European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent sanctions moves from the European Council concerning the situations in Myanmar and Guinea, the council announced.

Members of the European Parliament are pushing member states to more strictly enforce sanctions against Russia, saying “loopholes” are still allowing Russia to reap revenue from its oil sales and import export-controlled electronics. In a resolution adopted by the parliament last week, the body called for a lower price cap on Russian oil and petroleum products and a new mechanism to oversee member states’ sanctions enforcement.

The U.K. and Florida signed the seventh UK-U.S. state-level Memorandum of Understanding on Nov. 14, the Department for International Trade announced. U.K. Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the deal, which is "targeted at high-potential sectors such as space and fintech and designed to boost exports and investment between the UK and Florida." Florida joins Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington as the U.S. states that have an MOU with the U.K.

The European Council on Nov. 13 renewed its sanctions on Venezuela for another six months, setting them up to now expire on May 14, 2024. The sanctions include an embargo on arms and equipment for internal repression along with an asset freeze on 54 people.

The EU's Directorate-General for Trade launched a new tool, dubbed the "Access2Conformity," which will let EU exporters take better advantage of Mutual Recognition Agreements with third countries. The tool will let EU exporters "identify where in the EU they can perform product testing and certification when exporting to certain third countries," the bloc said Nov. 13. The trade directorate highlighted the fact that MRAs can allow an exporting member state to designate their own conformity assessment body as "capable of testing and certifying exported products to make sure that they comply with the rules and regulations of the importing trade partner."

The European Commission is proposing an update to its intermodal freight regulations that it hopes will make EU freight movement more efficient, competitive and climate-friendly. The proposal, released last week, would update the EU’s current Combined Transport Directive -- an “outdated” freight transportation regulation last amended in 1992 -- by incentivizing the use of “intermodal operations that contribute the most to making freight transport more sustainable,” the commission said.

The EU General Court on Nov. 8 rejected Mikalai Varabei's application to annul his sanctions listing under the EU's Belarus sanctions regime. Varabei was challenging the European Council's finding that his activities in various Belarussian economic sectors show that he benefits from President Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime.

The U.K. dropped one name from its Russia sanctions list. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed Sergey Stognienko, management board member of Bank Otkritie Financial Corp., a financial services company in Russia.

The EU General Court on Nov. 8 rejected a Russian CEO's application to annul his sanctions designation. The court said the European Council properly laid out a statement of reasons for the sanctions decision, adding that the council "adduced a set of sufficiently specific, precise and consistent indicia capable of demonstrating" that Dmitry Mazepin "is a leading businessperson involved in a sector providing a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Government."

A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions decision from the European Council in light of the situation in Niger, the council announced Nov. 8. On Oct. 23, the council established the sanctions framework to target those responsible for threatening the security of Niger and undermining the "constitutional order, democracy, and the rule of law." North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Armenia and Azerbaijan all followed suit and imposed the sanctions.