Jacob Kopnick

The U.K. on April 29 amended the entry for Sanaullah Ghafari under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The listing was updated to reflect that Ghafari is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan.

The U.K. customs agency announced seven settlements with companies for their breaches of sanctions on Russia and export controls, including one exceeding $1.3 million with an unnamed exporter and related to the "export of goods in breach of" the sanctions on Russia.

The European Commission and Canada on April 26 proposed new rules to help small and medium-sized enterprises take advantage of the investment dispute resolution mechanism under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced.

The German Federal Prosecutor's Office on April 22 announced the arrest of three German nationals for allegedly working for the Chinese Secret Service and exporting a "special laser" to China without authorization in violation of the Foreign Trade Act, according to an unofficial translation. The laser is subject to the EU Dual-Use Regulation, making its unlicensed export illegal, the office said.

Chinese nationals Han Li and Lin Chen were charged for their role in a conspiracy to illegally export controlled U.S. technology to Chinese end users, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Export Administration Regulations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced.

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body met on April 26 and was introduced to the new facilitator of the dispute settlement reform talks: Mauritius's Usha Dwarka-Canabady, the WTO announced. The chair of the DSB, Norway's Petter Olberg, said that Dwarka-Canabady accepted the role on April 18 after the "convenor" of the reform process left.

The EU extended its restrictive measures against those responsible for threatening the sovereignty of Moldova and those related to the situation in Myanmar, the Council of the EU announced. The Moldova sanctions currently apply to 11 individuals and one entity and were extended until April 29, 2025. The Myanmar sanctions apply to 103 individuals and 21 entities and were extended until April 30, 2025.

The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly called for the "establishment of an international compensation mechanism" to use confiscated Russian assets to "address the damages incurred by natural and legal persons affected, including the State of Ukraine," due to Russia's invasion. The assembly urged EU member states holding Russian assets to "actively co-operate in the prompt transfer of these assets" to the compensation mechanism, adding that states shouldn't wait until the end of the war in Ukraine. In addition, the assembly called for the "establishment of an impartial and effective international claims commission" to sort through Ukrainian claims and affected parties seeking reparation from Russia.

Luxembourg authorities on April 23 assessed an over $841,000 administrative fine against wealth management firm Fuchs & Associés Finance S.A. for anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance violations.

Japan opened an antidumping duty investigation on graphite electrodes from China, the ministries of Finance and Economy, Trade and Industry announced, according to an unofficial translation. The ministries decided to conduct the joint investigation following a petition from Japanese companies SEC Carbon, Tokai Carbon Co. and Nippon Carbon Co. The investigation will take one year and will allow for interested parties to comment on the proceeding.