The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament struck a provisional deal on the revised Generalized Scheme of Preferences program, which grants EU trade preferences to developing countries. The provisional deal adds "stronger links to respect for human rights and the environment, and a better monitoring and transparency of the scheme," the council said. New conventions regarding human rights and environmental protections will be added to the program, and the proposal provides for an "urgency procedure for the rapid withdrawal of preferences in case of violations of the principles of these conventions," the council said.
The High Court of Singapore will consider whether an arbitral award can be enforced in Singapore in light of U.S. sanctions on the party slated to receive the award. Earlier this month, Judge Thomas Bathurst declined to first and separately consider whether the enforcement of the award is contrary to Singapore's public policy due to the sanctions, opting instead to consider that question along with the other elements of the arbitral dispute.
The U.S. arrested two U.S. citizens and two Chinese nationals last week after accusing them of using a purported Florida real estate firm, an Alabama distributor and nearly $4 million in wire transfers to buy and illegally export “cutting edge” chips to China.
VFC Solutions, a sanctioned Cypriot investment firm, filed a lawsuit against the Office of Foreign Assets Control for denying its petition to be delisted from the Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), arguing that the agency acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" by denying the petition based on "speculation and conjecture."
Two Alabama men have been charged with trafficking over 300 weapons and ammunition into Mexico, DOJ announced. Emilio Ramirez Cortes, a Mexican citizen legally residing in the U.S., and his son Edgar Emilio Ramirez Diaz, are both charged with "smuggling firearms, ammunition, magazines and other firearms accessories as well as trafficking of firearms," DOJ said.
An "upgraded" version of the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area entered into force Oct. 28, the European Commission announced. The deal provided updates in three areas: trade flows, production standards and safeguards.
China requested dispute consultations at the World Trade Organization last week with India, regarding the latter's incentives in the automotive and renewable energy sectors, the WTO announced.
A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel found last week that Colombia has failed to comply with the findings of an arbitration panel regarding the nation's antidumping duties on frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
A Pakistani national was sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges relating to the transportation of Iranian-origin advanced conventional weaponry, DOJ announced Oct. 23. Muhammad Pahlawan was convicted in June of conspiracy to provide material support to terror groups, providing material support to Iran's weapons of mass destruction program, providing material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' weapons of mass destruction program and conspiring to ship explosive devices to the Houthi rebel group, DOJ said.
A new U.K. general license authorizes certain payments from sanctioned Iranian entities to "UK Employees and UK Directors" for six months. The license runs from Oct. 23 through April 22 and covers Bank Melli, Bank Saderat Iran, Bank Tejarat, Persia International Bank and Iran Insurance Co. These parties can make payments for "remuneration, allowances and contractual or statutory redundancy payments to" their U.K. employees and directors; pensions of U.K. employees and directors; fees and other costs related to services provided by IT companies; and fees and costs related to accountancy services for the banks' U.K. operations.