The U.K. on Feb. 12 added four Israeli citizens to its Global Human Rights sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added Zvi Bar Yosef, Ely Federman, Yinon Levy and Moshe Sharvit for committing human rights abuses against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week amended a listing under its Russia restrictions list. The agency revised the listing for Vladimir Olegovich Potanin to show that he is sanctioned for conducting business in the Russian financial services and extractives sectors.
The EU General Court on Feb. 7 dismissed sanctions removal applications from Russians Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, according to an unofficial translation.
The European Commission launched an investigation on whether safeguard duties on certain steel products should be extended beyond June 30, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. Under World Trade Organization rules, the commission will be able to extend the duties for only another two years. The rules allow safeguard measures for a maximum of eight years, which in this instance would be June 30, 2026.
The U.K. will allow a general license involving the price cap on Russian oil to expire later this month, according to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. The license, set to expire Feb. 18, authorizes the supply or delivery by ship of Russian crude oil and oil products below the $60 per barrel price cap. The U.K. didn't provide more information.
Cyprus is working to establish a "National Sanctions Implementation Unit" by the end of 2024 after a project manager and a group of experts were appointed to help set up the agency, the Ministry of Finance announced Feb. 5, according to an unofficial translation. The new enforcement body will seek to enforce sanctions laws and boost the existing legislative framework.
The U.K. on Feb. 6 extended by six months its general license authorizing certain humanitarian-related transactions under its Syria sanctions regime. The exemption will now run through Aug. 14 and allows humanitarian organizations, including the U.N., to carry out humanitarian activity in Syria needed to deliver earthquake relief in Syria and Turkey.
The U.K. on Feb. 6 amended the entry for Oleg Alexandrovich Mashtalyar under its Russia sanctions regime. The entry was revised to reflect that Mashtalyar no longer works as the vice chairman of the management board of Sovcombank, a Russian bank. Mashtalyar, who is still sanctioned, was originally designated for operating in Russia's financial services sector.
The European Commission on Feb. 6 released a guide to help EU companies file antidumping complaints. The Directorate-General for Trade said the guide lays out the "necessary contents of a complaint and the supporting evidence that the Commission needs to decide" whether it can launch an AD investigation, along with a "structured format to help companies prepare complaints, links to information sources, forms to facilitate the provision of data and step-by-step guidance for calculations." A section explains how to put together expiry review requests, which are required to extend AD orders.
The U.K. High Court of Justice on Jan. 29 ruled that disclosures of reinsurance documents from a reinsurance broker to an airplane leasing company wouldn't violate the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime. The disclosures were related to an insurance claim on planes leased by Russian airline operators.