The U.K. on July 17 added 13 people and one entity to its Russia sanctions list. The people include government officials and ministers and others responsible for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. The lone entity is the Federal State Budget Educational Institution Artek International Children's Center. In the notice, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also amended the entries for nine people and one entity.
The U.K. formally signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership July 15. The deal currently has 11 members -- Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam -- and serves as a succeeding trade deal to the Trans-Pacific Partnership following the U.S. withdrawal.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions move from the bloc under its Iran sanctions regime, the European Council said July 14. The council in June amended the list of sanctioned individuals and entities. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision.
The EU General Court last week affirmed a European Commission decision that allowed German securities depository bank Clearstream Banking to comply with U.S. sanctions on Iran. The case stemmed from a commission decision in 2020 that authorized Clearstream to withhold payment of dividends to German firm IFIC Holding, whose shares are indirectly held by the Iranian government. IFIC had asked the General Court to annul the decision.
The European Council on July 14 extended by six months the humanitarian exception to its Syria sanctions regime. The exception allows for aid to enter Syria following the February earthquake in Syria and Turkey. The exception, to expire Feb. 24, 2024, also allows international organizations and "certain defined categories of actors involved in humanitarian activities in Syria" to make funds available to sanctioned parties.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation will begin rejecting incomplete license applications instead of “engaging” with applicants to collect all required information, the agency announced last week. OFSI said its licensing team has experienced “unprecedented high demand” caused by its Russia sanctions, including a surge in new applications and requests to amend existing licenses, and it doesn’t have the time to continue a temporary measure under which it worked with applicants to fix missing information.
Switzerland this week dropped two people from its Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions regime, both of whom were originally sanctioned for committing "serious" human rights abuses in the country. Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary and Kalev Mutondo were delisted after the EU also delisted the pair following a General Court ruling annulling their listing, which said that the European Council did not establish a sufficient link between the men and the situation in the DRC (see 2306200023).
The EU on July 13 removed import restrictions on certain food from Japan that had been in place since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident. The European Council said the move follows "positive results from controls done on the products" by the Japanese government and EU member states. Following 2011, the bloc tested food products for radioactivity pre-export. By 2021, the restrictions were limited to "wild mushrooms, some fish species and wild edible plants." The U.K. lifted similar restrictions last year (see 2206290022).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, in a July 12 notice, added six entities to its Sudan sanctions regime. The entries are for Al Junaid Multi Activities Co., Defense Industries System, GSK Advance Company, Sudan Master Technology, Tradive General Trading and Zadna International Company for Investment. All were listed for their roles in threatening the security of Sudan due to their support for one of the parties in the conflict between factions of the military government.
A free trade agreement between the EU and New Zealand, signed July 9, is expected to grow trade between the parties by 30% within 10 years, the commission said. The deal would eliminate all tariffs on EU exports to New Zealand, open the New Zealand services market in "key sectors," establish nondiscriminatory treatment for European investors, boost access for New Zealand government procurement, facilitate data flows, halt data localization requirements and strengthen intellectual property rights, the commission said.