World Trade Organization members met Feb. 3 to discuss next steps in advancing WTO reform work ahead of the 14th Ministerial Conference, which is set to take place in March. Norway's Petter Olberg, the "facilitator on WTO reform," said he will launch a "reform month" on Feb. 5 "aimed at discussing a post-MC14 workplan."
The Council of the European Union on Jan. 29 imposed additional sanctions on Iran related to its "serious human rights violations" and continued military support of Russia. The council added 15 people and six entities to its Iran sanctions list, including Eskandar Momeni, Iran's minister of the interior and head of the National Security Council, and various members of Iran's judicial system, including Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, the prosecutor general, and Iman Afshari, a presiding judge. Other individuals include IRGC commanders and "high ranking officers of the police and the Law Enforcement Force." The listed entities include the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority, Seraj Cyberspace Organization, the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content and some software companies.
The U.K. fined Bank of Scotland £160,000, or about $200,000, for processing payments involving an individual designated under the U.K.’s Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced Jan. 26. The bank received a penalty discount for voluntarily disclosing the violation.
DOJ unveiled last week that it had seized two "mission crew trainers" in 2024 that allegedly were bound for the Chinese military from a South African flight academy on the Entity List. The agency made the announcement Jan. 15 while filling a forfeiture complaint for both trainers with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The U.S. requested consultations at the World Trade Organization with China last week concerning China's safeguard investigation on imported beef, which was opened in December 2024 and has been twice extended. Most recently, China's Ministry of Commerce extended the investigation through Jan. 26 (see 2511250038).
China filed a request for consultations at the World Trade Organization about Indian tariffs on information and communication technology products and subsidy measures for high efficiency solar photovoltaic modules, the WTO said Dec. 23.
World Trade Organization members on Dec. 19 agreed to let the EU impose countermeasures on imports from the U.S. due to U.S. violations of WTO rules in its antidumping duty and countervailing duty proceedings on Spanish ripe olives, the WTO announced.
The U.K. on Dec. 18 issued a new Russia-related general license allowing certain wind-down transactions with Russian oil companies Russneft, Tatneft, Rusneftegaz Group, NNK-Oil and any of their subsidiaries. The license also authorizes "the closing out of any positions" involving those entities. It expires 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 31.
Taiwan opened dispute consultations with Canada at the World Trade Organization regarding Canada's tariff rate quotas and surtax on certain steel goods and its global duty on certain steel derivative goods, the WTO announced. The consultations request formally opens a WTO dispute and gives the parties 60 days to resolve it, after which it will be sent to adjudication before a panel.
The Council of the European Union presidency and European Parliament negotiators agreed this week on a set of updated foreign direct investment screening rules (see 2506170024), including a minimum scope of industries that should be subject to investment screening.