The European Commission initiated an investigation into the alleged circumvention of the countervailing duty measures on imports of certain woven and/or stitched glass fiber fabrics originating in China and Egypt but consigned from Morocco, “whether declared as originating in Morocco or not,” the commission said in a May 31 notice. Under review for circumvention are “fabrics of woven, and/or stitched continuous filament glass fibre rovings and/or yarns with or without other elements, excluding products which are impregnated or preimpregnated (pre-preg), and excluding open mesh fabrics with cells with a size of more than 1,8 mm in both length and width and weighing more than 35 g/m.” Interested parties may make written submissions via TRON.tdi within 37 days from the date of the publication notice.

United Kingdom International Trade Secretary Liz Truss will call for the modernization of the WTO at G7 Trade Ministerial meeting on May 27-28, her office said in a May 26 news release. Truss will urge a “fully-functioning dispute settlement system, to tackle unfair subsidies in industry and agriculture, to modernize the WTO rulebook and advance digital and green trade.” In addition, Truss will share her backing for an agreement on industrial subsidies and the need to support the new Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The United Kingdom released an update relating to substantial changes made to two open general export licenses for information security items, the Department for International Trade said in a May 26 guidance. The two OGELS were amended to include China, Hong Kong and Macao as permitted destinations, however the additions have been balanced by a reduction of the list of permitted items. All items specified in Schedule 1 of the new OGEL for information security items must only use “standard encryption algorithms that have been approved or adopted by recognized international standards bodies (examples: 3GPP, ETSI, GSMA, IEEE, IETF, ISO, ITU, TIA),” and “any cryptographic functionality used by the item cannot be easily changed by the user.” Any potential exporter of these goods must register through the UK's SPIRE portal, the export control joint unit's electronic licensing system.

The European Commission is partially reopening an antidumping investigation into woven and/or stitched glass fiber fabrics originating in China and Egypt to determine whether the antidumping duties apply to the subject products being brought in significant quantities to "an artificial island, a fixed or floating installation or any other structure in the continental shelf of a Member State or the exclusive economic zone [CS/EEZ] declared by a Member State pursuant" to the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea. The EU received sufficient evidence to show that the glass fiber fabrics were being brought in to the bloc to be processed into wind blades, then exported to offshore wind parks in the CS/EEZ, a process that would injure European Union industry, the EU said May 27. The reopening of the investigation will finish within 13 months, and written comments on the reopening can be submitted to the EU for the next 20 days.

The European Union is dropping the anti-subsidy investigation into imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron and non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in Turkey, the bloc announced in a May 27 decision. The original petitioner, the European Steel Association, withdrew its complaint against the products. The investigation, which began June 12, 2020, is ending without any anti-subsidy measures, the EU said, noting the probe “did not bring to light any considerations showing that a continuation of the case would be in the Union interest.”

Russia recently notified the World Trade Organization of draft amendments to the Eurasian Economic Union safety regulations for meat products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said May 20. The measure will “somewhat relax” nutrition labeling requirements for certain meats, USDA said, and will establish “allowable deviations” of the actual “nutritional value indicators” of meat products from those on the product label. The public comment period will close July 12. USDA said U.S. parties should share their feedback with the National Institute of Standards and Technology by June 28.

Technical assistance including maintenance and repair measures on Belorussian aircraft is included in the European Union's current embargo against Belarus, Germany's customs agency clarified in a May 26 notice, according to an unofficial translation. While an expansion of current sanctions is expected, the release said, individuals and entities should be notified to not repair Belorussian aircraft including that in the Belorussian airline Belavia. The clarification on the scope of the sanctions comes as officials across Europe ramp up calls for greater sanctions on the Eastern European nation following the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk.

The United Kingdom's Department fpr International Trade seeks public comments to help shape its trade negotiations with India before both parties enter into a trade deal, the agency announced in a May 25 news release. The consultation period will end Aug. 31. Prior to the start of formal negotiations, the U.K. and India will complete a pre-negotiation scoping phase that includes the public consultations via questionnaires about participants' experiences and priorities on their business in India. The U.K. will seek to remove tariffs of up to 150% on whisky and 125% on automobiles made in Britain, the release said.

The European Union extended countervailing duties on rainbow trout from Turkey after conducting an expiry review, the bloc announced in a May 25 regulatory statement. The CV duties will continue to be imposed on rainbow trout imports (1) live weighing 1, 2 kilograms or less each or (2) fresh, chilled, frozen and/or smoked: in the form of whole fish whether gilled, whether gutted, weighing 1, 2 kg or less each, or with heads off, whether gilled, whether gutted, weighing 1 kg or less each, or in the form of fillets weighing 400 grams or less. Duty rates range from 1.5% to 9.5%, with the highest rate applying to companies not listed.

The United Kingdom's Cabinet cecretary, with approval from the prime minister, appointed James Bowler to serve as the new permanent secretary to the Department for International Trade, the agency announced in a May 24 press release. Bowler most recently worked as the permanent secretary leading the COVID Task Force in the Cabinet Office beginning in October 2020. The current interim permanent secretary, John Alty, is retiring. “I’m delighted to welcome James to DIT as we enter our next exciting stage," Trade Secretary Liz Truss said. "His experience will support our talented, driven department as we negotiate trade deals with key markets across the world, head the G7 trade track and encourage WTO reform."