state of Texas to voluntarily drop a civil forfeiture lawsuit over goods seized by a local law enforcement group that aims to stop illegal exports. The state will continue litigation in a similar case in front of the same court. The federal government isn't a party in either case.

Following Canada's imposition of restrictions on trade with China's Xinjiang region, stemming from the use of forced labor and other human rights violations, industry is expressing anxiety over its ability to come into full compliance with the new regulations, a lawyer said. Cliff Sosnow, partner at Fasken, told Export Compliance Daily that Canada's new regulations are meant to make it harder on importers to import goods with links to Xinjiang and to ramp up the pressure on companies to show due diligence in regard to the sanctity of their supply chains.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade proposed issuing Certificate of Origins (Non-Preferential) through its online Common Digital Platform, effective April 1. Issued in a Feb. 19 trade notice, importers and exporters will be able to file for a CoO (NP) online or in manual mode, but applications will be accepted only in online mode. A uniform fee of 100 rupees will be charged with each CoO certificate issued.

Following a review of its restrictive measures, the EU renewed its arms embargo against Zimbabwe and is maintaining its targeted assets freeze against one company, Zimbabwe Defence Industries. In a Feb. 19 news release, the European Council decried the humanitarian, economic and social situation in the sub-Saharan nation. “Violations of human rights and limitations on the democratic space are also persisting,” the release said. “The EU is especially concerned about a proliferation of arrests and prosecutions of journalists, opposition actors and individuals expressing dissenting views, and the use by high-level officials of speech that could be interpreted as incitement to violence.”