The European Council on March 25 added Mohamed Ibrahim al-Shafi'i Al-Salem, the leader of the ISIL-affiliated group Islamic State Sahel Province, to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaeda sanctions regime, the council announced. The ISIL affiliate mainly operates in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.
The European Council on March 25 extended until March 31, 2026, its sanctions related to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Council announced. The sanctions target those who undermine the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, threaten the security situation in the nation or "undermine the Dayton/Paris General Framework Agreement for Peace."
The European Commission on March 22 proposed increasing tariffs on imports of cereals, oilseeds and derivative products from Russia and Belarus, including "wheat, maize, and sunflower meal." The European Council will next review the proposal.
The EU General Court on March 20 annulled the sanctions listing of tire maker Belshyna AAT, finding that the company wasn't a significant source of revenue for the Belarusian government.
The European Council on March 22 sanctioned 33 people and two entities linked to the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The listings, under the EU's global human rights sanctions regime, include the two penal colonies where Navalny was held from June 2022 until his death last month, along with the head of one of those colonies, Vadim Kalinin, and other "various deputy heads of the colony." Members of the judiciary were also sanctioned, including Andrey Suvorov, who sentenced Navalny to 19 years in prison, and Kirill Nikiforov, who rejected Navalny's suit against the penal colony.
The auto industry is grappling with a range of questions about how the EU’s upcoming forced labor-related rules will affect their supply chains, especially for individual car components, an auto industry official and lawyer said this week.
The EU General Court on March 20 annuled the sanctions listing of former Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin, saying the link between Mazepin and his father -- sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin -- is insufficient for the driver's listing on the Russia sanctions regime.
A European Parliament committee this week approved an updated version of new EU-wide supply chain due diligence rules that represent a narrower version from the original proposal but would still require certain companies to conduct specific due diligence on their supply chains to address various environmental and social concerns.
The Council of the EU and the European Parliament "provisionally" agreed March 20 to renew until June 5, 2025, the suspension of import duties and quotas on goods from Ukraine for another year, the council announced. The council and parliament will next need to formally approve the agreement for the one-year extension.
The EU and Peru agreed on a "list of technical cooperation activities" that the bloc said will help improve Peru's labor system and respect for labor rights, the European Commission announced March 20. The activities cover "social dialogue, freedom of association, child labour, forced labour, labour informality, and the labour inspection system." Implementation of these activities spans a two-year period and will help implement the Trade and Sustainable chapter of the EU-Colombia-Peru-Ecuador Trade Agreement.